xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/mt/mt.1 (revision a8445737e740901f5f2c8d24c12ef7fc8b00134e)
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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 fsf
68Forward space
69.Ar count
70files.
71.It Cm fsr
72Forward space
73.Ar count
74records.
75.It Cm bsf
76Back space
77.Ar count
78files.
79.It Cm bsr
80Back space
81.Ar count
82records.
83.It Cm rewind
84Rewind the tape
85(Count is ignored).
86.It Cm offline , rewoffl
87Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line
88(Count is ignored).
89.It Cm erase
90Erase the tape.
91A count of 0 disables long erase, which is on by default.
92.It Cm retension
93Re-tension the tape
94(one full wind forth and back, Count is ignored).
95.It Cm status
96Print status information about the tape unit.
97.It Cm blocksize
98Set the block size for the tape unit.  Zero means variable-length
99blocks.
100.It Cm density
101Set the density for the tape unit.  For the density codes, see below.
102The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string,
103corresponding to the
104.Dq Reference
105field.  If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order
106shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used.  If the
107given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match
108exactly, an informational message is printed about what the given
109string has been taken for.
110.It Cm eom
111Forward space to end of recorded medium
112(Count is ignored).
113.It Cm eod
114Forward space to end of data, identical to
115.Cm eom .
116.It Cm comp
117Set compression mode.
118There are currently several possible values for the compression mode:
119.Pp
120.Bl -tag -width 123456789 -compact
121.It off
122Turn compression off
123.It on
124Turn compression on
125.It none
126Same as
127.Ar off
128.It enable
129Same as
130.Ar on
131.It IDRC
132IBM Improved Data Recording Capability compression (0x10).
133.It DCLZ
134DCLZ compression algorithm (0x20).
135.El
136.Pp
137In addition to the above recognized compression keywords, the user can
138supply a numeric compression algorithm for the tape drive to use.  In most
139cases, simply turning the compression
140.Sq on
141will have the desired effect of enabling the default compression algorithm
142supported by the drive.  If this is not the case (see the
143.Cm status
144display to see which compression algorithm is currently in use), the user
145can manually specify one of the supported compression keywords (above), or
146supply a numeric compression value.
147.El
148.Pp
149If a tape name is not specified, and the environment variable
150.Ev TAPE
151does not exist;
152.Nm
153uses the device
154.Pa /dev/nrsa0 .
155.Pp
156.Nm Mt
157returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful,
1581 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation failed.
159.Pp
160The following density table was taken from the
161.Sq Historical sequential access density codes
162table (A-1) in Revision 11 of the SCSI-3 Stream Device Commands (SSC)
163working draft, dated November 11, 1997.
164.Pp
165The different density codes are as follows:
166.Pp
167.Dl 0x0	default for device
168.Dl 0xE	reserved for ECMA
169.Bd -literal -offset 3n
170Value  Width        Tracks    Density         Code Type Reference   Note
171        mm    in              bpmm       bpi
1720x01   12.7  (0.5)    9         32     (800)  NRZI  R   X3.22-1983   2
1730x02   12.7  (0.5)    9         63   (1,600)  PE    R   X3.39-1986   2
1740x03   12.7  (0.5)    9        246   (6,250)  GCR   R   X3.54-1986   2
1750x05    6.3  (0.25)  4/9       315   (8,000)  GCR   C   X3.136-1986  1
1760x06   12.7  (0.5)    9        126   (3,200)  PE    R   X3.157-1987  2
1770x07    6.3  (0.25)   4        252   (6,400)  IMFM  C   X3.116-1986  1
1780x08    3.81 (0.15)   4        315   (8,000)  GCR   CS  X3.158-1987  1
1790x09   12.7  (0.5)   18      1,491  (37,871)  GCR   C   X3.180       2
