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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!not-for-mail From: Phillip Musumeci <phillip@mirriwinni.cse.rmit.edu.au> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: RTFM??? interesting professional answer Date: 27 Apr 1997 12:58:26 +1000 Organization: Computer Systems Engineering Department, RMIT Australia Lines: 77 Message-ID: <87afml6ujx.fsf@mirriwinni.cse.rmit.edu.au> References: <5js470$fo7@uuneo.neosoft.com> <5jt5nm$i8@uriah.heep.sax.de> <5juctg$f16@uuneo.neosoft.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: pm.cse.rmit.edu.au X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:39806 cazzi@usa.net (Ana) writes: > In article <5jt5nm$i8@uriah.heep.sax.de>, j@uriah.heep.sax.de says... > > >/dev/[r]ft0 ain't a normal read/write tape device. You need to filter > >your data through ft(8). RTFM... > > > >-- > >cheers, J"org > > > >joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: > JW11-RIPE > >Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-) > > > Unexpected and very childish answer. Is this the normal behaviour of > professionals in this group. > > At any rate, I still have NO answer to my question and doubt this > individual has a clue either. > > Still awaiting some insight. It is normal in that when someone says "RTFM", they really want you to read the manual entry. I've enclosed an extract from the man page entry for ft for you to read --- you really should read it as the two examples there show how to save data to tape and how to retrieve data from tape. In each case, the ft command is being used as a "conduit" between a tar command and the actual tape drive i.e. a pipe. The NOTES are probably important too. Try a little experimenting by saving a few files and then retrieving them. If it works, maybe thank the guy who first suggested its use. phillip CC: by email. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extract from "man ft": FT(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual FT(8) NAME ft - QIC 40/80 floppy tape drive controller SYNOPSIS ft [-f tape] [description] DESCRIPTION The ft command allows multi-volume dump, extract, and view of tape la- bels, for any pre-formatted QIC-40/80 tapes. It is totally system depen- dent, and has nothing to do with the QIC standards. ft is used primarily as a filter for tape i/o. For example, to save and compress the /usr directory to tape: % tar cvzf - /usr | ft "/usr save" To extract /usr from tape: % ft | tar xvzf - BUGS Formatting/Verifying is in the works. You will need to use your existing backup program to do this for the time being. NOTES The floppy tape driver supports tape drives such as ... <<<some text cut from here>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNIX _IS_ user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are. --unknown