1MT(1) General Commands Manual MT(1)
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6 mt - control magnetic tape drive operation
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9 mt [-h] [-f device] operation [count] [arguments...]
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12 This manual page documents the tape control program mt. mt performs
13 the given operation, which must be one of the tape operations listed
14 below, on a tape drive. The commands can also be listed by running the
15 program with the -h option.
16 Some operations optionally take an argument or repeat count, which can
18 be given after the operation name and defaults to 1. The postfix k , M
19 , or G can be used to give counts in units of 1024, 1024 * 1024, or
20 1024 * 1024 * 1024, respectively.
21 The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
23 accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on
24 all types of tape drives.
25 fsf Forward space count files. The tape is positioned on the first
27 block of the next file.
28 fsfm Forward space past count file marks, then backward space one
30 file record. This leaves the tape positioned on the last block
31 of the file that is count-1 files past the current file.
32 bsf Backward space count files. The tape is positioned on the last
34 block of the previous file.
35 bsfm Backward space past count file marks, then forward space one
37 file record. This leaves the tape positioned on the first block
38 of the file that is count-1 files before the current file.
39 asf The tape is positioned at the beginning of the count file. Posi‐
41 tioning is done by first rewinding the tape and then spacing
42 forward over count filemarks.
43 fsr Forward space count records.
45 bsr Backward space count records.
47 fss (SCSI tapes) Forward space count setmarks.
49 bss (SCSI tapes) Backward space count setmarks.
51 eod, seod
53 Space to end of valid data. Used on streamer tape drives to
54 append data to the logical end of tape.
55 rewind Rewind the tape.
57 offline, rewoffl, eject
59 Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.
60 retension
62 Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel, then
63 rewind it again.
64 weof, eof
66 Write count EOF marks at current position.
67 wset (SCSI tapes) Write count setmarks at current position (only SCSI
69 tape).
70 erase Erase the tape.
72 status Print status information about the tape unit. (If the density
74 code is "no translation" in the status output, this does not
75 affect working of the tape drive.)
76 seek (SCSI tapes) Seek to the count block on the tape. This opera‐
78 tion is available on some Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and
79 some SCSI-2 tape drives. The block address should be obtained
80 from a tell call earlier.
81 tell (SCSI tapes) Tell the current block on tape. This operation is
83 available on some Tandberg and Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2
84 tape drives.
85 setpartition
87 (SCSI tapes) Switch to the partition determined by count. The
88 default data partition of the tape is numbered zero. Switching
89 partition is available only if enabled for the device, the
90 device supports multiple partitions, and the tape is formatted
91 with multiple partitions.
92 partseek
94 (SCSI tapes) The tape position is set to block count in the par‐
95 tition given by the argument after count. The default partition
96 is zero.
97 mkpartition
99 (SCSI tapes) Format the tape with one (count is zero) or two
100 partitions (count gives the size of the second partition in
101 megabytes). The tape drive must be able to format partitioned
102 tapes with initiator-specified partition size and partition sup‐
103 port must be enabled for the drive.
104 load (SCSI tapes) Send the load command to the tape drive. The drives
106 usually load the tape when a new cartridge is inserted. The
107 argument count can usually be omitted. Some HP changers load
108 tape n if the count 10000 + n is given (a special funtion in the
109 Linux st driver).
110 lock (SCSI tapes) Lock the tape drive door.
112 unlock (SCSI tapes) Unlock the tape drive door.
114 setblk (SCSI tapes) Set the block size of the drive to count bytes per
116 record.
117 setdensity
119 (SCSI tapes) Set the tape density code to count. The proper
120 codes to use with each drive should be looked up from the drive
121 documentation.
122 densities
124 (SCSI tapes) Write explanation of some common density codes to
125 standard output.
126 drvbuffer
128 (SCSI tapes) Set the tape drive buffer code to number. The
129 proper value for unbuffered operation is zero and "normal"
130 buffered operation one. The meanings of other values can be
131 found in the drive documentation or, in the case of a SCSI-2
132 drive, from the SCSI-2 standard.
133 compression
135 (SCSI tapes) The compression within the drive can be switched on
136 or off using the MTCOMPRESSION ioctl. Note that this method is
137 not supported by all drives implementing compression. For
138 instance, the Exabyte 8 mm drives use density codes to select
139 compression.
140 stoptions
142 (SCSI tapes) Set the driver options bits for the device to the
143 defined values. Allowed only for the superuser. The bits can be
144 set either by ORing the option bits from the file
145 /usr/include/linux/mtio.h to count, or by using the following
146 keywords (as many keywords can be used on the same line as nec‐
147 essary, unambiguous abbreviations allowed):
148 buffer-writes buffered writes enabled
150 async-writes asynchronous writes enabled
152 read-ahead read-ahead for fixed block size
154 debug debugging (if compiled into driver)
156 two-fms write two filemarks when file closed
158 fast-eod space directly to eod (and lose file number)
160 no-wait don't wait until rewind, etc. complete
162 auto-lock automatically lock/unlock drive door
164 def-writes the block size and density are for writes
166 can-bsr drive can space backwards as well
168 no-blklimits drive doesn't support read block limits
170 can-partitions drive can handle partitioned tapes
172 scsi2logical seek and tell use SCSI-2 logical block addresses
174 instead of device dependent addresses
175 sili Set the SILI bit is when reading in variable
177 block mode. This may speed up reading blocks
178 shorter than the read byte count. Set this option
179 only if you know that the drive supports SILI and
180 the HBA reliably returns transfer residual byte
181 counts. Requires kernel version >= 2.6.26.
182 sysv enable the System V semantics
184 stsetoptions
186 (SCSI tapes) Set selected driver options bits. The methods to
187 specify the bits to set are given above in the description of
188 stoptions. Allowed only for the superuser.
189 stclearoptions
191 (SCSI tapes) Clear selected driver option bits. The methods to
192 specify the bits to clear are given above in description of
193 stoptions. Allowed only for the superuser.
194 stshowoptions
196 (SCSI tapes) Print the currently enabled options for the device.
197 Requires kernel version >= 2.6.26 and sysfs must be mounted at
198 /sys.
199 stwrthreshold
201 (SCSI tapes) The write threshold for the tape device is set to
202 count kilobytes. The value must be smaller than or equal to the
203 driver buffer size. Allowed only for the superuser.
204 defblksize
206 (SCSI tapes) Set the default block size of the device to count
207 bytes. The value -1 disables the default block size. The block
208 size set by setblk overrides the default until a new tape is
209 inserted. Allowed only for the superuser.
210 defdensity
212 (SCSI tapes) Set the default density code. The value -1 disables
213 the default density. The density set by setdensity overrides the
214 default until a new tape is inserted. Allowed only for the supe‐
215 ruser.
216 defdrvbuffer
218 (SCSI tapes) Set the default drive buffer code. The value -1
219 disables the default drive buffer code. The drive buffer code
220 set by drvbuffer overrides the default until a new tape is
221 inserted. Allowed only for the superuser.
222 defcompression
224 (SCSI tapes) Set the default compression state. The value -1
225 disables the default compression. The compression state set by
226 compression overrides the default until a new tape is inserted.
227 Allowed only for the superuser.
228 sttimeout
230 sets the normal timeout for the device. The value is given in
231 seconds. Allowed only for the superuser.
232 stlongtimeout
234 sets the long timeout for the device. The value is given in sec‐
235 onds. Allowed only for the superuser.
236 stsetcln
238 set the cleaning request interpretation parameters.
239 mt exits with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded, 1 if the opera‐
241 tion or device name given was invalid, or 2 if the operation failed.
242
244 -h, --help
245 Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.
246 -v, --version
248 Print version of mt.
249 -f, -t The path of the tape device on which to operate. If neither of
251 those options is given, and the environment variable TAPE is
252 set, it is used. Otherwise, a default device defined in the
253 file /usr/include/sys/mtio.h is used.
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256 The program is written by Kai Makisara <Kai.Makisara@kolumbus.fi>.
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259 The program and the manual page are copyrighted by Kai Makisara,
260 1998-2008. They can be distributed according to the GNU Copyleft.
261
263 st(4)
264 April 2008 MT(1)