tape difficulties

[Mark Levison]

   I have been trying to use the standard unix interface to
my 1/4 inch tape drive for a couple of days now.  I am using
a Sun 3/80 at SunOs 4.0.3. Compared to most of the other tools
on the system I find the interface a little dangerous to use.
I am trying to use the tape to dump precious and semi-precious
data off my disk.  The two biggest problems I am having are
the fact that tar has mechanism to warn you that you are
overwriting an existing file and that it seems if a media error
is detected I am supposed (I think) to just write an eof and
skip it myself.  I would be much happier if I could find a tool
that keeps a record of what has been written on the tape (even if
this must be kept track of off tape) and gracefully handled media
problems.  I recognize the difficulty of rewinding the tape "just
a bit" but I would like a system where a single typo might cost
me another weeks work.

Thanks in advance for your help
Mark Levison
levisonm at qucis.queensu.ca