tapes as mass storage (sob)

[ajs at hpfcla.UUCP]

Time to jump into this one...

The  HP-UX/9000  Series 500 allows you to treat Linus tape drives (built
into the  7908/11/12/14  Winchester  discs)  as block  devices.  You can
initialize a short (~17Mb) or long (~65Mb) tape and then mount it!

We use this  feature for system  distribution.  To install a new system,
you  boot  from  the tape  and run  with it as your  root  volume.  It's
sslloowww but it's effective.

Not only that, but in emergencies you could boot off such a tape and use
it to repair a trashed disc (never happens in real life, of course...)

Alan Silverstein, Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Systems Division, Colorado
{ihnp4 | hplabs}!hpfcla!ajs, 303-226-3800 x3053, N 40 31'31" W 105 00'43"