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29 .\" @(#)mt.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
37 .Nd magnetic tape manipulating program
50 utility is used to command a magnetic tape drive for operations
51 other than reading or writing data.
59 environment variable described below.
61 The available commands are listed below.
63 characters as are required to uniquely identify a command
66 The following commands optionally take a
69 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm erase"
73 end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position.
74 This returns when the file mark has been written to the media.
78 end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position.
79 This returns as soon as the command has been validated by the tape drive.
83 setmarks at the current position (DDS drives only).
95 setmarks (DDS drives only).
107 setmarks (DDS drives only).
109 Erase the tape using a long (often very long) method.
112 of 0, it will erase the tape using a quick method.
113 Operation is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning.
114 The tape will be at its beginning upon completion.
117 The following commands ignore
119 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm geteotmodel"
121 Read the hardware block position.
123 number reported is specific for that hardware only.
124 With drive data compression especially,
125 this position may have more to do with the amount of data
126 sent to the drive than the amount of data written to tape.
127 Some drives do not support this.
129 Read the SCSI logical block position.
130 This typically is greater than the hardware position
131 by the number of end-of-file marks.
132 Some drives do not support this.
135 .It Cm offline , rewoffl
136 Rewind the tape and place the drive off line.
137 Some drives are never off line.
139 Load the tape into the drive.
142 This winds the tape from the current position to the end
143 and then to the beginning.
144 This sometimes improves subsequent reading and writing,
145 particularly for streaming drives.
146 Some drives do not support this.
148 Output status information about the drive.
149 For SCSI magnetic tape devices,
150 the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression
151 is enabled is reported.
152 The current state of the driver (what it thinks that
153 it is doing with the device) is reported.
154 If the driver knows the relative
155 position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that.
157 that this information is not definitive (only BOT, End of Recorded Media, and
158 hardware or SCSI logical block position (if the drive supports such) are
159 considered definitive tape positions).
161 Also note that this is the old status command, and will be eliminated in
162 favor of the new status command (see below) in a future release.
164 Output (and clear) error status information about this device.
166 operation (e.g., a read or a write) and every control operation (e.g,, a
167 rewind), the driver stores up the last command executed and it is associated
168 status and any residual counts (if any).
169 This command retrieves and outputs this
171 If possible, this also clears any latched error information.
173 Output the current EOT filemark model.
175 many filemarks will be written at close if a tape was being written.
177 Wind the tape to the end of the recorded data,
178 typically after an EOF mark where another file may be written.
180 Report the block limits of the tape drive, including the minimum and
181 maximum block size, and the block granularity if any.
184 The following commands may require an
186 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm seteotmodel"
188 Set the hardware block position.
191 is a hardware block number to which to position the tape.
192 Some drives do not support this.
194 Set the SCSI logical block position.
197 is a SCSI logical block number to which to position the tape.
198 Some drives do not support this.
200 Set the block size for the drive.
203 is the number of bytes per block,
204 except 0 commands the drive to use variable-length blocks.
206 Set the EOT filemark model to
208 and output the old and new models.
209 Typically this will be 2
210 filemarks, but some devices (typically QIC cartridge drives) can
211 only write 1 filemark.
212 You may only choose a value of
217 Output status information about the drive.
218 For SCSI magnetic tape devices,
219 the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression
220 is enabled is reported.
221 The current state of the driver (what it thinks that
222 it is doing with the device) is reported.
224 If the driver knows the relative
225 position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that.
226 If the tape drive supports the long form report of the
228 READ POSITION command, the Reported File Number and Reported Record Number
229 will be numbers other than -1, and there may be Flags reported as well.
231 The BOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is at the
232 beginning of the partition.
234 The EOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is between Early
235 Warning and End of Partition.
237 The BPEW flag means that the logical position of the drive is in a
238 Programmable Early Warning Zone or on the EOP side of Early Warning.
240 Note that the Reported Record Number is the tape block or object number
241 relative to the beginning of the partition.
242 The Calculated Record Number is the tape block or object number relative
243 to the previous file mark.
246 that the Calculated File and Record Numbers are not definitive.
247 The Reported File and Record Numbers are definitive, if they are numbers
251 Print additional status information, such as the maximum supported I/O
254 Print all available status data to stdout in XML format.
257 Report density support information for the tape drive and any media that is
259 Most drives will report at least basic density information similar to that
263 Newer tape drives that conform to the T-10 SSC and newer tape
264 specifications may report more detailed information about the types of
265 tapes they support and the tape currently in the drive.
268 Print all available density data to stdout in XML format.
269 Because density information is currently included in the general status XML
272 status command, this will be the same XML output via
280 Display or set parameters.
286 must be specified to indicate which operation to perform.
289 for more detailed information on the parameters.