1800x0A   12.7  (0.5)   22        262   (6,667)  MFM   C   X3B5/86-199  1
1810x0B    6.3  (0.25)   4         63   (1,600)  PE    C   X3.56-1986   1
1820x0C   12.7  (0.5)   24        500  (12,690)  GCR   C   HI-TC1       1,6
1830x0D   12.7  (0.5)   24        999  (25,380)  GCR   C   HI-TC2       1,6
1840x0F    6.3  (0.25)  15        394  (10,000)  GCR   C   QIC-120      1,6
1850x10    6.3  (0.25)  18        394  (10,000)  GCR   C   QIC-150      1,6
1860x11    6.3  (0.25)  26        630  (16,000)  GCR   C   QIC-320      1,6
1870x12    6.3  (0.25)  30      2,034  (51,667)  RLL   C   QIC-1350     1,6
1880x13    3.81 (0.15)   1      2,400  (61,000)  DDS   CS  X3B5/88-185A 5
1890x14    8.0  (0.315)  1      1,703  (43,245)  RLL   CS  X3.202-1991  5
1900x15    8.0  (0.315)  1      1,789  (45,434)  RLL   CS  ECMA TC17    5
1910x16   12.7  (0.5)   48        394  (10,000)  MFM   C   X3.193-1990  1
1920x17   12.7  (0.5)   48      1,673  (42,500)  MFM   C   X3B5/91-174  1
1930x18   12.7  (0.5)  112      1,673  (42,500)  MFM   C   X3B5/92-50   1
1940x1C    6.3  (0.25)  34      1,654  (42,000)  MFM   C   QIC-385M     1,6
1950x1D    6.3  (0.25)  32      1,512  (38,400)  GCR   C   QIC-410M     1,6
1960x1E    6.3  (0.25)  30      1,385  (36,000)  GCR   C   QIC-1000C    1,6
1970x1F    6.3  (0.25)  30      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-2100C    1,6
1980x20    6.3  (0.25) 144      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-6GB(M)   1,6
1990x21    6.3  (0.25) 144      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-20GB(C)  1,6
2000x22    6.3  (0.25)  42      1,600  (40,640)  GCR   C   QIC-2GB(C)   ?
2010x23    6.3  (0.25)  38      2,666  (67,733)  RLL   C   QIC-875M     ?
2020x24    3.81 (0.15)   1      2,400  (61,000)        CS  DDS-2        5
2030x25    3.81 (0.15)   1      3,816  (97,000)        CS  DDS-3        5
2040x26    3.81 (0.15)   1      3,816  (97,000)        CS  DDS-4        5
2050x27    8.0  (0.315)  1      3,056  (77,611)  RLL   CS  Mammoth      5
2060x28   12.7  (0.5)   36      1,491  (37,871)  GCR   C   X3.224       1
2070x29   12.7  (0.5)
2080x2A
2090x2B   12.7  (0.5)    3          ?        ?     ?   C   X3.267       5
210.Ed
211
212.Bd -literal -offset 3n
213Code Description                                   Type Description
214----------------                                   ----------------
215NRZI    Non return to zero, change on ones         R Reel-to-reel
216GCR     Group code recording                       C Cartridge
217PE      Phase encoded                              CS Cassette
218IMFM    Inverted modified frequency modulation
219MFM     Modified frequency modulation
220DDS     DAT data storage
221RLL     Run length limited
222.Ed
223
224.Bd -literal -offset 3n
225NOTES
2261. Serial recorded.
2272. Parallel recorded.
2283. Old format known as QIC-11.
2295. Helical scan.
2306. This is not an American National Standard. The reference is based on
231   an industry standard definition of the media format.
232.Ed
233
234.Sh ENVIRONMENT
235If the following environment variable exists, it is utilized by
236.Nm mt .
237.Bl -tag -width Fl
238.It Ev TAPE
239.Nm Mt
240checks the
241.Ev TAPE
242environment variable if the
243argument
244.Ar tapename
245is not given.
246.Sh FILES
247.Bl -tag -width /dev/*rst[0-9]*xx -compact
248.It Pa /dev/*rwt*
249QIC-02/QIC-36 magnetic tape interface
250.It Pa /dev/*rsa[0-9]*
251SCSI magnetic tape interface
252.El
253.Sh SEE ALSO
254.Xr dd 1 ,
255.Xr ioctl 2 ,
256.Xr mtio 4 ,
257.Xr st 4 ,
258.Xr wt 4 ,
259.Xr environ 7
260.Sh HISTORY
261The
262.Nm
263command appeared in
264.Bx 4.3 .
265.Pp
266Extensions regarding the
267.Xr st 4
268driver appeared in 386BSD 0.1 as a separate
269.Xr st 1
270command, and have been merged into the
271.Nm
272command in
273.Fx 2.1 .
274.Pp
275The former
276.Cm eof
277command that used to be a synonym for
278.Cm weof
279has been abandoned in
280.Fx 2.1
281since it was often confused with
282.Cm eom ,
283which is fairly dangerous.
284