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.\" @(#)mt.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 30.\" 31.Dd October 31, 2023 32.Dt MT 1 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm mt 36.Nd magnetic tape manipulating program 37.Sh SYNOPSIS 38.Nm 39.Op Fl f Ar tapename 40.Ar command 41.Op Ar count 42.Nm 43.Op Fl f Ar tapename 44.Ar command 45.Ar argument 46.Sh DESCRIPTION 47The 48.Nm 49utility is used to command a magnetic tape drive for operations 50other than reading or writing data. 51.Pp 52The 53.Fl f 54option's 55.Ar tapename 56overrides the 57.Ev TAPE 58environment variable described below. 59.Pp 60The available commands are listed below. 61Only as many 62characters as are required to uniquely identify a command 63need be specified. 64.Pp 65The following commands optionally take a 66.Ar count , 67which defaults to 1. 68.Bl -tag -width ".Cm erase" 69.It Cm weof 70Write 71.Ar count 72end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position. 73This returns when the file mark has been written to the media. 74.It Cm weofi 75Write 76.Ar count 77end-of-file (EOF) marks at the current position. 78This returns as soon as the command has been validated by the tape drive. 79.It Cm smk 80Write 81.Ar count 82setmarks at the current position (DDS drives only). 83.It Cm fsf 84Forward space 85.Ar count 86files. 87.It Cm fsr 88Forward space 89.Ar count 90records. 91.It Cm fss 92Forward space 93.Ar count 94setmarks (DDS drives only). 95.It Cm bsf 96Backward space 97.Ar count 98files. 99.It Cm bsr 100Backward space 101.Ar count 102records. 103.It Cm bss 104Backward space 105.Ar count 106setmarks (DDS drives only). 107.It Cm erase 108Erase the tape using a long (often very long) method. 109With a 110.Ar count 111of 0, it will erase the tape using a quick method. 112Operation is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning. 113The tape will be at its beginning upon completion. 114.El 115.Pp 116The following commands ignore 117.Ar count . 118.Bl -tag -width ".Cm geteotmodel" 119.It Cm rdhpos 120Read the hardware block position. 121The block 122number reported is specific for that hardware only. 123With drive data compression especially, 124this position may have more to do with the amount of data 125sent to the drive than the amount of data written to tape. 126Some drives do not support this. 127.It Cm rdspos 128Read the SCSI logical block position. 129This typically is greater than the hardware position 130by the number of end-of-file marks. 131Some drives do not support this. 132.It Cm rewind 133Rewind the tape. 134.It Cm offline , rewoffl 135Rewind the tape and place the drive off line. 136Some drives are never off line. 137.It Cm load 138Load the tape into the drive. 139.It Cm retension 140Re-tension the tape. 141This winds the tape from the current position to the end 142and then to the beginning. 143This sometimes improves subsequent reading and writing, 144particularly for streaming drives. 145Some drives do not support this. 146.It Cm ostatus 147Output status information about the drive. 148For SCSI magnetic tape devices, 149the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression 150is enabled is reported. 151The current state of the driver (what it thinks that 152it is doing with the device) is reported. 153If the driver knows the relative 154position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that. 155Note 156that this information is not definitive (only BOT, End of Recorded Media, and 157hardware or SCSI logical block position (if the drive supports such) are 158considered definitive tape positions). 159.Pp 160Also note that this is the old status command, and will be eliminated in 161favor of the new status command (see below) in a future release. 162.It Cm errstat 163Output (and clear) error status information about this device. 164For every normal 165operation (e.g., a read or a write) and every control operation (e.g,, a 166rewind), the driver stores up the last command executed and it is associated 167status and any residual counts (if any). 168This command retrieves and outputs this 169information. 