292 List parameters, values and descriptions.
293 By default all parameters will be displayed.
294 To display a specific parameter, specify the parameter with
297 Specify the parameter name to list (with
302 Enable quiet mode for parameter listing.
303 This will suppress printing of parameter descriptions.
305 Specify the parameter value to set.
306 The general type of this argument (integer, unsigned integer, string) is
307 determined by the type of the variable indicated by the
310 More detailed argument checking is done by the
314 Print out all parameter information in XML format.
317 Display or set drive protection parameters.
318 This is used to control checking and reporting a per-block checksum for
319 tape drives that support it.
320 Some drives may only support some parameters.
323 Set the Recover Buffered Data Protected bit.
324 If set, this indicates that checksums are transferred with the logical
325 blocks transferred by the RECOVERED BUFFERED DATA
329 Disable all protection information settings.
331 Enable all protection information settings.
332 The default protection method used is Reed-Solomon CRC (protection method
333 1), as specified in ECMA-319.
334 The default protection information length used with Reed-Solomon CRC is
336 To enable all settings except one more setting, specify the
338 argument and then explicitly disable settings that you do not wish to
340 For example, specifying
343 will enable all settings except for LBP_W.
345 List available protection parmeters and their current settings.
347 Set the length of the protection information in bytes.
348 For Reed-Solomon CRC, the protection information length should be 4 bytes.
350 Specify the numeric value for the protection method.
351 The numeric value for Reed-Solomon CRC is 1.
353 Set the LBP_R parameter.
354 When set, this indicates that each block read from the tape drive will
355 have a checksum at the end.
357 Enable verbose mode for parameter listing.
358 This will include descriptions of each parameter.
360 Set the LBP_W parameter.
361 When set, this indicates that each block written to the tape drive will have
362 a checksum at the end.
363 The drive will verify the checksum before writing the block to tape.
366 Set the tape drive's logical position.
373 must be specified to indicate the type of position.
374 If the partition number is specified, the drive will first relocate to the
375 given partition (if it exists) and then to the position indicated within
377 If the partition number is not specified, the drive will relocate to the
378 given position within the current partition.
380 .It Fl b Ar block_addr
381 Relocate to the given tape block or logical object identifier.
382 Note that the block number is the Reported Record Number that is relative
383 to the beginning of the partition (or beginning of tape).
385 Relocate to the end of data.
387 Relocate to the given file number.
388 .It Fl p Ar partition
389 Specify the partition to change to.
391 Relocate to the given set mark.
394 Set the drive's compression mode.
395 The non-numeric values of
399 .Bl -tag -width 9n -compact
401 Turn compression off.
411 IBM Improved Data Recording Capability compression (0x10).
413 DCLZ compression algorithm (0x20).
416 In addition to the above recognized compression keywords, the user can
417 supply a numeric compression algorithm for the drive to use.
419 cases, simply turning the compression
421 will have the desired effect of enabling the default compression algorithm
422 supported by the drive.
423 If this is not the case (see the
425 display to see which compression algorithm is currently in use), the user
426 can manually specify one of the supported compression keywords (above), or
427 supply a numeric compression value from the drive's specifications.
429 Note that for some older tape drives (for example the Exabyte 8200 and 8500
430 series drives) it is necessary to switch to a different density to tell the
431 drive to record data in its compressed format.
432 If the user attempts to turn compression on while the uncompressed density
433 is selected, the drive will return an error.
434 This is generally not an issue for modern tape drives.
436 Set the density for the drive.
437 For the density codes, see below.
438 The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string,
442 If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order
443 shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used.
445 given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match
446 exactly, an informational message is output about what the given
447 string has been taken for.
450 The initial version of the density table below was taken from the
451 .Sq Historical sequential access density codes
452 table (A-1) in Revision 11 of the SCSI-3 Stream Device Commands (SSC)
453 working draft, dated November 11, 1997.
