extracting files from old DAT tape

[brownh@hartford-hwp.com (Haines Brown)]

On a sarge machine, I have a WangDAT 3100 tape drive from the late
1990s. The tape from which I would like to recover certain files was
made back in 1998 with bru.

I loaded the module for it:

  # insmod st
  $ lsmod | grep st
    st		29112 	0 (unused)
    scsi_mod	95108	4 (autoclean) [st ide-scsi sd_mod aic7xxx]

  $ cat /proc/scsi/scsi 
    Host: scsi0  Channel: 00  Id: 02  Lun: 00
      Vender: WangDAT   Model: Model 3100  Rev: 02.2
      Type: Sequential Access	       ANSI SCSI revision: 02

I insert a tape, the LED blinks many times and then remains on.

  # mt -f /dev/st0 status
    drive type = Generic SCSI-2 tape	
    drive status = 318767616
    sense key error = 0
    file number = -1
    block number = -1
    Tape block size 512 byte. Density code 0x13 (DDS (61000 bpi)).
    Soft error count since last status = 0
    General status bits on (1010000); ONLINE IM_REP_EN

Now (in my ignorance) I tried:

  # tar xvf /dev/st0  *.xyz
    tar: /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
    tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

When I tried the tvf options for tar, I get the same result.

Can I extract individual files this way from a tape made in the first
place with bru?

-- 
 
       Haines Brown
         KB1GRM
         ET1(SS) U.S.S. Irex SS-482