170If possible, this also clears any latched error information. 171.It Cm geteotmodel 172Output the current EOT filemark model. 173The model states how 174many filemarks will be written at close if a tape was being written. 175.It Cm eod , eom 176Wind the tape to the end of the recorded data, 177typically after an EOF mark where another file may be written. 178.It Cm rblim 179Report the block limits of the tape drive, including the minimum and 180maximum block size, and the block granularity if any. 181.El 182.Pp 183The following commands may require an 184.Ar argument . 185.Bl -tag -width ".Cm seteotmodel" 186.It Cm sethpos 187Set the hardware block position. 188The 189.Ar argument 190is a hardware block number to which to position the tape. 191Some drives do not support this. 192.It Cm setspos 193Set the SCSI logical block position. 194The 195.Ar argument 196is a SCSI logical block number to which to position the tape. 197Some drives do not support this. 198.It Cm blocksize 199Set the block size for the drive. 200The 201.Ar argument 202is the number of bytes per block, 203except 0 commands the drive to use variable-length blocks. 204.It Cm seteotmodel 205Set the EOT filemark model to 206.Ar argument 207and output the old and new models. 208Typically this will be 2 209filemarks, but some devices (typically QIC cartridge drives) can 210only write 1 filemark. 211You may only choose a value of 212.Ar 1 213or 214.Ar 2 . 215.It Cm status 216Output status information about the drive. 217For SCSI magnetic tape devices, 218the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression 219is enabled is reported. 220The current state of the driver (what it thinks that 221it is doing with the device) is reported. 222.Pp 223If the driver knows the relative 224position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it outputs that. 225If the tape drive supports the long form report of the 226.Tn SCSI 227READ POSITION command, the Reported File Number and Reported Record Number 228will be numbers other than -1, and there may be Flags reported as well. 229.Pp 230The BOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is at the 231beginning of the partition. 232.Pp 233The EOP flag means that the logical position of the drive is between Early 234Warning and End of Partition. 235.Pp 236The BPEW flag means that the logical position of the drive is in a 237Programmable Early Warning Zone or on the EOP side of Early Warning. 238.Pp 239Note that the Reported Record Number is the tape block or object number 240relative to the beginning of the partition. 241The Calculated Record Number is the tape block or object number relative 242to the previous file mark. 243.Pp 244Note 245that the Calculated File and Record Numbers are not definitive. 246The Reported File and Record Numbers are definitive, if they are numbers 247other than -1. 248.Bl -tag -width 6n 249.It Fl v 250Print additional status information, such as the maximum supported I/O 251size. 252.It Fl x 253Print all available status data to stdout in XML format. 254.El 255.It Cm getdensity 256Report density support information for the tape drive and any media that is 257loaded. 258Most drives will report at least basic density information similar to that 259reported by 260.Nm status 261command. 262Newer tape drives that conform to the T-10 SSC and newer tape 263specifications may report more detailed information about the types of 264tapes they support and the tape currently in the drive. 265.Bl -tag -width 6n 266.It Fl x 267Print all available density data to stdout in XML format. 268Because density information is currently included in the general status XML 269report used for 270.Nm 271status command, this will be the same XML output via 272.Do 273.Nm 274status 275.Fl x 276.Dc 277.El 278.It Cm param 279Display or set parameters. 280One of 281.Fl l , 282.Fl s , 283or 284.Fl x 285must be specified to indicate which operation to perform. 286See 287.Xr sa 4 288for more detailed information on the parameters. 289.Bl -tag -width 8n 290.It Fl l 291List parameters, values and descriptions. 292By default all parameters will be displayed. 