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From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Subject: Re: MULTIPLE TAPE BACKUPS
Message-ID: <1991Mar20.112328.24954@athena.mit.edu>
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
References:  <91078.083040KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 11:23:28 GMT
Lines: 20

In article <91078.083040KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu>, KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
|> 2). What is the difference between /dev/nrtape and
|> /dev/tape? nrtape stands for "no rewind" I think, but what does that mean?

  The default tape device is coded in the kernel to automatically rewind to
the beginning of the tape when the process that has opened the tape device
closes it.

  The non-rewinding device doesn't do this.  Therefore, in order to
fast-forward to the end of a tape and then write more data to it, as you're
trying to do, you need to use the non-rewinding device.  If you were to do "mt
-t /dev/tape feom", then the tape would fast-forward to the end of data on the
tape and then immediately rewind back to the beginning when the "mt" command
released it.

-- 
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