Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!midway!linac!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!RICHTER.MIT.EDU!krowitz From: krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Re: 1/2" tape conversion to 1/4" - urgent question Message-ID: <9010311400.AA23272@richter.mit.edu> Date: 31 Oct 90 14:00:07 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 18 You *must* specify which software format the tapes are! If the tapes were written with Apollo's wbak/rbak system, the 9-track (1/2") and catridge (1/4" QIC-24) formats are incompatible. Ie. the data written on the tape is different in addition to the physical differences in the tape. If this is the case, you *must* get an Apollo system to read 1/2" magtape and unpack the files to disk, and then write the 1/4" cartridge tape fresh from disk. If the tapes are Unix "tar" tapes, you still have a problem. The pre-SR10 cartridge tape driver produced "tar" tapes that were not normally readable by other non-Apollo systems. If I remember correctly, you had to use the "-b 1" blocking factor in order to get them to work. -- David Krowitz krowitz@richter.mit.edu (18.83.0.109) krowitz%richter.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet (in order of decreasing preference)