Tape Control -the mt Command:

Shows whether device is valid, whether tape is loaded, and status of tape

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 status:

Rewinds tape to start

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 rewind:

Shows table of contents of archive. If tar tvf produces an error, then there are no more records on the tape.

tar tvf /dev/rmt/0:

Advanced to the next archive on the tape.

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 fsf:

Moves the tape to the end of the last archive that it can detect.

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 eom:

Erases the tape. Use with care.

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase:

Ejects the tape, if the device supports that option.

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 offline:

To extract lengthy archives even if you plan to log out, use the nohup command as follows:

nohup tar xvf /dev/rmt/0 &