This is just some notes on commands to get the most from a tape drive under Ubuntu Linux. I have a SONY SDT-9000 DDS3 drive that is supposedly capable of 12GB nativly or 24GB compressed. So how have I managed to get it working?
Edit the stinit.def file
sudo nano /etc/stinit.def
To write data to the tape drive, use tar:
sudo tar cpf /dev/st0 --label="the label you want to use" files
To get the tape drive status use mt:
sudo mt -f /dev/st0 status
Also retensioning a new tape:
sudo mt -f /dev/st0 retension
Ejecting a tape:
sudo mt -f /dev/st0 offline
Seeing where the tape is
sudo mt -f /dev/st0 tell
To use non-rewingin versions use /dev/nst0
To display a list of files on tape drive, use the following
sudo tar -tzf /dev/st0
Restoring files should be something like:
sudo tar -xpf /dev/st0 path/where/to/restore
