Backup your files to tape drive in common format without using bloated software.
OS: Windows 2000 / XP / 7
This is WIP project. Use with care!
To backup directory, pack it into some archive and write to the tape:
tapectl -w folder.zip
When using fixed block mode, data will be padded with 00's to nearest multiple of block size. You can check current block size with drive info command.
tapectl -i
Block size can be set with -k command. For example, command
tapectl -k 32K -w folder.zip
sets block size to 32768 bytes then writes folder.zip to the tape. If your drive supports variable block size, it can be enabled with -k 0. Use tapectl -vi or tapectl -Vi to check features supported by the drive.
Tape drives usually have hardware data compression and you probably want to disable it when archiving already compressed data. Use -C command to enable or disable hardware compression:
tapectl -C off -k 32K -w folder.zip
To restore your file, rewind with -o and read file with -r:
tapectl -o -r restored.zip
To read data from tape, exactly same block size should be set as when writing data. Otherwise driver will probably report error or read speed can be very slow.
To append other file, seek to the end of data with -e, write filemark (special block for marking end of file or separating files) with -m and write data with -w. Options can be grouped as follows:
tapectl -em -w other.zip
Note: written data padded with 00's to nearest multiple of block size (when using fixed block mode). For example, -w file1.zip file2.zip writes to the tape <file1.zip> <zero padding> <file2.zip> <zero padding>. Most unpackers can't parse this as single archive. You normally should use filemarks to separate files. Program emits warning before writing multiple files without filemark between them. However program doesn't check for filemark when adding files to the tape with some existing data. You can use -epf (seek to end of data, move 1 block back and try to skip filemark) to check if filemark present at the end of data. It should succeed if last block is filemark and give error otherwise. Use -m -w <file> to put filemark before appending data.
To restore this file immediately, backward seek to filemark with -b, skip filemark with -f and read data with -r:
tapectl -bf -r another.zip
You can use count parameter with -f. For example, to read third file from the tape:
tapectl -of 2 -r third.zip
It's possible to give -r or -w list of filenames to read or write multiple files from the tape:
tapectl -or first.zip second.zip third.zip
When using -W, filemark added after each written file. For example,
tapectl -W first.zip second.zip -w third.zip
is equivalent of
tapectl -w first.zip -m -w second.zip -m -w third.zip
Check full/remaining capacity of tape and eject tape.
tapectl -cJ
Use "-" or "/" for command line options. Add quotes around parameter if it begins with some of this characters e.g. -w "-test-.zip".
Command line options can be combined to groups (e.g. -ew file.zip is equivalent of -e -w file.zip). If group contains parametrized options, only first of them can use following parameters and others will use default value. For example -rb file1.zip file2.zip is equivalent to -r file1.zip -r file2.zip -b 1, -rw file1.zip file2.zip is equivalent to -r file1.zip -r file2.zip -w (which is invalid because -w requires a file name) and -fb 1 1 is equivalent to -f 1 1 -b (which is also invalid).
You can use size modifiers for numbers if this applicable, e.g. -k 32k, -I "2 M" or -G 16GB. For boolean parameters either on/off, yes/no, true/false or 1/0 can be used.
-t <N>, -t tape<N> or -t \\.\Tape<N>
Select tape device to be used.
-C <on/off>
Switch data compression on/off.
-E <on/off>
Switch ECC on/off. Most drives have ECC always on.
-D <on/off>
Switch data padding on/off (none of my drives supports this).
-R <on/off>
Switch setmark reporting on/off (none of my drives supports this).
-Z <N>[k/M/G]
Set EOT warning zone size (none of my drives supports this).
-k <N>[k]
Set block size. Seems that Windows doesn't support block size > 64K.
-x, -u
Lock or unlock media ejection with button on the drive (still can be forced with long pressing).
-i
Display drive and media information. Add -v to also list drive features or -V to also print description for each feature.
-L
Load tape. Drive specific: can load cartridge, load tape from cartridge or do nothing.
