Magnetic Tape Drive Capacity

[Edgar Holmann]

   I am using a TK70 to perform regular backups but dump seems to incorrectly
determine the size (in feet) of the tape, the density is correctly determined
at 10240 BPI.  This doesn't represent any problems since the s option of dump
allows for the specification of the tape length (4800 feet instead of default
1200).  The problem is when I try to use mt to fsf to a later file in the tape.
(An I/O error occurs at about 1/3 of the way into the tape.  Yet, it does seem
to actually position the tape at the correct location since a restore will then
retrieve the actual file.)

   Anyways, is there a similar flag for mt as for dump to specify a different
tape length or some other way to work around this problem?

   The machine being used is a DEC 5400 running Ultrix 3.1.  Tapes are Dec
CompacTape II which should be able to hold 296MB.

   Any ideas?  Thanks, in advance.

edgar
--
Edgar Holmann                       UUCP:   decwrl!polya!edgar at uunet.uu.net
edgar at Neon.stanford.edu             BITNET: edgar%Neon.stanford.edu at stanford