293To display a specific parameter, specify the parameter with 294.Fl p . 295.It Fl p Ar name 296Specify the parameter name to list (with 297.Fl l ) 298or set (with 299.Fl s ) . 300.It Fl q 301Enable quiet mode for parameter listing. 302This will suppress printing of parameter descriptions. 303.It Fl s Ar value 304Specify the parameter value to set. 305The general type of this argument (integer, unsigned integer, string) is 306determined by the type of the variable indicated by the 307.Xr sa 4 308driver. 309More detailed argument checking is done by the 310.Xr sa 4 311driver. 312.It Fl x 313Print out all parameter information in XML format. 314.El 315.It Cm protect 316Display or set drive protection parameters. 317This is used to control checking and reporting a per-block checksum for 318tape drives that support it. 319Some drives may only support some parameters. 320.Bl -tag -width 8n 321.It Fl b Ar 0|1 322Set the Recover Buffered Data Protected bit. 323If set, this indicates that checksums are transferred with the logical 324blocks transferred by the RECOVERED BUFFERED DATA 325.Tn SCSI 326command. 327.It Fl d 328Disable all protection information settings. 329.It Fl e 330Enable all protection information settings. 331The default protection method used is Reed-Solomon CRC (protection method 3321), as specified in ECMA-319. 333The default protection information length used with Reed-Solomon CRC is 3344 bytes. 335To enable all settings except one more setting, specify the 336.Fl e 337argument and then explicitly disable settings that you do not wish to 338enable. 339For example, specifying 340.Fl e 341.Fl w Ar 0 342will enable all settings except for LBP_W. 343.It Fl l 344List available protection parmeters and their current settings. 345.It Fl L Ar len 346Set the length of the protection information in bytes. 347For Reed-Solomon CRC, the protection information length should be 4 bytes. 348.It Fl m Ar num 349Specify the numeric value for the protection method. 350The numeric value for Reed-Solomon CRC is 1. 351.It Fl r Ar 0|1 352Set the LBP_R parameter. 353When set, this indicates that each block read from the tape drive will 354have a checksum at the end. 355.It Fl v 356Enable verbose mode for parameter listing. 357This will include descriptions of each parameter. 358.It Fl w Ar 0|1 359Set the LBP_W parameter. 360When set, this indicates that each block written to the tape drive will have 361a checksum at the end. 362The drive will verify the checksum before writing the block to tape. 363.El 364.It Cm locate 365Set the tape drive's logical position. 366One of 367.Fl b , 368.Fl e , 369.Fl f , 370or 371.Fl s 372must be specified to indicate the type of position. 373If the partition number is specified, the drive will first relocate to the 374given partition (if it exists) and then to the position indicated within 375that partition. 376If the partition number is not specified, the drive will relocate to the 377given position within the current partition. 378.Bl -tag -width 14n 379.It Fl b Ar block_addr 380Relocate to the given tape block or logical object identifier. 381Note that the block number is the Reported Record Number that is relative 382to the beginning of the partition (or beginning of tape). 383.It Fl e 384Relocate to the end of data. 385.It Fl f Ar fileno 386Relocate to the given file number. 387.It Fl p Ar partition 388Specify the partition to change to. 389.It Fl s Ar setmark 390Relocate to the given set mark. 391.El 392.It Cm comp 393Set the drive's compression mode. 394The non-numeric values of 395.Ar argument 396are: 397.Pp 398.Bl -tag -width 9n -compact 399.It off 400Turn compression off. 401.It on 402Turn compression on. 403.It none 404Same as 405.Ar off . 406.It enable 407Same as 408.Ar on . 409.It IDRC 410IBM Improved Data Recording Capability compression (0x10). 411.It DCLZ 412DCLZ compression algorithm (0x20). 413.El 414.Pp 415In addition to the above recognized compression keywords, the user can 416supply a numeric compression algorithm for the drive to use. 417In most 418cases, simply turning the compression 419.Sq on 420will have the desired effect of enabling the default compression algorithm 421supported by the drive. 