xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/mt/mt.1 (revision 6e8394b8baa7d5d9153ab90de6824bcd19b3b4e1)
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33.\"	@(#)mt.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
36.Dt MT 1
37.Os BSD 4
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm mt
40.Nd magnetic tape manipulating program
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl f Ar tapename
44.Ar command
45.Op Ar count
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Nm Mt
48is used to give commands to a magnetic tape drive.
49By default
50.Nm
51performs the requested operation once.  Operations
52may be performed multiple times by specifying
53.Ar count  .
54Note
55that
56.Ar tapename
57must reference a raw (not block) tape device.
58.Pp
59The available commands are listed below.  Only as many
60characters as are required to uniquely identify a command
61need be specified.
62.Bl -tag -width "eof, weof"
63.It Cm weof
64Write
65.Ar count
66end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape.
67.It Cm smk
68Write
69.Ar count
70setmarks at the current position on the tape.
71.It Cm fsf
72Forward space
73.Ar count
74files.
75.It Cm fsr
76Forward space
77.Ar count
78records.
79.It Cm fss
80Forward space
81.Ar count
82setmarks.
83.It Cm bsf
84Backward space
85.Ar count
86files.
87.It Cm bsr
88Backward space
89.Ar count
90records.
91.It Cm bss
92Backward space
93.Ar count
94setmarks.
95.It Cm rdhpos
96Read Hardware block position. Some drives do not support this. The block
97number reported is specific for that hardware only. The count argument is
98ignored.
99.It Cm rdspos
100Read SCSI logical block position. Some drives do not support this. The
101count argument is ignored.
102.It Cm sethpos
103Set Hardware block position. Some drives do not support this. The count
104argument is interpreted as a hardware block to which to position the tape.
105.It Cm setspos
106Set SCSI logical block position. Some drives do not support this. The count
107argument is interpreted as a SCSI logical block to which to position the tape.
108.It Cm rewind
109Rewind the tape
110(Count is ignored).
111.It Cm offline , rewoffl
112Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line
113(Count is ignored).
114.It Cm erase
115Erase the tape.
116A count of 0 disables long erase, which is on by default.
117.It Cm retension
118Re-tension the tape
119(one full wind forth and back, Count is ignored).
120.It Cm status
121Print status information about the tape unit. For SCSI magnetic tape devices,
122the current operating modes of density, blocksize, and whether compression
123is enabled is reported. The current state of the driver (what it thinks that
124it is doing with the device) is reported. If the driver knows the relative
125position from BOT (in terms of filemarks and records), it prints that. Note
126that this information is not definitive (only BOT, End of Recorded Media, and
127hardware or SCSI logical block position (if the drive supports such) are
128considered definitive tape positions).
129.It Cm errstat
130Print (and clear) error status information about this device. For every normal
131operation (e.g., a read or a write) and every control operation (e.g,, a
132rewind), the driver stores up the last command executed and it's associated
133status and any residual counts (if any). This command retrieves and prints this
134information. If possible, this also clears any latched error information.
135.It Cm blocksize
136Set the block size for the tape unit.  Zero means variable-length
137blocks.
138.It Cm density
139Set the density for the tape unit.  For the density codes, see below.
140The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string,
141corresponding to the
142.Dq Reference
143field.  If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order
144shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used.  If the
145given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match
146exactly, an informational message is printed about what the given
147string has been taken for.
148.It Cm geteotmodel
149Fetch and print out the current EOT filemark model. The model states how
150many filemarks will be written at close if a tape was being written.
151.It Cm seteotmodel
152Set (from the
153.Ar count
154argument)
155and print out the current and EOT filemark model. Typically this will be
156.Ar 2
157filemarks, but some devices (typically QIC cartridge drives) can
158only write
159.Ar 1
160filemark. Currently you can only choose a value of
161.Ar 1
162or
163.Ar 2 .
164.It Cm eom
165Forward space to end of recorded medium
166(Count is ignored).
167.It Cm eod
168Forward space to end of data, identical to
169.Cm eom .
170.It Cm comp
171Set compression mode.
172There are currently several possible values for the compression mode:
173.Pp
174.Bl -tag -width 123456789 -compact
175.It off
176Turn compression off
177.It on
178Turn compression on
179.It none
180Same as
181.Ar off
182.It enable
183Same as
184.Ar on
185.It IDRC
186IBM Improved Data Recording Capability compression (0x10).
187.It DCLZ
188DCLZ compression algorithm (0x20).
189.El
190.Pp
191In addition to the above recognized compression keywords, the user can
192supply a numeric compression algorithm for the tape drive to use.  In most
193cases, simply turning the compression
194.Sq on
195will have the desired effect of enabling the default compression algorithm
196supported by the drive.  If this is not the case (see the
197.Cm status
198display to see which compression algorithm is currently in use), the user
199can manually specify one of the supported compression keywords (above), or
200supply a numeric compression value.
201.El
202.Pp
203If a tape name is not specified, and the environment variable
204.Ev TAPE
205does not exist;
206.Nm
207uses the device
208.Pa /dev/nrsa0 .
209.Pp
210.Nm Mt
211returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful,
2121 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation failed.
213.Pp
214The following density table was taken from the
215.Sq Historical sequential access density codes
216table (A-1) in Revision 11 of the SCSI-3 Stream Device Commands (SSC)
217working draft, dated November 11, 1997.
