ARCHIVED: At IU Bloomington, what is interactive tape utility (itu) and how do I use it?

Interactive tape utility (itu) is an interactive tape-handling utility available on Steel at IUB. With itu, you can examine (scan), copy, and read magnetic tapes of a variety of types and formats.

1. Before using itu, you must mount your tape on a tape drive in the Wrubel Computing Center machine room. To request this, you must connect to Steel via the hostname steel-tape.ucs.indiana.edu . Then, at the Unix prompt, enter: mtreq -v vsn/bin -d drive -l label -L label -w For details on the -v, -d, -l, -L, and -w parameters, see the man pages on mtreq by entering at Steel-tape's Unix prompt: man mtreq
2. When the tape is mounted, you are ready to use itu. To access itu, at Steel-tape's Unix prompt, enter: itu The following menu will appear: ______________________________________________________ | | | 1. Examine tape | | | | 2. Read selected file(s) from tape to disk | | | | 3. Write selected file(s) from disk to tape | | | | 4. Copy selected file(s) from tape to tape | | | | 5. Exact tape-to-tape copy | | (allows density conversion) | | | | 6. Exit | |______________________________________________________|
3. Select the option you wish to execute. When the job has completed, you can select additional options from the menu, or exit the menu.
   
   
4. After you exit the menu, you must request that your tape be dismounted from the tape drive. To do this, at Steel-tape's Unix prompt, enter: mtunload drive Replace drive with the name of the tape drive on which your tape was mounted. To see the mtunload man page for further information, at Steel-tape's Unix prompt, enter: man mtunload

All itu menu options are also accessible from the Unix prompt on Steel. See Steel's man pages on mtreq, itu, mtunload, and ltf for details on working with tapes at the system level.

For more information about itu and magnetic tape handling, contact the UITS Center for Statistical and Mathematical Computing. Send email to  statmath@indiana.edu  or phone 812-855-4724 or 317-278-4740. The Stat/Math Center is located at 410 N. Park Avenue and is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm for consulting help by appointment. You can also reach the Stat/Math Center's Web page by selecting the link: http://www.indiana.edu/~statmath/