422If this is not the case (see the 423.Cm status 424display to see which compression algorithm is currently in use), the user 425can manually specify one of the supported compression keywords (above), or 426supply a numeric compression value from the drive's specifications. 427.Pp 428Note that for some older tape drives (for example the Exabyte 8200 and 8500 429series drives) it is necessary to switch to a different density to tell the 430drive to record data in its compressed format. 431If the user attempts to turn compression on while the uncompressed density 432is selected, the drive will return an error. 433This is generally not an issue for modern tape drives. 434.It Cm density 435Set the density for the drive. 436For the density codes, see below. 437The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string, 438corresponding to the 439.Dq Reference 440field. 441If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order 442shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used. 443If the 444given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match 445exactly, an informational message is output about what the given 446string has been taken for. 447.El 448.Pp 449The initial version of the density table below was taken from the 450.Sq Historical sequential access density codes 451table (A-1) in Revision 11 of the SCSI-3 Stream Device Commands (SSC) 452working draft, dated November 11, 1997. 453Subsequent additions have come from a number of sources. 454.Pp 455The density codes are: 456.Bd -literal -offset 2n 4570x0 default for device 4580xE reserved for ECMA 459 460Value Width Tracks Density Code Type Reference Note 461 mm in bpmm bpi 4620x01 12.7 (0.5) 9 32 (800) NRZI R X3.22-1983 2 4630x02 12.7 (0.5) 9 63 (1,600) PE R X3.39-1986 2 4640x03 12.7 (0.5) 9 246 (6,250) GCR R X3.54-1986 2 4650x05 6.3 (0.25) 4/9 315 (8,000) GCR C X3.136-1986 1,3 4660x06 12.7 (0.5) 9 126 (3,200) PE R X3.157-1987 2 4670x07 6.3 (0.25) 4 252 (6,400) IMFM C X3.116-1986 1 4680x08 3.81 (0.15) 4 315 (8,000) GCR CS X3.158-1987 1 4690x09 12.7 (0.5) 18 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.180 2 4700x0A 12.7 (0.5) 22 262 (6,667) MFM C X3B5/86-199 1 4710x0B 6.3 (0.25) 4 63 (1,600) PE C X3.56-1986 1 4720x0C 12.7 (0.5) 24 500 (12,690) GCR C HI-TC1 1,6 4730x0D 12.7 (0.5) 24 999 (25,380) GCR C HI-TC2 1,6 4740x0F 6.3 (0.25) 15 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-120 1,6 4750x10 6.3 (0.25) 18 394 (10,000) GCR C QIC-150 1,6 4760x11 6.3 (0.25) 26 630 (16,000) GCR C QIC-320 1,6 4770x12 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,034 (51,667) RLL C QIC-1350 1,6 4780x13 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) DDS CS X3B5/88-185A 5 4790x14 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS X3.202-1991 5,11 4800x15 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS ECMA TC17 5,12 4810x16 12.7 (0.5) 48 394 (10,000) MFM C X3.193-1990 1 4820x17 12.7 (0.5) 48 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/91-174 1 4830x18 12.7 (0.5) 112 1,673 (42,500) MFM C X3B5/92-50 1 4840x19 12.7 (0.5) 128 2,460 (62,500) RLL C DLTapeIII 6,7 4850x1A 12.7 (0.5) 128 3,214 (81,633) RLL C DLTapeIV(20) 6,7 4860x1B 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,383 (85,937) RLL C DLTapeIV(35) 6,7 4870x1C 6.3 (0.25) 34 1,654 (42,000) MFM C QIC-385M 1,6 4880x1D 6.3 (0.25) 32 1,512 (38,400) GCR C QIC-410M 1,6 4890x1E 6.3 (0.25) 30 1,385 (36,000) GCR C QIC-1000C 1,6 4900x1F 6.3 (0.25) 30 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-2100C 1,6 4910x20 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-6GB(M) 1,6 4920x21 6.3 (0.25) 144 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-20GB(C) 1,6 4930x22 6.3 (0.25) 42 1,600 (40,640) GCR C QIC-2GB(C) ? 4940x23 6.3 (0.25) 38 2,666 (67,733) RLL C QIC-875M ? 4950x24 3.81 (0.15) 1 2,400 (61,000) CS DDS-2 5 4960x25 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-3 5 4970x26 3.81 (0.15) 1 3,816 (97,000) CS DDS-4 5 4980x27 8.0 (0.315) 1 3,056 (77,611) RLL CS Mammoth 5 4990x28 12.7 (0.5) 36 1,491 (37,871) GCR C X3.224 1 5000x29 12.7 (0.5) 5010x2A 5020x2B 12.7 (0.5) 3 ? ? ? C X3.267 5 5030x40 12.7 (0.5) 384 4,800 (123,952) C LTO-1 5040x41 12.7 (0.5) 208 3,868 (98,250) RLL C DLTapeIV(40) 6,7 5050x42 12.7 (0.5) 512 7,398 (187,909) C LTO-2 5060x44 12.7 (0.5) 704 9,638 (244,805) C LTO-3 5070x46 12.7 (0.5) 896 12,725 (323,215) C LTO-4 5080x47 3.81 (0.25) ? 