mt - control magnetic tape drive operation
mt [
-V] [
-f device] [
--file=device]
[
--rsh-command=command] [
--version]
operation
[
count]
This manual page documents the GNU version of
mt.
mt performs the
given
operation, which must be one of the tape operations listed below,
on a tape drive.
The default tape device to operate on is taken from the file
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h when
mt is compiled. It can be
overridden by giving a device file name in the environment variable
TAPE or by a command line option (see below), which also overrides the
environment variable.
The device must be either a character special file or a remote tape drive. To
use a tape drive on another machine as the archive, use a filename that starts
with `HOSTNAME:'. The hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to
access the remote tape drive as that user, if you have permission to do so
(typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).
The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are accepted.
Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on all types of tape
drives. Some operations optionally take a repeat count, which can be given
after the operation name and defaults to 1.
-
eof, weof
- Write count EOF marks at current position.
- fsf
- Forward space count files. The tape is positioned on
the first block of the next file.
- bsf
- Backward space count files. The tape is positioned
on the first block of the next file.
- fsr
- Forward space count records.
- bsr
- Backward space count records.
- bsfm
- Backward space count file marks. The tape is
positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of the file mark.
- fsfm
- Forward space count file marks. The tape is
positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of the file mark.
- asf
- Absolute space to file number count. Equivalent to
rewind followed by fsf count.
- seek
- Seek to block number count.
- eom
- Space to the end of the recorded media on the tape (for
appending files onto tapes).
- rewind
- Rewind the tape.
-
offline, rewoffl
- Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.
- status
- Print status information about the tape unit.
- retension
- Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel, then
rewind it again.
- erase
- Erase the tape.
mt exits with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded, 1 if the
operation or device name given was invalid, or 2 if the operation failed.
-
-f, --file=device
- Use device as the file name of the tape drive to
operate on. To use a tape drive on another machine, use a filename that
starts with `HOSTNAME:'. The hostname can be preceded by a username and an
`@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if you have permission
to do so (typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).
-
--rsh-command=command
- Notifies mt that it should use command to
communicate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or
/usr/bin/rsh.
-
-V, --version
- Print the version number of mt.
Report bugs to <
[email protected]>.
Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<
http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO
WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.