Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!hpubvwa!grlab!scott
From: scott@grlab.UUCP (Scott Blachowicz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Old HP Conversion Woes
Message-ID: <240003@grlab.UUCP>
Date: 16 May 88 22:47:21 GMT
References: <3381@pitt.UUCP>
Organization: Graphicus
Lines: 17

You can use TF to write a tape of binary data, but you need to be aware
of a some things....
   -The CO command option to write tar(1) tapes only converts type 4
    files. The conversion done is to remove the record length
    descriptors that are in the file and stick newlines between all the
    records which can be a problem with binary data files unless you
    want record separators.
   
   -Other files will get put on the tape in the same form that they
    exist on the disc. If you use type 3 files (variable length
    records), the record length descriptors make it to the tape. It's
    not too hard to decode them after tar(1) reads them, though. Since
    there are no record separators, you get a stream of bytes. That is
    frequently what binary data files are anyway.

Scott Blachowicz 
UUCP:    ...!hpubvwa!grlab!scott