1.\" Copyright (c) 1981, 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 9.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 12.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 13.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 14.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 15.\" without specific prior written permission. 16.\" 17.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 18.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 19.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 20.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 21.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 22.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 23.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 24.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 25.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 26.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 27.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 28.\" 29.Dd October 31, 2023 30.Dt MT 1 31.Os 32.Sh NAME 33.Nm mt 34.Nd magnetic tape manipulating program 35.Sh SYNOPSIS 36.Nm 37.Op Fl f Ar tapename 38.Ar command 39.Op Ar count 40.Nm 41.Op Fl f Ar tapename 42.Ar command 43.Ar argument 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45The 46.Nm 47utility is used to command a magnetic tape drive for operations 48other than reading or writing data. 49.Pp 50The 51.Fl f 52option's 53.Ar tapename 54overrides the 55.Ev TAPE 56environment variable described below. 57.Pp 58The available commands are listed below. 59Only as many 60characters as are required to uniquely identify a command 61need be specified. 62.Pp 63The following commands optionally take a 64.Ar count , 65which defaults to 1. 66.Bl -tag -width ".Cm erase" 67.It Cm weof 68Write 69.Ar count 70end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position. 71This returns when the file mark has been written to the media. 72.It Cm weofi 73Write 74.Ar count 75end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position. 76This returns as soon as the command has been validated by the tape drive. 77.It Cm smk 78Write 79.Ar count 80setmarks at the current position (DDS drives only). 81.It Cm fsf 82Forward space 83.Ar count 84files. 85.It Cm fsr 86Forward space 87.Ar count 88records. 89.It Cm fss 90Forward space 91.Ar count 92setmarks (DDS drives only). 93.It Cm bsf 94Backward space 95.Ar count 96files. 97.It Cm bsr 98Backward space 99.Ar count 100records. 101.It Cm bss 102Backward space 103.Ar count 104setmarks (DDS drives only). 105.It Cm erase 106Erase the tape using a long (often very long) method. 107With a 108.Ar count 109of 0, it will erase the tape using a quick method. 110Operation is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning. 111The tape will be at its beginning upon completion. 112.El 113.Pp 114The following commands ignore 115.Ar count . 116.Bl -tag -width ".Cm geteotmodel" 117.It Cm rdhpos 118Read the hardware block position. 119The block 120number reported is specific for that hardware only. 121With drive data compression especially, 122this position may have more to do with the amount of data 123sent to the drive than the amount of data written to tape. 124Some drives do not support this. 125.It Cm rdspos 126Read the SCSI logical block position. 127This typically is greater than the hardware position 128by the number of end-of-file marks. 129Some drives do not support this. 130.It Cm rewind 131Rewind the tape. 132.It Cm offline , rewoffl 133Rewind the tape and place the drive off line. 134Some drives are never off line. 135.It Cm load 136Load the tape into the drive. 137.It Cm retension 138Re-tension the tape. 139This winds the tape from the current position to the end 140and then to the beginning. 141This sometimes improves subsequent reading and writing, 142particularly for streaming drives. 143Some drives do not support this. 144.It Cm ostatus 145Output status information about the drive. 146For SCSI magnetic tape devices, 147the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression 148is enabled is reported. 149The current state of the driver (what it thinks that 150it is doing with the device) is reported. 