[Info-vax] Backup TK50 tapes

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <qpydnQZXTdEypLfMnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
	drb at ihatespam.msu.edu (Dennis Boone) writes:
> > While i'm sure there are more modern utilities to copy tapes, providing
> > you know the block structure of the tape, dd should copy it verbatim,
> > even if you have to write a script to read it block by block.
> 
> NO NO NO!
> 
> I love dd and all, but it THROWS AWAY BLOCK STRUCTURE and leaves you with
> a byte stream.  The block structure is important on tapes.
> 
> Don't use dd to image tapes!

Unless you do each file individually.  :-)
That was how the Ultrix-11 boottape got trashed and stayed that
way until correct bl;ocking could be rediscovered and reimplemented.

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>