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mt

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        Magnetic Tape Device Operations

Usage:  mt [-Vvh-] [-f device] command1 [ command2 ... ]

   mt is used to give commands to the tape device.  If a device
   is not specified, the device specified by the TAPE environment
   variable is used.  If TAPE is not defined, \\.\tape0 is used.
   By default, each command is performed once.  Many operations
   may be performed multiple times by specifying a count.

   These are the available commands.  Only as many characters
   as are required to uniquely identify a command need be given.
   If no commands are specified, status is given.

      fss  [n]     Forward space n setmarks.
      fsqs [n]     Forward space to n sequential setmarks.
      fsf  [n]     Forward space n filemarks.
      fsqf [n]     Forward space to n sequential filemarks.
      fsr  [n]     Forward space n records.

      bss  [n]     Back space n setmarks.
      bsqs [n]     Back space to n sequential setmarks.
      bsf  [n]     Back space n filemark.
      bsqf [n]     Back space to n sequential filemarks.
      bsr  [n]     Back space n records.

      stp  [n [p]] Set tape position to block n in partition p.
                   Default is block 1 in current partition.
      stpa [n]     Set tape position absolute.  Go to block n
                   counting from the beginning of the tape.

      eod  [p]     Goto to end of data in partition p.
      weod         Write end of data at current position.

      wfm  [n]     Write n filemarks.
      wsfm [n]     Write n short filemarks.
      wlfm [n]     Write n long filemarks.
      wsm  [n]     Write n setmarks.

      rewind       Rewind the tape.
      load         Load the tape and move to the beginning.
      lock         Lock the tape ejection mechanism.
      tension      Adjust tension by moving to the end of tape
                   and then rewinding.
      unload       Rewind and unload the tape.
      eject        Same as unload.
      unlock       Unlock the tape ejection mechanism.

      blksize [n]  Set blocksize. (Default is device default.)
                   A blocksize of zero means variable blocksize
                   mode, assuming it's supported by the drive.
      compress [n] Enable (1) or disable (0) compression.
      ecc [n]      Enable (1) or disable (0) ECC.
      eot [n]      Set the end-of-tape warning zone size in
                   bytes.  (Default is zero.)
      setmarks [1] Enable (1) or disable (0) setmark reporting.
      warning [1]  Set end-of-tape warning size.
      padding [1]  Enable (1) or disable (0) data padding.

      status       Print status information about the tape device.
                   Note:  if the drive does not support variable
                   blocksize i/o, the media blocksize displayed
                   will be as reported by the device driver
                   (just whatever blocksize was used for the
                   last i/o operation), not the result of
                   actually reading the tape.

      erase        Erase from current position to end of
                   partition.
      eraseshort   Just write an erase gap or end-of-data marker
                   at the current position.
      
      create [n [size]]  Create partitions of device default
                         number and size.  Default number and
                         size are determined by the device.

Options:

   -V         Don't use variable block I/O even if the drive
              claims it supports it.  Useful as a workaround
              if your drive's firmware has a bug.
   -v         Verbose.  Status command should dump out a complete
              feature list for the drive.  Default is to give
              just status, position and brief information about
              the media and drive.
   -f device  Name of the tape device to open.
   -h         Help.  (This screen.)
   --         End of options.

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