151If the driver knows the relative 152position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that. 153Note 154that this information is not definitive (only BOT, End of Recorded Media, and 155hardware or SCSI logical block position (if the drive supports such) are 156considered definitive tape positions). 157.Pp 158Also note that this is the old status command, and will be eliminated in 159favor of the new status command (see below) in a future release. 160.It Cm errstat 161Output (and clear) error status information about this device. 162For every normal 163operation (e.g., a read or a write) and every control operation (e.g,, a 164rewind), the driver stores up the last command executed and it is associated 165status and any residual counts (if any). 166This command retrieves and outputs this 167information. 168If possible, this also clears any latched error information. 169.It Cm geteotmodel 170Output the current EOT filemark model. 171The model states how 172many filemarks will be written at close if a tape was being written. 173.It Cm eod , eom 174Wind the tape to the end of the recorded data, 175typically after an EOF mark where another file may be written. 176.It Cm rblim 177Report the block limits of the tape drive, including the minimum and 178maximum block size, and the block granularity if any. 179.El 180.Pp 181The following commands may require an 182.Ar argument . 183.Bl -tag -width ".Cm seteotmodel" 184.It Cm sethpos 185Set the hardware block position. 186The 187.Ar argument 188is a hardware block number to which to position the tape. 189Some drives do not support this. 190.It Cm setspos 191Set the SCSI logical block position. 192The 193.Ar argument 194is a SCSI logical block number to which to position the tape. 195Some drives do not support this. 196.It Cm blocksize 197Set the block size for the drive. 198The 199.Ar argument 200is the number of bytes per block, 201except 0 commands the drive to use variable-length blocks. 202.It Cm seteotmodel 203Set the EOT filemark model to 204.Ar argument 205and output the old and new models. 206Typically this will be 2 207filemarks, but some devices (typically QIC cartridge drives) can 208only write 1 filemark. 209You may only choose a value of 210.Ar 1 211or 212.Ar 2 . 213.It Cm status 214Output status information about the drive. 215For SCSI magnetic tape devices, 216the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression 217is enabled is reported. 218The current state of the driver (what it thinks that 219it is doing with the device) is reported. 220.Pp 221If the driver knows the relative 222position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that. 223If the tape drive supports the long form report of the 224.Tn SCSI 225READ POSITION command, the Reported File Number and Reported Record Number 226will be numbers other than -1, and there may be Flags reported as well. 227.Pp 228The BOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is at the 229beginning of the partition. 230.Pp 231The EOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is between Early 232Warning and End of Partition. 233.Pp 234The BPEW flag means that the logical position of the drive is in a 235Programmable Early Warning Zone or on the EOP side of Early Warning. 236.Pp 237Note that the Reported Record Number is the tape block or object number 238relative to the beginning of the partition. 239The Calculated Record Number is the tape block or object number relative 240to the previous file mark. 241.Pp 242Note 243that the Calculated File and Record Numbers are not definitive. 244The Reported File and Record Numbers are definitive, if they are numbers 245other than -1. 246.Bl -tag -width 6n 247.It Fl v 248Print additional status information, such as the maximum supported I/O 249size. 250.It Fl x 251Print all available status data to stdout in XML format. 252.El 253.It Cm getdensity 254Report density support information for the tape drive and any media that is 255loaded. 256Most drives will report at least basic density information similar to that 257reported by 258.Nm status 259command. 260Newer tape drives that conform to the T-10 SSC and newer tape 261specifications may report more detailed information about the types of 262tapes they support and the tape currently in the drive. 263.Bl -tag -width 6n 264.It Fl x 265Print all available density data to stdout in XML format. 