/dev/nst0

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 16 February 2005 04:44, Beast wrote:
>What is the difference between /dev/nst0, /dev/st0 and /dev/nqft0?
>TIA.

st0 will rewind the tape, makeing it ready for the next access on the 
closing of the path to it.  Good for reading tape label blocks, not 
much else.  A dangerous to use device in most backup scenarios.

nst0 OTOH, leaves the tape sitting at the end of the last operation 
when the path is closed to it.  Commonly used for backup operations 
so the the files are written sequentially on the tape, as opposed to 
useing st0, which would then over-write each file with the new one, 
not a Good Thing(TM) when your amanda disklist generates 50+ files.

nqft0?  Never heard of it. By convention the n means non-rewinding, 
and the final 0 means first device, but the rest?  Dunno.

>--beast

-- 
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