*BSD News Article 5549


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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!sunrise.com!npt1!root
From: root@npt1.uucp (System PRIVILEGED Account)
Subject: SCO Can't Read Tape Written By Ultrix
Message-ID: <Buy9r4.E22@npt1.uucp>
Organization: Logicon, Middletown, RI
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1992 22:42:40 GMT
Lines: 32


   I need to transfer data via 8-mm tape (Exebyte 8800 drives on both
systems) from an Ultrix 4.2A system to a SCO 3.4 system. So far, I have been 
unable to do so.

   I can run GNU tar or cpio on both ends so tar or cpio compatability is no
problem. 

   The problem seems to be at the driver level. If I try the following on the
SCO side after making a tape with either cpio or tar on the Ultrix side:

   cat /dev/devicefile | more

I get a "bad medium " error.

   From what I've been able to find out so far, Ultrix seems to use a fixed
block size of 512 bytes and SCO a fixed block size of 10,240, but I'm not
sure about either piece of information.

   For my next attempt, I'm going to try archiving to a file and then using 
dd to transfer to and from the tape (that way I hope I can control the block
size), but since the two systems are 300 miles apart, the process is
a little slow and I need to get this going as soon as possible.

   Has anyone out there ever managed to transfer data from Ultrix to SCO on
8-mm tape? I would also greatly appreciate any ideas as to what I might try
next or any insights as to what the problem is.
   
-- 
Dan White          INTERNET: dan%npt1@uunet.uu.net
Logicon            UUCP:     uunet!npt1!dan
Middletown, RI               (401) 846-7710