266Because density information is currently included in the general status XML 267report used for 268.Nm 269status command, this will be the same XML output via 270.Do 271.Nm 272status 273.Fl x 274.Dc 275.El 276.It Cm param 277Display or set parameters. 278One of 279.Fl l , 280.Fl s , 281or 282.Fl x 283must be specified to indicate which operation to perform. 284See 285.Xr sa 4 286for more detailed information on the parameters. 287.Bl -tag -width 8n 288.It Fl l 289List parameters, values and descriptions. 290By default all parameters will be displayed. 291To display a specific parameter, specify the parameter with 292.Fl p . 293.It Fl p Ar name 294Specify the parameter name to list (with 295.Fl l ) 296or set (with 297.Fl s ) . 298.It Fl q 299Enable quiet mode for parameter listing. 300This will suppress printing of parameter descriptions. 301.It Fl s Ar value 302Specify the parameter value to set. 303The general type of this argument (integer, unsigned integer, string) is 304determined by the type of the variable indicated by the 305.Xr sa 4 306driver. 307More detailed argument checking is done by the 308.Xr sa 4 309driver. 310.It Fl x 311Print out all parameter information in XML format. 312.El 313.It Cm protect 314Display or set drive protection parameters. 315This is used to control checking and reporting a per-block checksum for 316tape drives that support it. 317Some drives may only support some parameters. 318.Bl -tag -width 8n 319.It Fl b Ar 0|1 320Set the Recover Buffered Data Protected bit. 321If set, this indicates that checksums are transferred with the logical 322blocks transferred by the RECOVERED BUFFERED DATA 323.Tn SCSI 324command. 325.It Fl d 326Disable all protection information settings. 327.It Fl e 328Enable all protection information settings. 329The default protection method used is Reed-Solomon CRC (protection method 3301), as specified in ECMA-319. 331The default protection information length used with Reed-Solomon CRC is 3324 bytes. 333To enable all settings except one more setting, specify the 334.Fl e 335argument and then explicitly disable settings that you do not wish to 336enable. 337For example, specifying 338.Fl e 339.Fl w Ar 0 340will enable all settings except for LBP_W. 341.It Fl l 342List available protection parameters and their current settings. 343.It Fl L Ar len 344Set the length of the protection information in bytes. 345For Reed-Solomon CRC, the protection information length should be 4 bytes. 346.It Fl m Ar num 347Specify the numeric value for the protection method. 348The numeric value for Reed-Solomon CRC is 1. 349.It Fl r Ar 0|1 350Set the LBP_R parameter. 351When set, this indicates that each block read from the tape drive will 352have a checksum at the end. 353.It Fl v 354Enable verbose mode for parameter listing. 355This will include descriptions of each parameter. 356.It Fl w Ar 0|1 357Set the LBP_W parameter. 358When set, this indicates that each block written to the tape drive will have 359a checksum at the end. 360The drive will verify the checksum before writing the block to tape. 361.El 362.It Cm locate 363Set the tape drive's logical position. 364One of 365.Fl b , 366.Fl e , 367.Fl f , 368or 369.Fl s 370must be specified to indicate the type of position. 371If the partition number is specified, the drive will first relocate to the 372given partition (if it exists) and then to the position indicated within 373that partition. 374If the partition number is not specified, the drive will relocate to the 375given position within the current partition. 376.Bl -tag -width 14n 377.It Fl b Ar block_addr 378Relocate to the given tape block or logical object identifier. 379Note that the block number is the Reported Record Number that is relative 380to the beginning of the partition (or beginning of tape). 381.It Fl e 382Relocate to the end of data. 383.It Fl f Ar fileno 384Relocate to the given file number. 385.It Fl p Ar partition 386Specify the partition to change to. 387.It Fl s Ar setmark 388Relocate to the given set mark. 389.El 390.It Cm comp 391Set the drive's compression mode. 392The non-numeric values of 393.Ar argument 394are: 395.Pp 396.Bl -tag -width 9n -compact 397.It off 398Turn compression off. 399.It on 400Turn compression on. 401.It none 402Same as 403.Ar off . 404.It enable 405Same as 406.Ar on . 407.It IDRC 408IBM Improved Data Recording Capability compression (0x10). 