6,417 (163,000) CS DAT-72 5090x48 12.7 (0.5) 448 5,236 (133,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(110) 6,8,13 5100x49 12.7 (0.5) 448 7,598 (193,000) PRML C SDLTapeI(160) 6,8 5110x4A 12.7 (0.5) 768 ? PRML C T10000A 10 5120x4B 12.7 (0.5) 1152 ? PRML C T10000B 10 5130x4C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 ? PRML C T10000C 10 5140x4D 12.7 (0.5) 4608 ? PRML C T10000D 10 5150x51 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (unencrypted) 5160x52 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (unencrypted) 5170x53 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (unencrypted) 5180x54 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (unencrypted) 5190x55 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (unencrypted) 5200x56 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (unencrypted) 5210x57 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (unencrypted) 5220x58 12.7 (0.5) 1280 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-5 5230x59 12.7 (0.5)18944 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A7 (unencrypted) 5240x5A 12.7 (0.5) 2176 15,142 (384,607) C LTO-6 5250x5C 12.7 (0.5) 3584 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-7 5260x5D 12.7 (0.5) 5376 19,107 (485,318) C LTO-M8 14 5270x5E 12.7 (0.5) 6656 20,669 (524,993) C LTO-8 5280x60 12.7 (0.5) 8960 23,031 (584,987) C LTO-9 5290x71 12.7 (0.5) 512 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A1 (encrypted) 5300x72 12.7 (0.5) 896 11,800 (299,720) C 3592A2 (encrypted) 5310x73 12.7 (0.5) 1152 13,452 (341,681) C 3592A3 (encrypted) 5320x74 12.7 (0.5) 2560 19,686 (500,024) C 3592A4 (encrypted) 5330x75 12.7 (0.5) 5120 20,670 (525,018) C 3592A5 (encrypted) 5340x76 12.7 (0.5) 7680 20,670 (525,018) C 3592B5 (encrypted) 5350x77 12.7 (0.5) 8704 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A6 (encrypted) 5360x79 12.7 (0.5)18944 21,850 (554,990) C 3592A7 (encrypted) 5370x8c 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,789 (45,434) RLL CS EXB-8500c 5,9 5380x90 8.0 (0.315) 1 1,703 (43,245) RLL CS EXB-8200c 5,9 539.Ed 540.Bd -literal -offset 2n 541Code Description Type Description 542---- -------------------------------------- ---- ----------- 543NRZI Non return to zero, change on ones R Reel-to-reel 544GCR Group code recording C Cartridge 545PE Phase encoded CS Cassette 546IMFM Inverted modified frequency modulation 547MFM Modified frequency modulation 548DDS DAT data storage 549RLL Run length limited 550PRML Partial Response Maximum Likelihood 551.Ed 552.Bd -literal -offset 2n 553NOTES 5541. Serial recorded. 5552. Parallel recorded. 5563. Old format known as QIC-11. 5575. Helical scan. 5586. This is not an American National Standard. The reference is based 559 on an industry standard definition of the media format. 5607. DLT recording: serially recorded track pairs (DLTapeIII and 561 DLTapeIV(20)), or track quads (DLTapeIV(35) and DLTapeIV(40)). 5628. Super DLT (SDLT) recording: 56 serially recorded logical tracks 563 with 8 physical tracks each. 5649. Vendor-specific Exabyte density code for compressed format. 56510. bpi/bpmm values for the Oracle/StorageTek T10000 tape drives are 566 not listed in the manual. Someone with access to a drive can 567 supply the necessary values by running 'mt getdensity'. 56811. This is Exabyte 8200 uncompressed format. The compressed format 569 density code is 0x90. 57012. This is Exabyte 8500 uncompressed format. The compressed format 571 density code is 0x8c. 57213. This density code (0x48) was also used for DAT-160. 57314. Officially known as LTO-8 Type M, abbreviated M8. This is a pristine 574 LTO-7 cartridge initialized with a higher density format by an LTO-8 575 drive. It cannot be read by an LTO-7 drive. Uncompressed capacity 576 is 9TB, compared to 6TB for LTO-7 and 12TB for LTO-8. 