User Commands mt(1)
NAME
mt - magnetic tape control
SYNOPSIS
mt [-f tapename] command... [count]
DESCRIPTION
The mt utility sends commands to a magnetic tape drive. If
-f tapename is not specified, the environment variable TAPE
is used. If TAPE does not exist, mt uses the device
/dev/rmt/0n.
OPTIONS The following options are supported:-f tapename Specifies the raw tape device.
OPERANDS The following operands are supported: count The number of times that the requested operationis to be performed. By default, mt performs com-
mand once. Multiple operations of command can be performed by specifying count. command The following available commands that can be sent to a magnetic tape drive are supported. Only asmany characters as are required to uniquely iden-
tify a command need be specified. asf Specifies absolute space to count file number. This is equivalent to a rewind followed by a fsf count. bsf Back spaces over count EOF marks. Thetape is positioned on the beginning-
of-tape side of the EOF mark.
bsr Back spaces count records. bssf Back spaces over the requested number of sequential file marks. Sequential file marks are where the file marks are one right after the other with no other blocks of any kind between the file marks. The number argument specifiesSunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jun 2007 1
User Commands mt(1)
how many sequential file marks to which to space. For example, bssf 4 searches backwards to the first place where there are 4 sequential file marks and positions to the BOP side of the 4th file mark. This command is not supported by all drives. eof Writes count EOF marks at the current weof position on the tape. fsf Forward spaces over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file. fsr Forward spaces count records. fssf Forward spaces the over requested number of sequential file marks. Sequential file marks are where the file marks are one right after the other with no other blocks of any kind between the file marks. The number argument specifies how many sequentialfile marks to which to space. For exam-
ple, fssf 4 searches forwards to thefirst place where there are 4 sequen-
tial file marks and positions after the 4th file mark. This command is not supported by all drives. load Requests drive load and thread current media. Not supported by all drives. lock Prevents media removal. nbsf Back spaces count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file. This is equivalent to count+1 bsfs ollowed by one fsf.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jun 2007 2
User Commands mt(1)
seek Positions to requested logical tape position. tell Gets and prints current logical tape position. unlock Allows media removal. If count is specified with any of the following commands, the count is ignored and the command is performed only once.config Reads the drives current confi-
guration from the driver and displays it in st.conf format. See st(7D) for definition of fields and there meanings. eom Spaces to the end of recorded media on the tape. This is usefulfor appending files onto previ-
ously written tapes. erase Erases the entire tape.Some tape drives have option set-
tings where only portions of the tape can be erased. Be sure to select the correct setting to erase the whole tape. Erasing atape can take a long time depend-
ing on the device and/or tape. Refer to the device specific manual for time details. forcereserve Attempts to break a SCSI IIreserve issued by another initia-
tor. When this command completes, the drive is not reserved for thecurrent initiator, but is avail-
able for use. This command can be only be executed by those withsuper-user privileges.
offline rewofflSunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jun 2007 3
User Commands mt(1)
Rewinds the tape and, if appropriate, takes the drive unitoff-line by unloading the tape.
release Re-establishes the default
behavior of releasing at close. reserve Allows the tape drive to remainreserved after closing the dev-
ice. The drive must then be explicitly released.retension Rewinds the cartridge tape com-
pletely, then winds it forward to the end of the reel and back tobeginning-of-tape to smooth out
tape tension. rewind Rewinds the tape. status Prints status information about the tape unit. Status information can include the sense key reported by the drive, the residual and retries for the last operation, the current tape position reported in file number, and the number of blocks from the beginning of that file. It might also report that WORM media is loaded in that drive. EXIT STATUS 0 All operations were successful.1 Command was unrecognized or mt was unable to open the
specified tape drive. 2 An operation failed.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jun 2007 4
User Commands mt(1)
FILES/dev/rmt/* magnetic tape interface
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
tar(1), tcopy(1), ar.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), mtio(7I),
st(7D)BUGS
Not all devices support all options. Some options arehardware-dependent. Refer to the corresponding device manual
page.mt is architecture sensitive. Heterogeneous operation (that
is, SPARC to x86 or the reverse) is not supported.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jun 2007 5