409.It DCLZ 410DCLZ compression algorithm (0x20). 411.El 412.Pp 413In addition to the above recognized compression keywords, the user can 414supply a numeric compression algorithm for the drive to use. 415In most 416cases, simply turning the compression 417.Sq on 418will have the desired effect of enabling the default compression algorithm 419supported by the drive. 420If this is not the case (see the 421.Cm status 422display to see which compression algorithm is currently in use), the user 423can manually specify one of the supported compression keywords (above), or 424supply a numeric compression value from the drive's specifications. 425.Pp 426Note that for some older tape drives (for example the Exabyte 8200 and 8500 427series drives) it is necessary to switch to a different density to tell the 428drive to record data in its compressed format. 429If the user attempts to turn compression on while the uncompressed density 430is selected, the drive will return an error. 431This is generally not an issue for modern tape drives. 432.It Cm density 433Set the density for the drive. 434For the density codes, see below. 435The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string, 436corresponding to the 437.Dq Reference 438field. 439If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order 440shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used. 441If the 442given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match 443exactly, an informational message is output about what the given 444string has been taken for. 445.El 446.Pp 447The initial version of the density table below was taken from the 448.Sq Historical sequential access density codes 449table (A-1) in Revision 11 of the SCSI-3 Stream Device Commands (SSC) 450working draft, dated November 11, 1997. 451Subsequent additions have come from a number of sources. 452.Pp 453The density codes are: 454.Bd -literal -offset 2n 4550x0 default for device 4560xE reserved for ECMA 457 458Value Width Tracks Density Code Type Reference Note 459 mm in bpmm bpi 4600x01 12.7 (0.5) 9 32 (800) NRZI R X3.22-1983 2 4610x02 12.7 (0.5) 9 63 (1,600) PE R X3.39-1986 2 4620x03 12.7 (0.5) 9 246 (6,250) GCR R X3.54-1986 2 4630x05 6.3 (0.25) 4/9 315 (8,000) GCR C X3.136-1986 1,3 4640x06 12.7 (0.5) 9 126 (3,200) PE R X3.157-1987 2 4650x07 6.3 (0.25) 4 252 (6,400) IMFM C X3.116-1986 1 4660x08 3.81 (0.15) 4 315 (8,000) GCR CS X3.158-1987 1 4670x09 12.7 (0.5) 18 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.180 2 4680x0A 12.7 (0.5) 22 262 (6,667) MFM C X3B5/86-199 1 4690x0B 6.3 (0.25) 4 63 (1,600) PE C X3.56-1986 1 4700x0C 12.7 (0.5) 24 500 (12,690) GCR C HI-TC1 1,6 4710x0D 12.7 (0.5) 24 999 (25,380) GCR C HI-TC2 1,6 4720x0F 6.3 (0.25) 15 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-120 1,6 4730x10 6.3 (0.25) 18 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-150 1,6 4740x11 6.3 (0.25) 26 630 (16,000) GCR C QIC-320 1,6 4750x12 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,034 (51,667) RLL C QIC-1350 1,6 4760x13 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) DDS CS X3B5/88-185A 5 4770x14 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS X3.202-1991 5,11 4780x15 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS ECMA TC17 5,12 4790x16 12.7 (0.5) 48 394 (10,000) MFM C X3.193-1990 1 4800x17 12.7 (0.5) 48 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/91-174 1 4810x18 12.7 (0.5) 112 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/92-50 1 4820x19 12.7 (0.5) 128 2,460 (62,500) RLL C DLTapeIII 6,7 4830x1A 12.7 (0.5) 128 3,214 (81,633) RLL C DLTapeIV(20) 6,7 4840x1B 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,383 (85,937) RLL C DLTapeIV(35) 6,7 4850x1C 6.3 (0.25) 34 1,654 (42,000) MFM C QIC-385M 1,6 4860x1D 6.3 (0.25) 32 1,512 (38,400) GCR C QIC-410M 1,6 4870x1E 6.3 (0.25) 30 1,385 (36,000) GCR C QIC-1000C 1,6 4880x1F 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-2100C 1,6 4890x20 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-6GB(M) 1,6 4900x21 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-20GB(C) 1,6 4910x22 6.3 (0.25) 42 1,600 (40,640) GCR C QIC-2GB(C) ? 4920x23 6.3 (0.25) 38 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-875M ? 