Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!tank!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Tar (and other?) blocking question
Message-ID: <15447@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 13 Jan 89 03:08:58 GMT
References: <752@n8emr.UUCP> <965@riddle.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 12

In article <965@riddle.UUCP> andrew@riddle.UUCP (Andrew Beattie) writes:
>... I never met a device driver that could handle bigger than 20b

20b (in dd terms) is a mere 10240 bytes.  Certainly any decent tape drive
should not mind 32 kB at 6250 bpi.  (Beyond 10k at 1600 and 32k at 6250,
conventional 9 track tapes become overly susceptible to errors.)  Modern
cartridge tape drives (QIC and 8mm) handle large (>1MB) records without
trouble, although they actually split them into smaller blocks (typically
1024 B).
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris