Linux and Unix mt command
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About mt
Syntax
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About mt
Magnetic tape control.
Syntax
mt [ -f tapename ] command [ count ]
| -f tapename | Specify the raw tape device. |
| command | Available commands that can be sent to a magnetic
tape drive. Only as many characters as are
required to uniquely identify a command need be
specified. | eof, weof | Write count EOF marks at the current position on the tape. | | fsf | Forward space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file. | | fsr | Forward space count records. | | bsf | Back space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-tape side of the EOF mark. | | bsr | Back space count records. | | nbsf | Back space count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the
file. This is equivalent to count+1 bsf's followed by one fsf. | | asf | Absolute space to count file number. This is equivalent to a rewind followed by a fsf count. | If count is specified with any of the following commands, the count is ignored and the command is performed only once. | eom | Space to the end of recorded media on the tape. This is useful for appending files onto previously written tapes. | | rewind | Rewind the tape. | | offline, rewoffl | Rewind the tape and, if appropriate, take the drive unit off-line by unloading the tape. It cycles through all four tapes. | | status | Print status information about the tape unit. | | retension | Rewind the cartridge tape completely, then wind it forward to the end of the reel and back to beginning-of-tape to smooth out tape tension. | | reserve | Allow the tape drive to remain reserved after closing the device. The drive must then be explicitly released. | | release | Re-establish the default behavior of releasing at close. | | forcereserve | Break the reservation of the tape drive held by another host and then reserve the tape drive. This command can be executed only with super-user privileges. | | erase | Erase the entire tape. Erasing a tape may take a long time depending on the device
or tape. Refer to the device specific manual for time details. | |
| count | The number of times that the requested operation is to be performed. By default, mt performs command once; multiple operations of command may be performed by specifying count. |
Related commands
tar
tcopy
