topic TAR Error in Operating System - Linux

TAR Error

Harstad — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 05:44:02 GMT

Hi

Doing a tar cvf /dev/st0 / ....give the following error:

tar: CanÂ´t open device: No such device.

Could you please help me?

Than

Re: TAR Error

Mark Grant — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 06:30:53 GMT

It means that your tape drive isn't connected, there's no tape in it or it doesn't work. Look at the output of "dmesg" and see if /dev/st0 is actually being recognized.

Re: TAR Error

Steven E. Protter — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 09:59:06 GMT

It also might mean there is no tape in the drive or its write protected.

tar defaults to the primary tape drive on mos systems.

Just in case you have the device wrong, try this:

tar cf /filelist

That might default and write to tape.

SEP

Re: TAR Error

Steven E. Protter — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 09:59:41 GMT

Ooops on myu command

tar cv /filelist

10 lashes on my fingers with a wet noodle.

SEP

Re: TAR Error

Stuart Browne — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 19:25:37 GMT

Actually, GNU tar will write to the STDOUT if you don't specify a 'file' (-f) for output.

You'll want to check with 'mt -f /dev/st0 status' to see if the tape is responding correctly.

If that comes back with an error, you might want to look in '/proc/scsi/scsi' to make sure a 'Sequential-Access' device is listed.

If that fails, then as Mark suggested, check the 'dmesg' command (and if you have one, /var/log/dmesg).