Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!waikato.ac.nz!aukuni.ac.nz!russell From: russell@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Russell J Fulton;ccc032u) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi Subject: reading AND writing an exabyte tape Message-ID: <1991Mar7.005651.16891@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> Date: 7 Mar 91 00:56:51 GMT Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand. Lines: 21 I have been trying to implement a system to enforce tape label checking for our backup system. If I first verify that the operators have mounted the right tape by reading the label which has been previously written on the tape and then try to write to the tape I get an I/O Error. If however I rewind the tape after reading the label and then fsf the tape all works as expected. i.e. It would appear that one must rewind the tape when switching between reading and writing. Is this behavior intentional? On other systems I have had programs that read their way down to the end of a tape and then appended data. Is this the reason why -a option of tar does not work? Thanks, Russell. -- Russell Fulton, Computer Center, University of Auckland, New Zealand.