Hi all

can you explain to me plz

what the count parameter means in the mt command

after the weof ?

mt -f /dev/st0 weof 1

and after the fsf

mt -f /dev/st0 fsf 1

if its means the index of the file in the tape so the first file wrriten on the tabe what is the count value for it ?

many thanks

well you need it when u store multiple records in the tape drive
each record is ended by an EOF mark
so when u fsf (forward) it by 1, it goes to the beginning of the 2nd mark (incase u r at the first mark)

like
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind (will bring u to the beginning of the first data set)
mt -f /dev/st0 fsf 1 (will forward u to the beginning of the 2nd data set)

fsf means forward by count

check "man mt" for all the options

also u can do it only if u store multiple record set in the device which is done by setting the no rewind option while writting to it - otherwise it rewinds automatically to the beginning "n" is for no rewind
like in solaris (not sure abt linux ) u do this to stop it from rewinding

/dev/rmt/0mn (m=write with medium density and n = no rewind)

so the count after weof should be always 1 or an index of the current file

i mean after first backup i write
weof 1

after the seconed backup what it should be weof 1 or 2 ?

and when i write the eof should i use st0 or nst0 coz i saw some scripts that use nst0 to write the backup
and st0 to write the EOF ?

another question is about how to know that i reached the end of the tape ? or can i know if the remaining space is enough for the file that i am going to write ?

many thanks

hi


weof is used to write "eof" marks. so if u execute the weof 2 command - it ll write the 2nd eof mark at that location in the device.
st0 is the name of the device
nst0 (i assume) means the device in "no rewind" mode - the one which u wud be using
lets say u have to backup data at the end of each day

monday = u backup the data and that would write 1 eof mark (in a norewind mode)
so at this point of time if u do fsf 1 it ll point to the begiing of the second data (which does not exist yet)
tuesday = u backup data again in a no rewind mode
wed = <repeat>


now lets say u want to restore the data of tuesday
u rewind the tape and do a "fsf 1" and then restore it

checking space can be done using df command (please try and check it)- though i have never done that coz ufsdump itself specifies when the disk is full and loads another tape drive incase of autoloader tape devices


Regards,
SiLiCoN