218.Pp
219The different density codes are as follows:
220.Pp
221.Dl 0x0	default for device
222.Dl 0xE	reserved for ECMA
223.Bd -literal -offset 3n
224Value  Width        Tracks    Density         Code Type Reference   Note
225        mm    in              bpmm       bpi
2260x01   12.7  (0.5)    9         32     (800)  NRZI  R   X3.22-1983   2
2270x02   12.7  (0.5)    9         63   (1,600)  PE    R   X3.39-1986   2
2280x03   12.7  (0.5)    9        246   (6,250)  GCR   R   X3.54-1986   2
2290x05    6.3  (0.25)  4/9       315   (8,000)  GCR   C   X3.136-1986  1
2300x06   12.7  (0.5)    9        126   (3,200)  PE    R   X3.157-1987  2
2310x07    6.3  (0.25)   4        252   (6,400)  IMFM  C   X3.116-1986  1
2320x08    3.81 (0.15)   4        315   (8,000)  GCR   CS  X3.158-1987  1
2330x09   12.7  (0.5)   18      1,491  (37,871)  GCR   C   X3.180       2
2340x0A   12.7  (0.5)   22        262   (6,667)  MFM   C   X3B5/86-199  1
2350x0B    6.3  (0.25)   4         63   (1,600)  PE    C   X3.56-1986   1
2360x0C   12.7  (0.5)   24        500  (12,690)  GCR   C   HI-TC1       1,6
2370x0D   12.7  (0.5)   24        999  (25,380)  GCR   C   HI-TC2       1,6
2380x0F    6.3  (0.25)  15        394  (10,000)  GCR   C   QIC-120      1,6
2390x10    6.3  (0.25)  18        394  (10,000)  GCR   C   QIC-150      1,6
2400x11    6.3  (0.25)  26        630  (16,000)  GCR   C   QIC-320      1,6
2410x12    6.3  (0.25)  30      2,034  (51,667)  RLL   C   QIC-1350     1,6
2420x13    3.81 (0.15)   1      2,400  (61,000)  DDS   CS  X3B5/88-185A 5
2430x14    8.0  (0.315)  1      1,703  (43,245)  RLL   CS  X3.202-1991  5
2440x15    8.0  (0.315)  1      1,789  (45,434)  RLL   CS  ECMA TC17    5
2450x16   12.7  (0.5)   48        394  (10,000)  MFM   C   X3.193-1990  1
2460x17   12.7  (0.5)   48      1,673  (42,500)  MFM   C   X3B5/91-174  1
2470x18   12.7  (0.5)  112      1,673  (42,500)  MFM   C   X3B5/92-50   1
2480x1C    6.3  (0.25)  34      1,654  (42,000)  MFM   C   QIC-385M     1,6
2490x1D    6.3  (0.25)  32      1,512  (38,400)  GCR   C   QIC-410M     1,6
2500x1E    6.3  (0.25)  30      1,385  (36,000)  GCR   C   QIC-1000C    1,6
2510x1F    6.3  (0.25)  30      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-2100C    1,6
2520x20    6.3  (0.25) 144      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-6GB(M)   1,6
2530x21    6.3  (0.25) 144      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-20GB(C)  1,6
2540x22    6.3  (0.25)  42      1,600  (40,640)  GCR   C   QIC-2GB(C)   ?
2550x23    6.3  (0.25)  38      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-875M     ?
2560x24    3.81 (0.15)   1      2,400  (61,000)        CS  DDS-2        5
2570x25    3.81 (0.15)   1      3,816  (97,000)        CS  DDS-3        5
2580x26    3.81 (0.15)   1      3,816  (97,000)        CS  DDS-4        5
2590x27    8.0  (0.315)  1      3,056  (77,611)  RLL   CS  Mammoth      5
2600x28   12.7  (0.5)   36      1,491  (37,871)  GCR   C   X3.224       1
2610x29   12.7  (0.5)
2620x2A
2630x2B   12.7  (0.5)    3          ?        ?     ?   C   X3.267       5
264.Ed
265
266.Bd -literal -offset 3n
267Code Description                                   Type Description
268----------------                                   ----------------
269NRZI    Non return to zero, change on ones         R Reel-to-reel
270GCR     Group code recording                       C Cartridge
271PE      Phase encoded                              CS Cassette
272IMFM    Inverted modified frequency modulation
273MFM     Modified frequency modulation
274DDS     DAT data storage
275RLL     Run length limited
276.Ed
277
278.Bd -literal -offset 3n
279NOTES
2801. Serial recorded.
2812. Parallel recorded.
2823. Old format known as QIC-11.
2835. Helical scan.
2846. This is not an American National Standard. The reference is based on
285   an industry standard definition of the media format.
286.Ed
287
288.Sh ENVIRONMENT
289If the following environment variable exists, it is utilized by
290.Nm mt .
291.Bl -tag -width Fl
292.It Ev TAPE
293.Nm Mt
294checks the
295.Ev TAPE
296environment variable if the
297argument
298.Ar tapename
299is not given.
300.Sh FILES
301.Bl -tag -width /dev/*rst[0-9]*xx -compact
302.It Pa /dev/*rwt*
303QIC-02/QIC-36 magnetic tape interface
304.It Pa /dev/*rsa[0-9]*
305SCSI magnetic tape interface
306.El
307.Sh SEE ALSO
308.Xr dd 1 ,
309.Xr ioctl 2 ,
310.Xr mtio 4 ,
311.Xr sa 4 ,
312.Xr wt 4 ,
313.Xr environ 7
314.Sh HISTORY
315The
316.Nm
317command appeared in
318.Bx 4.3 .
319.Pp
320Extensions regarding the
321.Xr st 4
322driver appeared in 386BSD 0.1 as a separate
323.Xr st 1
324command, and have been merged into the
325.Nm
326command in
327.Fx 2.1 .
328.Pp
329The former
330.Cm eof
331command that used to be a synonym for
332.Cm weof
333has been abandoned in
334.Fx 2.1
335since it was often confused with
336.Cm eom ,
337which is fairly dangerous.
338