[root@mag /]# mt -f /dev/st0 stat SCSI 2 tape drive: File number=0, block number=0, partition=0. Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x25 (DDS-3). Soft error count since last status=0 General status bits on (41010000): BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN [root@mag /]# mt -f /dev/st0 load [root@mag /]# mt -f /dev/st0 seek [root@mag /]# mt -f /dev/st0 fsf [root@mag /]# touch testfile ; tar -cvf /dev/st0 testfile testfile [root@mag /]# tar -tf /dev/st0 tar: This does not look like a tar archive tar: Skipping to next header tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors [root@mag /]#