[Info-vax] Copying VMS SaveSet Under Windows

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 11/21/2010 5:10 PM, Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:32:56 +0100, Michael Kraemer wrote:
>
>> Bob Eager schrieb:
>>
>>> It's a pretty trivial job, because one doesn't have to teach a UNIX
>>> system (or a Windows one) to understand it.
>>
>> well, not quite. If one wants to read an ANSI tape properly, i.e.
>> including the extra information it provides (file names, dates, etc),
>> one indeed has to invest some extra efforts.
>
> Not really. An ANSI tape consists merely of blocks and tape marks. Some
> of the blocks are quite small and contain the filenames, labels, etc.,
> and some contain data. One merely has to read them, store each block at
> its correct size, and store the mini-blocks that make up the tape marks.
> ANSI is irrelevant; that simply dictates the size and contents of the
> blocks.
>
> Oh, and I've done it. A long time ago, mind.
>

I also!  It's been a LONG time but ISTR that VMS could create and 
understand ANSI Standard labels.  AIRC tape labels were optional.

IBM had its own tape label formats but, at some point OS/360, acquired 
the ability to write and interpret ANSI tape labels.