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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$f16@uuneo.neosoft.com>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:39806
cazzi@usa.net (Ana) writes:
> In article <5jt5nm$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.
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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>>>
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UNIX _IS_ user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.
--unknown