Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ucsd!nosc!humu!uhccux!helen
From: helen@uhccux.UUCP (Helen Rapozo)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: backup utility
Message-ID: <1651@uhccux.UUCP>
Date: 9 Mar 88 19:57:13 GMT
References: <256@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU>
Reply-To: helen@uhccux.UUCP (Helen Rapozo)
Organization: U. of Hawaii, Manoa (Honolulu)
Lines: 34
Keywords: backup

In article <256@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> fsimmons@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Frank Simmons) writes:
>
> I have 2 questions:
>
>  1) is it possible to list the contents of a tape without having written
>     the tape?

Sure, you can do this:

	BACKUP/LIST=file tapedev:/save

	where file is a filename that will store the tape list, you can
	opt not to put the "=file" part after the list, in which case
	it will go to the terminal.

	tapedev: is your tape device name.  Ours is MUA0: for either
	a TK-50 or a TU-81+, but it might be different for other
	types of tape drives.  I have seen MTA0: on other sites.

>
>  2) is it possible to extract a file from the tape without having put it
>     there to begin with?

I guess so.  You may not get anything back from this type of restore.
I guess what you are asking is does VMS complain if you try to restore
a file from a saveset and that file is not in that saveset.  If that is
what you are asking, well VMS will not say nothing.  Even if you do
a BACKUP/LOG it will report nothing from this type of restore.
>
>    I continually get tapes written in BACKUP format with no clue as to 
>    the command(s) used to prepare the tape.

When you do a BACKUP/LIST the begining part of that list will have
a section of how that saveset was done, with even the actual
command that did it.