DOC HOME SITE MAP MAN PAGES GNU INFO SEARCH PRINT BOOK
 
Working with disks, tapes, and CD-ROMs

Rewinding, erasing, and retensioning tapes

To rewind or erase a tape, you should use the tape(C) command.

To rewind a tape, the command is as follows:

tape rewind device

The device argument is the name of the device file for the tape unit. (See ``Using tapes''.) For example, with a quarter-inch QIC-02 tape, enter the following command line:

   $ tape rewind /dev/rct0
By default, if no device is specified, tape reads the file /etc/default/tape. This contains the device name of a tape drive to use. So if there is only one tape device on your system and /etc/default/tape is correctly set up, you should not need to specify a device name.

It is a good idea to rewind the tape to the beginning after every use, or after encountering an error.

To erase a tape, the command is as follows:

tape erase device

You should retension any tapes that you use regularly, or that have been in storage and that you now wish to read from; this takes up any slack in the cartridge and reduces the likelihood of errors. (The drive retensions a tape by winding to the end of it, then rewinding it rapidly.) The command to retension a cartridge is as follows:

tape reten device

We recommend that you write-disable your tapes to prevent accidental erasure or overwriting. This is done by turning the tab on the cartridge so that the arrow points to the SAFE position; turn it the other way when you intend to write over or erase the tape.


Next topic: Using CD-ROMs
Previous topic: Formatting tapes

© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003