tape drive

[Ben Pfaff]

"Scott Overfield 7239" <soverfield@fnac-usa.com> writes:

> i have just installed a scsi tape drive, the OS is recognizing
> the device and there is an entry in fstab, now how do i format
> and create a file sys= tem on the tape?

You don't.  Tape drives don't have file systems.  You just record
to them with, for instance, `tar', which incidentally stands for
`tape archiver'.  Use `/dev/st0' as the device to copy a file or
archive to and then rewind the tape, or `/dev/nst0' to store a
file or archive without rewinding the tape so that you can store
another.  Another useful utility is `mt' (magnetic tape) which
can be used to fast-forward and rewind tapes, eject them, set the
block size, and so on.

Example: `tar cf /dev/st0 /home/foo' to record /home/foo to the
tape and rewind it.
-- 
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
--D. E. Knuth, "Structured Programming with go to Statements"