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Re: File-system on tape



In-reply-to: <356D81D3.C8420B0F@bdsinc.com> (jjorgens@bdsinc.com)



Somebody wrote:

> 
> Kenneth.Scharf@coulter.com wrote:
> 
> > > On Tue, May 26, 1998 at 10:15:58PM -0600, Lazar Fleysher wrote:
> > >> Is it possible to create a file system on a tape drive ( like on
> > >> mainframes) and use it as a disk? I know it is very slow, but is it
> > >> possible?
> > >
> > > ...
> >
> > QIC tapes (FTAPE) use the floppy disk controller and are formatted like
> > floppy disks with 'tracks' and 'sectors' and so are block replaceable.
> > This means that they CAN hold a random access file system just like disks,
> > only SLOWER.
> 
> Don't be too sure. Most tape drives only allow to write appending to the *end* of
> any data already written, so even if random positioning is possible the device is
> fairly useless.

It's an (probably) unnecessary limitation somewhere in the system.

I was able to make a file system on a floppy tape (with mke2fs, I
believe).
When I tried to mount the file system, mount complained that the tape
wasn't a block device.  

Given the mke2fs ran without complaining, it didn't see any problem with
treating the floppy tape as a block device.  I would guess that mke2fs
or
whatever library or system calls it uses incorrectly assume that a tape
is not a block device.

Daniel
-- 
Daniel Barclay
dsb@smart.net
(Gee, look at that:  http://www.anonymizer.com/snoop.cgi )


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