454 Subsequent additions have come from a number of sources.
456 The density codes are:
457 .Bd -literal -offset 2n
458 0x0 default for device
459 0xE reserved for ECMA
461 Value Width Tracks Density Code Type Reference Note
463 0x01 12.7 (0.5) 9 32 (800) NRZI R X3.22-1983 2
464 0x02 12.7 (0.5) 9 63 (1,600) PE R X3.39-1986 2
465 0x03 12.7 (0.5) 9 246 (6,250) GCR R X3.54-1986 2
466 0x05 6.3 (0.25) 4/9 315 (8,000) GCR C X3.136-1986 1,3
467 0x06 12.7 (0.5) 9 126 (3,200) PE R X3.157-1987 2
468 0x07 6.3 (0.25) 4 252 (6,400) IMFM C X3.116-1986 1
469 0x08 3.81 (0.15) 4 315 (8,000) GCR CS X3.158-1987 1
470 0x09 12.7 (0.5) 18 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.180 2
471 0x0A 12.7 (0.5) 22 262 (6,667) MFM C X3B5/86-199 1
472 0x0B 6.3 (0.25) 4 63 (1,600) PE C X3.56-1986 1
473 0x0C 12.7 (0.5) 24 500 (12,690) GCR C HI-TC1 1,6
474 0x0D 12.7 (0.5) 24 999 (25,380) GCR C HI-TC2 1,6
475 0x0F 6.3 (0.25) 15 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-120 1,6
476 0x10 6.3 (0.25) 18 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-150 1,6
477 0x11 6.3 (0.25) 26 630 (16,000) GCR C QIC-320 1,6
478 0x12 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,034 (51,667) RLL C QIC-1350 1,6
479 0x13 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) DDS CS X3B5/88-185A 5
480 0x14 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS X3.202-1991 5,11
481 0x15 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS ECMA TC17 5,12
482 0x16 12.7 (0.5) 48 394 (10,000) MFM C X3.193-1990 1
483 0x17 12.7 (0.5) 48 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/91-174 1
484 0x18 12.7 (0.5) 112 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/92-50 1
485 0x19 12.7 (0.5) 128 2,460 (62,500) RLL C DLTapeIII 6,7
486 0x1A 12.7 (0.5) 128 3,214 (81,633) RLL C DLTapeIV(20) 6,7
487 0x1B 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,383 (85,937) RLL C DLTapeIV(35) 6,7
488 0x1C 6.3 (0.25) 34 1,654 (42,000) MFM C QIC-385M 1,6
489 0x1D 6.3 (0.25) 32 1,512 (38,400) GCR C QIC-410M 1,6
490 0x1E 6.3 (0.25) 30 1,385 (36,000) GCR C QIC-1000C 1,6
491 0x1F 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-2100C 1,6
492 0x20 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-6GB(M) 1,6
493 0x21 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-20GB(C) 1,6
494 0x22 6.3 (0.25) 42 1,600 (40,640) GCR C QIC-2GB(C) ?
495 0x23 6.3 (0.25) 38 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-875M ?
496 0x24 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) CS DDS-2 5
497 0x25 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-3 5
498 0x26 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-4 5
499 0x27 8.0 (0.315) 1 3,056 (77,611) RLL CS Mammoth 5
500 0x28 12.7 (0.5) 36 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.224 1
503 0x2B 12.7 (0.5) 3 ? ? ? C X3.267 5
504 0x40 12.7 (0.5) 384 4,800 (123,952) C LTO-1
505 0x41 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,868 (98,250) RLL C DLTapeIV(40) 6,7
506 0x42 12.7 (0.5) 512 7,398 (187,909) C LTO-2
507 0x44 12.7 (0.5) 704 9,638 (244,805) C LTO-3
508 0x46 12.7 (0.5) 896 12,725 (323,215) C LTO-4
509 0x47 3.81 (0.25) ? 6,417 (163,000) CS DAT-72
510 0x48 12.7 (0.5) 448 5,236 (133,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(110) 6,8,13
511 0x49 12.7 (0.5) 448 7,598 (193,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(160) 6,8
512 0x4A 12.7 (0.5) 768 ? PRML C T10000A 10
513 0x4B 12.7 (0.5) 1152 ? PRML C T10000B 10
514 0x4C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 ? PRML C T10000C 10
515 0x4D 12.7 (0.5) 4608 ? PRML C T10000D 10
516 0x51 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (unencrypted)
517 0x52 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (unencrypted)
518 0x53 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (unencrypted)
519 0x54 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (unencrypted)
520 0x55 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (unencrypted)
521 0x56 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (unencrypted)
522 0x57 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (unencrypted)
523 0x58 12.7 (0.5) 1280 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-5
524 0x5A 12.7 (0.5) 2176 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-6
525 0x5C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-7
526 0x5D 12.7 (0.5) 5376 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-M8 14
527 0x5E 12.7 (0.5) 6656 20,669 (524,993) C LTO-8
528 0x71 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (encrypted)
529 0x72 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (encrypted)
530 0x73 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (encrypted)
531 0x74 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (encrypted)
532 0x75 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (encrypted)
533 0x76 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (encrypted)
534 0x77 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (encrypted)
535 0x8c 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS EXB-8500c 5,9
536 0x90 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS EXB-8200c 5,9
538 .Bd -literal -offset 2n
539 Code Description Type Description
540 ---- -------------------------------------- ---- -----------
541 NRZI Non return to zero, change on ones R Reel-to-reel
542 GCR Group code recording C Cartridge
543 PE Phase encoded CS Cassette
544 IMFM Inverted modified frequency modulation
545 MFM Modified frequency modulation
547 RLL Run length limited
548 PRML Partial Response Maximum Likelihood
550 .Bd -literal -offset 2n
553 2. Parallel recorded.
