question on tar

[babeo]

Hi, could anyone explain for me please:

What is the different between:

tar uvf /dev/rmt/0 /mydir/*

and

tar uvf /dev/rmt/0n /mydir/*

when using the same tape. Is there any data lost if using what command? or nothing loosing?

Thanks

 

[mikeclark]

The "n" denotes non rewind device. This means the tape will not be rewound after the tar has completed. This is handy is you are running a script that runs several tar backups on the one tape, the backups will write one after the other.

 

[babeo]

Thanks
It helps