This manual page documents the tape control program
mt.
mt
performs the given
operation,
which must be one of the tape operations listed below, on a tape
drive. The commands can also be listed by running the program with the
-h
option. The version of mt is printed with the
-v
or
--version
option. The path of the tape device to operate on can be given with
the
-f
or
-t
option. If neither of those options is given, and the environment
variable
TAPE
is set, it is used. Otherwise, a default device defined in the file
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h
is used.
Some operations optionally take an argument or repeat count, which can be given
after the operation name and defaults to 1.
The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on
all types of tape drives.
fsf
Forward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
fsfm
Forward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the last block of the previous file.
bsf
Backward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the last block of the previous file.
bsfm
Backward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
asf
The tape is positioned at the beginning of the
count
file. Positioning is done by first rewinding the tape and then spacing
forward over
count
filemarks.
fsr
Forward space
count
records.
bsr
Backward space
count
records.
fss
(SCSI tapes) Forward space
count
setmarks.
bss
(SCSI tapes) Backward space
count
setmarks.
eod, seod
Space to end of valid data. Used on streamer tape
drives to append data to the logical and of tape.
rewind
Rewind the tape.
offline, rewoffl, eject
Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.
retension
Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel,
then rewind it again.
weof, eof
Write
count
EOF marks at current position.
wset
(SCSI tapes) Write
count
setmarks at current position (only SCSI tape).
erase
Erase the tape.
status
Print status information about the tape unit. (If the density code is
"no translation" in the status output, this does not affect working of the
tape drive.)
seek
(SCSI tapes) Seek to the
count
block on the tape. This operation is available on some
Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives. The block
address should be obtained from a
tell
call earlier.
tell
(SCSI tapes) Tell the current block on tape. This operation is available on some
Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.
setpartition
(SCSI tapes) Switch to the partition determined by
count.
The default data partition of the tape is numbered zero. Switching
partition is available only if enabled for the device, the device
supports multiple partitions, and the tape is formatted with multiple
partitions.
partseek
(SCSI tapes) The tape position is set to block
count
in the partition given by the argument after count. The default
partition is zero.
mkpartition
(SCSI tapes) Format the tape with one (count is zero) or two partitions
(count gives the size of the second partition in megabytes). The tape
drive must be able to format partitioned tapes with
initiator-specified partition size and partition support
must be enabled for the drive.
load
(SCSI tapes) Send the load command to the tape drive. The drives usually load the
tape when a new cartridge is inserted. The argument
count
can usually be omitted. Some HP changers load tape n if the
count
10000 + n is given (a special funtion in the Linux st driver).
lock
(SCSI tapes) Lock the tape drive door.
unlock
(SCSI tapes) Unlock the tape drive door.
setblk
(SCSI tapes) Set the block size of the drive to
count
bytes per record.
setdensity
(SCSI tapes) Set the tape density code to
count.
The proper codes to use with each drive should be looked up from the
drive documentation.
densities
(SCSI tapes) Write explanation of some common density codes to
standard output.
drvbuffer
(SCSI tapes) Set the tape drive buffer code to
number.
The proper value for unbuffered operation is zero and "normal" buffered
operation one. The meanings of other values can be found in the drive
documentation or, in case of a SCSI-2 drive, from the SCSI-2 standard.
compression
(SCSI tapes) The compression within the drive can be switched on or
off using the MTCOMPRESSION ioctl. Note that this method is not
supported by all drives implementing compression. For instance, the
Exabyte 8 mm drives use density codes to select compression.
stoptions
(SCSI tapes) Set the driver options bits for the device to the defined
values. Allowed only for the superuser. The bits can be set
either by oring the option bits from the file /usr/include/linux/mtio.h to
count,
or by using the following keywords (as many keywords can be used on
the same line as necessary, unambiguous abbreviations allowed):
buffer-writes
buffered writes enabled
async-writes
asynchronous writes enabled
read-ahead
read-ahead for fixed block size
debug
debugging (if compiled into driver)
two-fms
write two filemarks when file closed
fast-eod
space directly to eod (and lose file number)
no-wait
don't wait until rewind, etc. complete
auto-lock
automatically lock/unlock drive door
def-writes
the block size and density are for writes
can-bsr
drive can space backwards well
no-blklimits
drive doesn't support read block limits
can-partitions
drive can handle partitioned tapes
scsi2logical
seek and tell use SCSI-2 logical block addresses instead of device
dependent addresses
sysv
enable the System V semantics
stsetoptions
(SCSI tapes) Set selected driver options bits. The methods to specify
the bits to set are given above in description of stoptions.
Allowed only for the superuser.
stclearoptions
(SCSI tapes) Clear selected driver option bits. The methods to specify
the bits to clear are given above in description of stoptions.
Allowed only for the superuser.
stwrthreshold
(SCSI tapes) The write threshold for the tape device is set to
count
kilobytes. The value must be smaller than or equal to the driver
buffer size. Allowed only for the superuser.
defblksize
(SCSI tapes) Set the default block size of the device to
count
bytes. The value -1 disables the default block size.
The block size set by
setblk
overrides the default until a new tape is inserted.
Allowed only for the superuser.
defdensity
(SCSI tapes) Set the default density code. The value -1 disables the
default density. The density set by
setdensity
overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
defdrvbuffer
(SCSI tapes) Set the default drive buffer code. The value -1 disables the
default drive buffer code. The drive buffer code set by
drvbuffer
overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
defcompression
(SCSI tapes) Set the default compression state. The value -1 disables the
default compression. The compression state set by
compression
overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
sttimeout
sets the normal timeout for the device. The value is given in
seconds. Allowed only for the superuser.
stlongtimeout
sets the long timeout for the device. The value is given in
seconds. Allowed only for the superuser.
stsetcln
set the cleaning request interpretation parameters.
mt
exits with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded, 1 if the
operation or device name given was invalid, or 2 if the operation
failed.
