How to copy AIX tape

Robert DiRosario

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Nov 24, 2003, 8:57:17 AM11/24/03

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How do I copy an 8mm AIX 8.2.55 tape? I would like to copy it onto disk.

# tcopy /dev/rmt1
tcopy: Tape File: 1; Records: 1 to 3771; Size: 512.
tcopy: File: 1; End of File after: 3771 Records, 1930752 Bytes.
tcopy: Tape File: 2; Records: 1 to 6400; Size: 512.
tcopy: File: 2; End of File after: 6400 Records, 3276800 Bytes.
tcopy: Tape File: 3; Records: 1 to 1624; Size: 512.
tcopy: File: 3; End of File after: 1624 Records, 831488 Bytes.
^Ctcopy: Tape File: 4; Records: 1 to 37230; Size: 512.
tcopy: 0511-552 Tape damaged at File: 4; Record: 37230.
tcopy: The total tape length is 25100800 bytes.

I did a contol C while it was reading file 4.
It's clear that the tape has data on it.

I tried using dd but I just get errors.

#
# mt -f /dev/rmt1 rewind
#
# dd if=/dev/rmt1 of=part1
dd: 0511-051 The read failed.
: A system call received a parameter that is not valid.
0+0 records in.
0+0 records out.
#
# dd if=/dev/rmt1.1 of=part1
dd: 0511-051 The read failed.
: A system call received a parameter that is not valid.
0+0 records in.
0+0 records out.
#
# dd if=/dev/rmt1 of=part1 bs=512
dd: 0511-051 The read failed.
: A system call received a parameter that is not valid.
0+0 records in.
0+0 records out.
#
# dd if=/dev/rmt1 ibs=512 of=part1 obs=1024
dd: 0511-051 The read failed.
: A system call received a parameter that is not valid.
0+0 records in.
0+0 records out.
#
#

Bill

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Nov 24, 2003, 1:37:34 PM11/24/03

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robert_d...@yahoo.com (Robert DiRosario) wrote in message news:<c83a2a1e.0311...@posting.google.com>...

I would use tcopy as you are. What type of tape is it ?

BV

Robert DiRosario

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Nov 24, 2003, 5:07:02 PM11/24/03

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bve...@komatsuna.com (Bill) wrote in message news:<51157c68.03112...@posting.google.com>...

I really want to copy it to disk. It's an 8mm bootable
tape.

RYAN.T

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Nov 25, 2003, 4:36:27 AM11/25/03

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Try the smit command, there is one option to extract bootable tape content
to disk.

"Robert DiRosario" <robert_d...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c83a2a1e.03112...@posting.google.com...

Bill

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Nov 25, 2003, 8:54:47 AM11/25/03

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"RYAN.T" <rya...@icgan.com> wrote in message news:<3fc2c178$1...@news.starhub.net.sg>...

Well, copying the boot image to disk is useless. All you want is the
data. Try this:

mt -f /dev/rmt1 rewind
mt -f /dev/rmt1.1 fsf 3
dd if=/dev/rmt1.1 of=<the_name_of_the_file_you_want_to_create>

The data is stored on the 4th image on the tape. A mksysb tape
contains the following:
1. Boot image
2. BOS Installation/Maintenance image
3. Table of contents image
4. System backup image

BV

Ulrich--nO--(dot)-sPAM--Link

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Nov 25, 2003, 9:33:27 AM11/25/03

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Robert DiRosario wrote:

Assuming it is a mksysb tape the tape images 1, 2 and 3 are always
written with a blocksize of 512 byte.

The mksysb image itself is the fourth image on tape and can be written
with a different blocksize, so the read will fail.

The first image is the tape boot image, skip it.
The second contains the tape install root ramdisk.
The third is a table of contents, empty on a mksysb.

On AIX 4 or 5 the second image is in backup/restore format and should
contain a file "./tapeblksz" if the 4th image was written with any but
512Byte blocksize.

You'll need to change the blocksize of the tape for extracting the the
file "./tapeblksz" from the second image
"chdev -l rmt0 -a block_size=512" will help.
Then look into the file, there you will find the correct blocksize for
the 4th image. On a 8mm most probably 1024Bytes.

You can find all the magic in the shell script "mksysb".

---
Uli