Locking the eject button on DAT drives

[Dan Garthwaite]

Is it possible to override casual usage of the tape eject button on an HP DAT drive?

This functionality is present for CDROM drives.

[Rick Garland]

Tape drives are not typically mounted as a filesystem in the same manner that CDROMs are. The reason the CD will not eject is because it is mounted as a filesystem.

[Anthony Goonetilleke]

Some software packages do lock the tape drive though... in omniback hence you have to use mt -f /dev/rmt/1m offline before you can take the tape out...

[John Palmer]

I don't believe that you can.

Most tape drives will force a tape offline if you hold down the eject button for a few seconds even if it is in use.

[Dan Garthwaite]

To John: This is why I used 'casual' to my question. The ability to override a lock is essential ( thus the paper clip override on CDROMs )

A backup admin here has repeatedly complained of users popping the tape because they want to use the drive... but doing so in the midst of a backup-in-progress.

I've noted the functionality in certain software packages ( TapeWare will do this on NT ), thus my curiosity.