tapeinfo - report SCSI tape device info
SYNOPSIS
tapeinfo -f <scsi-generic-device>
DESCRIPTION
The tapeinfo command reads various information from SCSI
tape drives that is not generally available via most ven
dors' tape drivers. It issues raw commands directly to the
tape drive, using either the operating system's SCSI
generic device ( e.g. /dev/sg0 on Linux, /dev/pass0 on
FreeBSD) or the raw SCSI I/O ioctl on a tape device on
some operating systems.
One good time to use 'tapeinfo' is immediately after a
tape i/o operation has failed. On tape drives that support
HP's 'tapealert' API, 'tapeinfo' will report a more exact
description of what went wrong.
Do be aware that 'tapeinfo' is not a substitute for your
operating system's own 'mt' or similar tape driver control
program. It is intended to supplement, not replace, pro
grams like 'mt' that access your operating system's tape
driver in order to report or set information.
OPTIONS
The first argument, given following -f , is the SCSI
generic device corresponding to your tape drive. Consult
your operating system's documentation for more information
(for example, under Linux these are generally start at
/dev/sg0 under FreeBSD these start at /dev/pass0).
Under FreeBSD, 'camcontrol devlist' will tell you what
SCSI devices you have, along with which 'pass' device con
trols them. Under Linux, "cat /proc/scsi/scsi" will tell
you what SCSI devices you have.
BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
This program has only been tested on Linux with a limited
number of tape drives (HP DDS4, Seagate AIT).
AVAILABILITY
tapeinfo is currently being maintained by Eric Lee Green
<eric@badtux.org> formerly of Enhanced Software Technolo
gies Inc. The 'mtx' home page is http://mtx.source
forge.net and the actual code is currently available there
and via CVS from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtx/ .
SEE ALSO
mt(1),mtx(1),scsitape(1)
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