4930x24 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) CS DDS-2 5 4940x25 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-3 5 4950x26 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-4 5 4960x27 8.0 (0.315) 1 3,056 (77,611) RLL CS Mammoth 5 4970x28 12.7 (0.5) 36 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.224 1 4980x29 12.7 (0.5) 4990x2A 5000x2B 12.7 (0.5) 3 ? ? ? C X3.267 5 5010x40 12.7 (0.5) 384 4,800 (123,952) C LTO-1 5020x41 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,868 (98,250) RLL C DLTapeIV(40) 6,7 5030x42 12.7 (0.5) 512 7,398 (187,909) C LTO-2 5040x44 12.7 (0.5) 704 9,638 (244,805) C LTO-3 5050x46 12.7 (0.5) 896 12,725 (323,215) C LTO-4 5060x47 3.81 (0.25) ? 6,417 (163,000) CS DAT-72 5070x48 12.7 (0.5) 448 5,236 (133,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(110) 6,8,13 5080x49 12.7 (0.5) 448 7,598 (193,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(160) 6,8 5090x4A 12.7 (0.5) 768 ? PRML C T10000A 10 5100x4B 12.7 (0.5) 1152 ? PRML C T10000B 10 5110x4C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 ? PRML C T10000C 10 5120x4D 12.7 (0.5) 4608 ? PRML C T10000D 10 5130x51 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (unencrypted) 5140x52 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (unencrypted) 5150x53 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (unencrypted) 5160x54 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (unencrypted) 5170x55 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (unencrypted) 5180x56 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (unencrypted) 5190x57 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (unencrypted) 5200x58 12.7 (0.5) 1280 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-5 5210x59 12.7 (0.5)18944 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A7 (unencrypted) 5220x5A 12.7 (0.5) 2176 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-6 5230x5C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-7 5240x5D 12.7 (0.5) 5376 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-M8 14 5250x5E 12.7 (0.5) 6656 20,669 (524,993) C LTO-8 5260x60 12.7 (0.5) 8960 23,031 (584,987) C LTO-9 5270x71 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (encrypted) 5280x72 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (encrypted) 5290x73 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (encrypted) 5300x74 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (encrypted) 5310x75 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (encrypted) 5320x76 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (encrypted) 5330x77 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (encrypted) 5340x79 12.7 (0.5)18944 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A7 (encrypted) 5350x8c 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS EXB-8500c 5,9 5360x90 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS EXB-8200c 5,9 537.Ed 538.Bd -literal -offset 2n 539Code Description Type Description 540---- -------------------------------------- ---- ----------- 541NRZI Non return to zero, change on ones R Reel-to-reel 542GCR Group code recording C Cartridge 543PE Phase encoded CS Cassette 544IMFM Inverted modified frequency modulation 545MFM Modified frequency modulation 546DDS DAT data storage 547RLL Run length limited 548PRML Partial Response Maximum Likelihood 549.Ed 550.Bd -literal -offset 2n 551NOTES 5521. Serial recorded. 5532. Parallel recorded. 5543. Old format known as QIC-11. 5555. Helical scan. 5566. This is not an American National Standard. The reference is based 557 on an industry standard definition of the media format. 5587. DLT recording: serially recorded track pairs (DLTapeIII and 559 DLTapeIV(20)), or track quads (DLTapeIV(35) and DLTapeIV(40)). 5608. Super DLT (SDLT) recording: 56 serially recorded logical tracks 561 with 8 physical tracks each. 5629. Vendor-specific Exabyte density code for compressed format. 56310. 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'. 56611. This is Exabyte 8200 uncompressed format. The compressed format 567 density code is 0x90. 56812. This is Exabyte 8500 uncompressed format. The compressed format 569 density code is 0x8c. 57013. This density code (0x48) was also used for DAT-160. 57114. 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. 