NAME

       tapeinfo - report SCSI tape device info

SYNOPSIS

       tapeinfo -f <scsi-generic-device>

DESCRIPTION

       The tapeinfo command reads various information from SCSI tape drives that is not generally
       available via most vendors' tape drivers. It issues raw  commands  directly  to  the  tape
       drive,  using  either the operating system's SCSI generic device ( e.g. /dev/sg0 on Linux,
       /dev/pass0 on FreeBSD) or the raw SCSI I/O ioctl  on  a  tape  device  on  some  operating
       systems.

       One  good  time to use 'tapeinfo' is immediately after a tape i/o operation has failed. On
       tape drives that support HP's  'tapealert'  API,  'tapeinfo'  will  report  a  more  exact
       description of what went wrong.

       Do  be  aware  that 'tapeinfo' is not a substitute for your operating system's own 'mt' or
       similar tape driver control program. It is intended to supplement, not  replace,  programs
       like  'mt'  that  access  your  operating  system's  tape driver in order to report or set
       information.

OPTIONS

       The first argument, given following -f , is the SCSI generic device corresponding to  your
       tape  drive.   Consult  your  operating  system's  documentation for more information (for
       example, under Linux these are generally start at /dev/sg0 under FreeBSD  these  start  at
       /dev/pass0).

       Under  FreeBSD,  'camcontrol devlist' will tell you what SCSI devices you have, along with
       which 'pass' device controls them. Under Linux, "cat /proc/scsi/scsi" will tell  you  what
       SCSI devices you have.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

       This  program has only been tested on Linux with a limited number of tape drives (HP DDS4,
       Seagate AIT).

AVAILABILITY

       tapeinfo      is      currently      being      maintained      by      Robert      Nelson
       <robertnelson@users.sourceforge.net>  as  part  of  the 'mtx' suite of programs. The 'mtx'
       home page is http://mtx.sourceforge.net and the actual code is currently  available  there
       and via SVN from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtx.

SEE ALSO

       mt(1),mtx(1),scsitape(1),scsieject(1),loaderinfo(1)

                                           TAPEINFO1.0                                TAPEINFO(1)