Solaris : Tape device names and control the tape drive

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: March 22, 2005]

Before backing up data on a device, you must understand the tape device-naming schema:

First tape device name: /dev/rmt/0
Second tape device name: /dev/rmt/1

rmt = raw magnetic tape device

You can also add special character letter to specify density using following format
/dev/rmt/ZX

Where

Z is tape drive number such as 0,1..n
X can be any one of following (as supported by your device, read the manual of your tape device & controller to see if all of them supported or not):
l - Low density
m - Medium density
h - High density
u - Ultra density
c - Compressed density
n - No rewinding

For example to specify the first, drive with high-density with no rewinding use device /dev/rmt/0hn.
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boni Says: January 19th, 2007 at 9:42 am
hi
thanks a lo for your document. but i need a command to clean tape drive on solaris 9.
best regards

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