577.Ed 578.Bd -literal -offset 2n 579NOTE ON QIC STREAMERS 580 581The following is a table of Data Cartridge types as used in the 1/4 inch 582tape drives such as the Archive Viper 150, Wangtek 5525ES, and Tandberg 583TDC4220 tape drives: 584 585Value Reference Format Cartridge Type Capacity Tracks Length 586----- --------- ------ -------------- -------- ------ ------ 587 5880x05 QIC-11 DC300 15MB 4 300ft 5890x05 QIC-11 DC300XL/P 20MB 4 450ft 5900x05 QIC-11 DC600 27MB 4 600ft 5910x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC615A 15MB 9 150ft 5920x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC300XL/P 45MB 9 450ft 5930x05 X3.136-1986 QIC-24 DC600A 60MB 9 600ft 5940x0F QIC-120 QIC-120 DC600A/DC6150 120MB 15 620ft 5950x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC600XTD/DC6150 150MB 18 620ft 5960x10 QIC-150 QIC-150 DC6250 250MB 18 1,020ft 5970x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6320 320MB 26 620ft 5980x11 QIC-320 QIC-525 DC6525 525MB 26 1,020ft 5990x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9100/DL9135 1.0GB 30 760ft 6000x1E QIC-1000C QIC-1000 DC9150 1.2GB 30 950ft 6010x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9200 2.0GB 42 950ft 6020x22 QIC-2GB(C) QIC-2GB DC9250 2.5GB 42 1,200ft 603.Ed 604.Pp 605Notes: 606.Pp 607QIC-24, QIC-120, QIC-150 use fixed blocksize of 512 bytes, QIC-525, QIC-1000 608and QIC-2GB can use blocksize of 1,024 bytes. 609DDS (DAT) drives generally use variable blocks. 610.Pp 611QIC-02 and QIC-36 are interface standards for tape drives. 612The QIC-02 and QIC-36 streamers such as the Wangtek 5250EQ are otherwise 613identical to their SCSI versions (i.e.: Wangtek 5250ES). 614.Pp 615It seems that the 150MB and larger streamers cannot write QIC-24 9 track 616formats, only read them. 617.Pp 618DC600A cartridges marked "10,000ftpi" can only be used as QIC-11, QIC-24, 619and QIC-120 format. 620DC600A cartridges marked 12,500ftpi can be used as both QIC-120 and QIC-150 621format. 622.Pp 623Some manufacturers do not use "DC" on their cartridges. 624Verbatim uses DL, Maxell uses MC, Sony uses QD, Quill uses DQ. 625.Pp 6263M/Imation & Fuji use DC. 627Thus a DL6250, MC-6250, QD6250, DQ6250 are all identical media to a DC6250. 628.Pp 629QIC tape media is not "connected" to the take up reels and will de-spool 630if the tape drive has dust covering the light sensor that looks for the end 631of tape holes in the media. 632.Sh ENVIRONMENT 633.Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE" 634.It Ev TAPE 635This is the pathname of the tape drive. 636The default (if the variable is unset, but not if it is null) is 637.Pa /dev/nsa0 . 638It may be overridden with the 639.Fl f 640option. 641.El 642.Sh FILES 643.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]*" -compact 644.It Pa /dev/*sa[0-9]* 645SCSI magnetic tape interface 646.El 647.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 648The exit status will be 0 when the drive operations were successful, 6492 when the drive operations were unsuccessful, and 1 for other 650problems like an unrecognized command or a missing drive device. 651.Sh COMPATIBILITY 652Some undocumented commands support old software. 653.Sh SEE ALSO 654.Xr dd 1 , 655.Xr ioctl 2 , 656.Xr mtio 4 , 657.Xr sa 4 , 658.Xr environ 7 659.Sh HISTORY 660The 661.Nm 662command appeared in 663.Bx 4.3 . 664.Pp 665Extensions regarding the 666.Xr st 4 667driver appeared in 668.Bx 386 0.1 669as a separate 670.Nm st 671command, and have been merged into the 672.Nm 673command in 674.Fx 2.1 . 675.Pp 676The former 677.Cm eof 678command that used to be a synonym for 679.Cm weof 680has been abandoned in 681.Fx 2.1 682since it was often confused with 683.Cm eom , 684which is fairly dangerous. 685.Sh BUGS 686The utility cannot be interrupted or killed during a long erase 687(which can be longer than an hour), and it is easy to forget 688that the default erase is long. 689.Pp 690Hardware block numbers do not always correspond to blocks on the tape 691when the drive uses internal compression. 692.Pp 693Erasure is not guaranteed if the tape is not at its beginning. 694.Pp 695Tape-related documentation is poor, here and elsewhere. 696