mt

Introduction

This cheat sheet provides a quick reference for some common mt (Magnetic Tape Control) commands and concepts. mt is a command-line utility used to control and manipulate magnetic tape drives on Unix-like operating systems.

`mt` Concepts

Device Identification

mt requires specifying the tape drive device as an argument.

Identify the tape drive device:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 status
```

Tape Movement

You can use mt to move the tape forward, backward, rewind, and more.

Rewind the tape:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
```
Move the tape forward by a specified number of files:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 fsf 3
```
Move the tape backward by a specified number of files:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 bsf 2
```

Tape Status

mt provides information about the tape drive and current tape status.

Display the status of the tape drive:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 status
```

Tape Marks

You can write and skip tape marks.

Write a file tape mark:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 weof
```
Skip a file tape mark:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 eof
```

Tape Density

mt allows you to set tape density.

Set the tape density to 6250 BPI:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 density 6250
```

`mt` Command-Line

Identify the tape drive device:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 status
```
Rewind the tape:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
```
Move the tape forward by a specified number of files:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 fsf 3
```
Move the tape backward by a specified number of files:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 bsf 2
```
Display the status of the tape drive:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 status
```
Write a file tape mark:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 weof
```
Skip a file tape mark:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 eof
```
Set the tape density to 6250 BPI:
```
mt -f /dev/st0 density 6250
```

Conclusion

This cheat sheet covers some common mt (Magnetic Tape Control) commands and concepts. mt is a useful tool for controlling and managing magnetic tape drives on Unix-like operating systems, making it valuable for backup and archival tasks; refer to the official mt documentation for more in-depth information and advanced usage.

mt

Introduction​

mt Concepts​

Device Identification​

Tape Movement​

Tape Status​

Tape Marks​

Tape Density​

mt Command-Line​

Conclusion​