-J
Unload tape. Drive specific: usually rewinds and unloads tape and ejects cartridge.
-c
Display media full capacity and remaining capacity if supported.
-T
Tension tape (rewind tape back and forth), not usually supported.
-l
Display (list) current position. If device supports partitions, it displays absolute and logical position.
-o
Rewind tape ("origin").
-e
Seek to the end of data.
-a <absolute block>
Seek to absolute block number. If device doesn't support partitions it usually same as '-s '.
-s [partition.]<logical block>
Seek to logical block number. If partition omitted, position will be set within current partition. If device doesn't support partitions it usually same as -a <absolute block>.
-n [count], -p [count]
Seek count blocks forward or backwards. If count omitted, it seeks to next or previous block.
-f [count], -b [count]
Seek count filemarks forward or backwards. If count omitted, it seeks to next or previous filemark. Seeking stops past filemark in conforming direction (i.e. -f stops after filemark and -b stops before filemark in order of block numbers).
-F [count], -B [count]
Same as previous but for setmarks (none of my drives support setmarks).
-r <filename>
Read data from the tape to specific file from current position until end of data or filemark reached or error occurred. When filemark encountered, current position will be after filemark. You must set correct block size before data can be read. You can read multiple files by passing multiple filenames as parameter e.g. -r file1.zip file2.zip file3.zip
Using following commands can destroy existing data on your tape. Usually writing something data to the tape sets EOD mark to current position, making following data inaccessible. If you pass some writing commands, program will ask confirmation one time before program starts any operation (unless overwrite forced with -Y switch).
-w <filename>, -W <filename>
Write file to the tape at current position. If block size not set, drive default block size used for padding/alignment. -W also adds a filemark after data. You can pass multiple filenames to this commands (e.g. -W file1.zip file2.zip -w file3.zip writes 3 files with filemarks between them).
-m
Write filemark at current position.
-M
Write setmark at current position (rarely used and supported).
-t
Truncate data at current position so following data can't be more accessed normal way. -ot truncates at origin (logically erasing all data on the tape).
-X
Fully erase data on tape. This operation can take long time (same as writing whole tape).
-G <N>[M/G]
Set buffer size for reading/writing data. Defaults to 128 MB. Buffers larger than 512 MB allocated in user pages (unswappable physical pages, memory lock privilege required). You can use any buffer size as long as you have enough free RAM (64-bit OS not required).
-I <N>[k/M]
Set I/O block size for reading/writing data. Defaults to 1 MB. Rounded up to block size for tape access and to 4 KB for file access.
-Q <N>
Set I/O queue depth. When N == 0, I/O operations done using regular I/O. When N > 0, overlapped I/O used and up to N operations can be issued concurrently to device driver. This setting is common to file and tape drive access.
-U
Use Windows buffering. By default files and tape drive opened with FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING. This key removes flag and files opened with FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN.
-h, -H, -?
Show quick reference and exit.
-v, -V
Verbose and very verbose output.
-q
Minimize output. Only error messages and explicitly requested information will be displayed.
-S
Show list of operations and ask user for confirmation before starting doing anything.
-N
Check commands and exit before executing any operations. Use -SN to check that your command line does exactly what you want. Device still will be opened for doing extra checks (such as for support of given commands by the device). Use -SNy to omit extra checks and just display list commands to be executed.
-y
Skip sanity checks before executing operations.
-Y
Don't ask for confirmation before overwriting data on tape or disk.
-P
By default program uses 11-second timeout as prompt for data overwriting. This gives you extra time to think when executing command interactively and prevent stucking in batch files. You can change this to standard Y/N prompt by this switch.
Any options can be made permanent by adding it to configuration file. Configuration file should have same name as executable but with .cfg extension (tapectl.cfg by default). Each non-empty line, not starting with ';' or '#' parsed same way as command line before actual command line.
Fast CRC32 algorithm used in program: https://create.stephan-brumme.com/crc32/