Some operations optionally take an argument or repeat count, which can be given
after the operation name and defaults to 1. The postfix
k ,
M , or
G can be used to give counts in units of 1024, 1024 * 1024, or 1024 *
1024 * 1024, respectively.
The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on
all types of tape drives.
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fsf
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Forward space
count files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
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fsfm
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Forward space
count files.
The tape is positioned on the last block of the previous file.
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bsf
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Backward space
count files.
The tape is positioned on the last block of the previous file.
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bsfm
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Backward space
count files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
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asf
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The tape is positioned at the beginning of the
count file. Positioning is done by first rewinding the tape and then spacing
forward over
count filemarks.
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fsr
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Forward space
count records.
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bsr
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Backward space
count records.
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fss
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(SCSI tapes) Forward space
count setmarks.
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bss
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(SCSI tapes) Backward space
count setmarks.
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eod, seod
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Space to end of valid data. Used on streamer tape
drives to append data to the logical end of tape.
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rewind
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Rewind the tape.
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offline, rewoffl, eject
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Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.
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retension
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Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel,
then rewind it again.
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weof, eof
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Write
count EOF marks at current position.
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wset
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(SCSI tapes) Write
count setmarks at current position (only SCSI tape).
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erase
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Erase the tape.
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status
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Print status information about the tape unit. (If the density code is
"no translation" in the status output, this does not affect working of the
tape drive.)
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seek
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(SCSI tapes) Seek to the
count block on the tape. This operation is available on some
Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives. The block
address should be obtained from a
tell call earlier.
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tell
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(SCSI tapes) Tell the current block on tape. This operation is available on some
Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.
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setpartition
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(SCSI tapes) Switch to the partition determined by
count. The default data partition of the tape is numbered zero. Switching
partition is available only if enabled for the device, the device
supports multiple partitions, and the tape is formatted with multiple
partitions.
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partseek
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(SCSI tapes) The tape position is set to block
count in the partition given by the argument after count. The default
partition is zero.
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mkpartition
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(SCSI tapes) Format the tape with one (count is zero) or two partitions
(count gives the size of the second partition in megabytes). The tape
drive must be able to format partitioned tapes with
initiator-specified partition size and partition support
must be enabled for the drive.
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load
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(SCSI tapes) Send the load command to the tape drive. The drives usually load the
tape when a new cartridge is inserted. The argument
count can usually be omitted. Some HP changers load tape n if the
count 10000 + n is given (a special funtion in the Linux st driver).
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lock
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(SCSI tapes) Lock the tape drive door.
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unlock
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(SCSI tapes) Unlock the tape drive door.
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setblk
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(SCSI tapes) Set the block size of the drive to
count bytes per record.
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setdensity
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(SCSI tapes) Set the tape density code to
count. The proper codes to use with each drive should be looked up from the
drive documentation.
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densities
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(SCSI tapes) Write explanation of some common density codes to
standard output.
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drvbuffer
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(SCSI tapes) Set the tape drive buffer code to
number. The proper value for unbuffered operation is zero and "normal" buffered
operation one. The meanings of other values can be found in the drive
documentation or, in the case of a SCSI-2 drive, from the SCSI-2 standard.
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compression
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(SCSI tapes) The compression within the drive can be switched on or
off using the MTCOMPRESSION ioctl. Note that this method is not
supported by all drives implementing compression. For instance, the
Exabyte 8 mm drives use density codes to select compression.
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stoptions
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(SCSI tapes) Set the driver options bits for the device to the defined
values. Allowed only for the superuser. The bits can be set
either by ORing the option bits from the file /usr/include/linux/mtio.h to
count, or by using the following keywords (as many keywords can be used on
the same line as necessary, unambiguous abbreviations allowed):
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buffer-writes
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buffered writes enabled
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async-writes
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asynchronous writes enabled
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read-ahead
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read-ahead for fixed block size
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debug
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debugging (if compiled into driver)
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two-fms
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write two filemarks when file closed
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fast-eod
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space directly to eod (and lose file number)
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no-wait
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don’t wait until rewind, etc. complete
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auto-lock
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automatically lock/unlock drive door
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def-writes
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the block size and density are for writes
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can-bsr
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drive can space backwards as well
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no-blklimits
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drive doesn’t support read block limits
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can-partitions
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drive can handle partitioned tapes
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scsi2logical
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seek and tell use SCSI-2 logical block addresses instead of device
dependent addresses
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sysv
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enable the System V semantics
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stsetoptions
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(SCSI tapes) Set selected driver options bits.
The methods to specify the bits to set are given above in the
description of
stoptions. Allowed only for the superuser.
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stclearoptions
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(SCSI tapes) Clear selected driver option bits.
The methods to specify the bits to clear are given above in description of
stoptions. Allowed only for the superuser.
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stwrthreshold
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(SCSI tapes) The write threshold for the tape device is set to
count kilobytes. The value must be smaller than or equal to the driver
buffer size. Allowed only for the superuser.
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defblksize
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(SCSI tapes) Set the default block size of the device to
count bytes. The value -1 disables the default block size.
The block size set by
setblk overrides the default until a new tape is inserted.
Allowed only for the superuser.
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defdensity
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(SCSI tapes) Set the default density code. The value -1 disables the
default density. The density set by
setdensity overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
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defdrvbuffer
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(SCSI tapes) Set the default drive buffer code. The value -1 disables the
default drive buffer code. The drive buffer code set by
drvbuffer overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
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defcompression
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(SCSI tapes) Set the default compression state. The value -1 disables the
default compression. The compression state set by
compression overrides the default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the
superuser.
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sttimeout
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sets the normal timeout for the device. The value is given in
seconds. Allowed only for the superuser.
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stlongtimeout
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sets the long timeout for the device. The value is given in
seconds. Allowed only for the superuser.
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stsetcln
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set the cleaning request interpretation parameters.
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