Linux tape backup with mt and tar command - howto

Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. Nearly all recording tape is of this type, whether used for video, audio storage or general purpose digital data storage using a computer.

Linux (and other Unixish system) use mt command to control magnetic tape drive operation. You need to use mt command while working with tape drive. It allows you to reading and writing to tape.

The default tape drive under Linux is /dev/st0 (first SCSI tape device name). You can read more about tape drives naming convention used under Linux here. Following paragraph summaries command you need to use control tape drive for backup/restore purpose.

Rewind tape drive:
# mt -f /dev/st0 rewind

Backup directory /www and /home with tar command (z - compressed):
# tar -czf /dev/st0 /www /home

Find out what block you are at with mt command:
# mt -f /dev/st0 tell

Display list of files on tape drive:
# tar -tzf /dev/st0

Restore /www directory:
# cd /
# mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
# tar -xzf /dev/st0 www

Unload the tape:
# mt -f /dev/st0 offline

Display status information about the tape unit:
# mt -f /dev/st0 status

Erase the tape:
# mt -f /dev/st0 erase

You can go BACKWARD or FORWARD on tape with mt command itself:

(a) Go to end of data:
# mt -f /dev/nst0 eod

(b) Goto previous record:
# mt -f /dev/nst0 bsfm 1

(c) Forward record:
# mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf 1


* Replace /dev/st0 with your actual tape drive name.