Can someone tell me how to.. I would like to know where I am on the tape after backing up some files. I backed up some files and now I would like to go back to couple of files and start copying from that perticular point. I did mt -t /dev/rmt/0m fsf 27 but do not know if it really worked becuase I do not know how to check if I am at the right place to start copy again. Thanks
Have you thought about using "bsf" and "bsr" (Backspace files and backspace records)? As long as you know where you want to go relative to where you are, then its simple math.
I was looking to accomplish after I have copied for examp aaa bbb ccc and now I want to go back to bbb and start copying two new files xxx and yyy so now when I do tat tvf /dev/rmt/0m I should see aaa xxx yyy
Other replies about using mt fsf and mt bsf are relevant. But you say you are using tar. If you have used tar to write several files to a tape, then as far as the tape is concerned there is only one file.
You cannot go backwards and forwards within a tar file.
Using tar, you can append to an existing archive but you cannot erase or replace a file within a tar archive. Think of it as a write-only medium.
You can write several tar archives to tape. In this case each archive is a separate file, so you can use 'mt' to move the tape back and forth. But you cannot append to the first archive, as it will overwrite the second archive. Hope this helps.