575.Ed 576.Bd -literal -offset 2n 577NOTE ON QIC STREAMERS 578 579The following is a table of Data Cartridge types as used in the 1/4 inch 580tape drives such as the Archive Viper 150, Wangtek 5525ES, and Tandberg 581TDC4220 tape drives: 582 583Value Reference Format Cartridge Type Capacity Tracks Length 584----- --------- ------ -------------- -------- ------ ------ 585 5860x05 QIC-11 DC300 15MB 4 300ft 5870x05 QIC-11 DC300XL/P 20MB 4 450ft 5880x05 QIC-11 DC600 27MB 4 600ft 5890x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC615A 15MB 9 150ft 5900x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC300XL/P 45MB 9 450ft 5910x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC600A 60MB 9 600ft 5920x0F QIC-120 QIC-120 DC600A/DC6150 120MB 15 620ft 5930x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC600XTD/DC6150 150MB 18 620ft 5940x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC6250 250MB 18 1,020ft 5950x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6320 320MB 26 620ft 5960x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6525 525MB 26 1,020ft 5970x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9100/DL9135 1.0GB 30 760ft 5980x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9150 1.2GB 30 950ft 5990x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9200 2.0GB 42 950ft 6000x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9250 2.5GB 42 1,200ft 601.Ed 602.Pp 603Notes: 604.Pp 605QIC-24, QIC-120, QIC-150 use fixed blocksize of 512 bytes, QIC-525, QIC-1000 606and QIC-2GB can use blocksize of 1,024 bytes. 607DDS (DAT) drives generally use variable blocks. 608.Pp 609QIC-02 and QIC-36 are interface standards for tape drives. 610The QIC-02 and QIC-36 streamers such as the Wangtek 5250EQ are otherwise 611identical to their SCSI versions (i.e.: Wangtek 5250ES). 612.Pp 613It seems that the 150MB and larger streamers cannot write QIC-24 9 track 614formats, only read them. 615.Pp 616DC600A cartridges marked "10,000ftpi" can only be used as QIC-11, QIC-24, 617and QIC-120 format. 618DC600A cartridges marked 12,500ftpi can be used as both QIC-120 and QIC-150 619format. 620.Pp 621Some manufacturers do not use "DC" on their cartridges. 622Verbatim uses DL, Maxell uses MC, Sony uses QD, Quill uses DQ. 623.Pp 6243M/Imation & Fuji use DC. 625Thus a DL6250, MC-6250, QD6250, DQ6250 are all identical media to a DC6250. 626.Pp 627QIC tape media is not "connected" to the take up reels and will de-spool 628if the tape drive has dust covering the light sensor that looks for the end 629of tape holes in the media. 630.Sh ENVIRONMENT 631.Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE" 632.It Ev TAPE 633This is the pathname of the tape drive. 634The default (if the variable is unset, but not if it is null) is 635.Pa /dev/nsa0 . 636It may be overridden with the 637.Fl f 638option. 639.El 640.Sh FILES 641.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]*" -compact 642.It Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]* 643SCSI magnetic tape interface 644.El 645.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 646The exit status will be 0 when the drive operations were successful, 6472 when the drive operations were unsuccessful, and 1 for other 648problems like an unrecognized command or a missing drive device. 649.Sh COMPATIBILITY 650Some undocumented commands support old software. 651.Sh SEE ALSO 652.Xr dd 1 , 653.Xr ioctl 2 , 654.Xr mtio 4 , 655.Xr sa 4 , 656.Xr environ 7 657.Sh HISTORY 658The 659.Nm 660command appeared in 661.Bx 4.3 . 662.Pp 663Extensions regarding the 664.Xr st 4 665driver appeared in 666.Bx 386 0.1 667as a separate 668.Nm st 669command, and have been merged into the 670.Nm 671command in 672.Fx 2.1 . 673.Pp 674The former 675.Cm eof 676command that used to be a synonym for 677.Cm weof 678has been abandoned in 679.Fx 2.1 680since it was often confused with 681.Cm eom , 682which is fairly dangerous. 683.Sh BUGS 684The utility cannot be interrupted or killed during a long erase 685(which can be longer than an hour), and it is easy to forget 686that the default erase is long. 687.Pp 688Hardware block numbers do not always correspond to blocks on the tape 689when the drive uses internal compression. 690.Pp 691Erasure is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning. 692.Pp 693Tape-related documentation is poor, here and elsewhere. 694