554 3. Old format known as QIC-11.
556 6. This is not an American National Standard. The reference is based
557 on an industry standard definition of the media format.
558 7. DLT recording: serially recorded track pairs (DLTapeIII and
559 DLTapeIV(20)), or track quads (DLTapeIV(35) and DLTapeIV(40)).
560 8. Super DLT (SDLT) recording: 56 serially recorded logical tracks
561 with 8 physical tracks each.
562 9. Vendor-specific Exabyte density code for compressed format.
563 10. bpi/bpmm values for the Oracle/StorageTek T10000 tape drives are
564 not listed in the manual. Someone with access to a drive can
565 supply the necessary values by running 'mt getdensity'.
566 11. This is Exabyte 8200 uncompressed format. The compressed format
567 density code is 0x90.
568 12. This is Exabyte 8500 uncompressed format. The compressed format
569 density code is 0x8c.
570 13. This density code (0x48) was also used for DAT-160.
571 14. Officially known as LTO-8 Type M, abbreviated M8. This is a pristine
572 LTO-7 cartridge initialized with a higher density format by an LTO-8
573 drive. It cannot be read by an LTO-7 drive. Uncompressed capacity
574 is 9TB, compared to 6TB for LTO-7 and 12TB for LTO-8.
576 .Bd -literal -offset 2n
577 NOTE ON QIC STREAMERS
579 The following is a table of Data Cartridge types as used in the 1/4 inch
580 tape drives such as the Archive Viper 150, Wangtek 5525ES, and Tandberg
583 Value Reference Format Cartridge Type Capacity Tracks Length
584 ----- --------- ------ -------------- -------- ------ ------
586 0x05 QIC-11 DC300 15MB 4 300ft
587 0x05 QIC-11 DC300XL/P 20MB 4 450ft
588 0x05 QIC-11 DC600 27MB 4 600ft
589 0x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC615A 15MB 9 150ft
590 0x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC300XL/P 45MB 9 450ft
591 0x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC600A 60MB 9 600ft
592 0x0F QIC-120 QIC-120 DC600A/DC6150 120MB 15 620ft
593 0x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC600XTD/DC6150 150MB 18 620ft
594 0x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC6250 250MB 18 1,020ft
595 0x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6320 320MB 26 620ft
596 0x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6525 525MB 26 1,020ft
597 0x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9100/DL9135 1.0GB 30 760ft
598 0x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9150 1.2GB 30 950ft
599 0x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9200 2.0GB 42 950ft
600 0x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9250 2.5GB 42 1,200ft
605 QIC-24, QIC-120, QIC-150 use fixed blocksize of 512 bytes, QIC-525, QIC-1000
606 and QIC-2GB can use blocksize of 1,024 bytes.
607 DDS (DAT) drives generally use variable blocks.
609 QIC-02 and QIC-36 are interface standards for tape drives.
610 The QIC-02 and QIC-36 streamers such as the Wangtek 5250EQ are otherwise
611 identical to their SCSI versions (i.e.: Wangtek 5250ES).
613 It seems that the 150MB and larger streamers cannot write QIC-24 9 track
614 formats, only read them.
616 DC600A cartridges marked "10,000ftpi" can only be used as QIC-11, QIC-24,
618 DC600A cartridges marked 12,500ftpi can be used as both QIC-120 and QIC-150
621 Some manufacturers do not use "DC" on their cartridges.
622 Verbatim uses DL, Maxell uses MC, Sony uses QD, Quill uses DQ.
624 3M/Imation & Fuji use DC.
625 Thus a DL6250, MC-6250, QD6250, DQ6250 are all identical media to a DC6250.
627 QIC tape media is not "connected" to the take up reels and will de-spool
628 if the tape drive has dust covering the light sensor that looks for the end
629 of tape holes in the media.
631 .Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
633 This is the pathname of the tape drive.
634 The default (if the variable is unset, but not if it is null) is
636 It may be overridden with the
641 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]*" -compact
642 .It Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]*
643 SCSI magnetic tape interface
646 The exit status will be 0 when the drive operations were successful,
647 2 when the drive operations were unsuccessful, and 1 for other
648 problems like an unrecognized command or a missing drive device.
650 Some undocumented commands support old software.
663 Extensions regarding the
669 command, and have been merged into the
676 command that used to be a synonym for
678 has been abandoned in
680 since it was often confused with
682 which is fairly dangerous.
684 The utility cannot be interrupted or killed during a long erase
685 (which can be longer than an hour), and it is easy to forget
686 that the default erase is long.
688 Hardware block numbers do not always correspond to blocks on the tape
689 when the drive uses internal compression.
691 Erasure is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning.
693 Tape-related documentation is poor, here and elsewhere.