Using tar to extract files from tape

[Haines Brown]

I asked this question before, but received no answer. Sorry to post it
again.

The question is a simple one: can I use tar to extract a file from a
tape backup made with a backup application?

On a sarge machine, I have a WangDAT 3100 tape drive from the late
1990s. The tape from which I would like to recover certain files was
made back in 1998 with bru 2000/xbru.

# mt -f /dev/st0 status
drive type = Generic SCSI-2 tape
drive status = 318767616
sense key error = 0
file number = -1
block number = -1
Tape block size 512 byte. Density code 0x13 (DDS (61000 bpi)).
Soft error count since last status = 0
General status bits on (1010000); ONLINE IM_REP_EN

I tried:

# tar xvf /dev/st0 *.xyz
tar: /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.

How does one extract the *xyz files from the tape?

[Alec Berryman]

Post by Haines Brown
# tar xvf /dev/st0 *.xyz
tar: /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.
How does one extract the *xyz files from the tape?

I don't know much about tape drives, but I would assume if you used dd
to copy the information on the tape to a file on your disk, you'd be
able to read it like a normal tar file.

[Justin Piszcz]

Post by Alec Berryman

Post by Haines Brown
# tar xvf /dev/st0 *.xyz
tar: /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.
How does one extract the *xyz files from the tape?

I don't know much about tape drives, but I would assume if you used dd
to copy the information on the tape to a file on your disk, you'd be
able to read it like a normal tar file.

Google this issue, you have to use kernel 2.2 or set the block size to
64kb or some weird number to get the data off of the tape.

[Ron Johnson]

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Hash: SHA1

Post by Haines Brown
I asked this question before, but received no answer. Sorry to
post it again.
The question is a simple one: can I use tar to extract a file
from a tape backup made with a backup application?

Depends on the format. "Tape ARchive" most probably doesn't
understand proprietary formats...

Post by Haines Brown
On a sarge machine, I have a WangDAT 3100 tape drive from the
late 1990s. The tape from which I would like to recover certain
files was made back in 1998 with bru 2000/xbru.

[snip]

Post by Haines Brown
When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.
How does one extract the *xyz files from the tape?

You don't mention having tried Googling for BRU?

http://www.tolisgroup.com/products/
http://www.tolisgroup.com/about/contactus.html

- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA

Is "common sense" really valid?
For example, it is "common sense" to white-power racists that
whites are superior to blacks, and that those with brown skins
are mud people.
However, that "common sense" is obviously wrong.
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[Rob Hensley]

gpgkeys: HTTP fetch error 7: couldn't connect: eof

Post by Haines Brown
I asked this question before, but received no answer. Sorry to
post it again.
The question is a simple one: can I use tar to extract a file
from a tape backup made with a backup application?

Depends on the format. "Tape ARchive" most probably doesn't
understand proprietary formats...

Yep, what program did you use to make the backup? For me I have a cron job
that runs nightly and uses tar to back things up. The command I use is...

tar --totals --label="System Backup For `date -d yesterday +%m-%d-%Y`"
-cvf /dev/tape /

Then when I want to restore something off the tape (say my home
directory), I'd do the following...

tar xvMf /dev/nst0 home/zoid

This will restore my home directory to whatever directory I am currently
in. Maybe give that a shot and see how it works.

Post by Haines Brown
On a sarge machine, I have a WangDAT 3100 tape drive from the
late 1990s. The tape from which I would like to recover certain
files was made back in 1998 with bru 2000/xbru.

[snip]

Post by Haines Brown
When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.
How does one extract the *xyz files from the tape?

You don't mention having tried Googling for BRU?
http://www.tolisgroup.com/products/
http://www.tolisgroup.com/about/contactus.html
--
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA
Is "common sense" really valid?
For example, it is "common sense" to white-power racists that
whites are superior to blacks, and that those with brown skins
are mud people.
However, that "common sense" is obviously wrong.
--
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gpg: Signature made Thu Jul 13 12:07:02 2006 EDT using DSA key ID BDFB5E67
gpg: requesting key BDFB5E67 from hkp server keyserver.cryptnet.net
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: Total number processed: 0
gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found

--
Rob Hensley
***@gmail.com
http://www.robhensley.com