Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!rex!ames!haven!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Need HELP recovering files from tar damage
Keywords: tar corrupt file
Message-ID: <18567@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 15 Jul 89 16:26:37 GMT
References: <4385@merlin.usc.edu>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 29

In article <4385@merlin.usc.edu> dwu@nunki.usc.edu (Daniel Wu) writes:
>... from the cartridge tape ....

This question goes 'round and 'round.  Where it will stop, nobody knows.

Anyway, here are the facts as stated, distilled to their essence:  `tar
file', `cartridge tape', `overwritten with c option but naming a
nonexistent file'.

There are only about 30 gazillion different cartridge formats, so I
suppose we have to guess which one was used.

Many QIC (Quarter Inch Cartridge) tape devices and/or standards do not
allow reading past what the hardware thinks is the end of the tape.  If
this is the case, you are out of luck.

If you can find some way physically to read the data, there is a
program called `fixtar' floating around the net, and various other
similar programs (likewise lighter-than-net), which you can use to
recover most of your data.  If you study tar(5) in TFM you may be able
to recover even more data.

If you are truly desperate, you can remove the tape from its holder,
develop it chemically, and read the magnetic domains with a
microscope.  In some cases this will allow you to read data that has
been overwritten (that is, read the `second layer down').
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris