Try doing a "tar -tvf" so that you can watch the output go by as time
goes by.  I find that "tar -tf" is only useful for exposing whether or
not there is a problem with the tape; if you want to actually see
what's on the tape, tar -tvf is what you want.

You could read the man pages for tar as well and see what you can
find there.

On a 24GB tape, say DDS4, it could take as long as 5-6 hours if you
filled it up.  It depends how much data you wrote to it.

Jim

> So, how long should the -tf command take? I have a 24 gig tape:

> root      1370  0.0  0.0  1752  540 pts/0    D    16:45   0:00 tar -tf
> /dev/st0

> The process doesn't appear to be doing anything, and the drive doesn't
> look like it's working.... 

> Ed Hill wrote:
> > 
> > On Wed, 2002-08-14 at 15:02, Mike Staver wrote:
> > > So, if the tape already had data on it, it would automagically just
> > > overwrite it?
> > 
> > It depends.  If you run:
> > 
> >   tar -rf /dev/st0  /path/to/backup
> > 
> > then it will append the files.  If you use:
> > 
> >   tar -cf /dev/st0  /path/to/backup
> > 
> > then it will overwrite.  And you can see what (if anything) is on a tape
> > using:
> > 
> >   tar -tf /dev/st0
> > 
> > Note that on some older tape drive systems, you may have to re-wind the
> > tape using something like "mt rewind".  On most newer tape drives, the
> > unit will automatically rewind (and re-tension) for you.
> > 
> > I suggest that you:
> > 
> >   (1) browse the man and/or info pages for tar, and
> > 
> >   (2) put a tape in your unit and try out the commands above
> >         for a few small (test) directories before writing a
> >         backup script and adding a crontab entry for it.
> > 
> > Ed
> > 
> > --
> > Edward H. Hill III, PhD
> > Post-Doctoral Researcher   |  Email:  ed@eh3.com,  ehill@mines.edu
> > Division of ESE            |  URLs:   http://www.eh3.com
> > Colorado School of Mines   |    http://cesep.mines.edu/people/edhill.php
> > Golden, CO  80401          |  Phone:  303-273-3483    Fax: 303-273-3311
> > _______________________________________________
> > CLUE-Tech mailing list
> > CLUE-Tech@clue.denver.co.us
> > http://clue.denver.co.us/mailman/listinfo/clue-tech

--
Jim Ockers (ockers@ockers.net)
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