DESCRIPTION

       copytape duplicates magtapes on single-tape systems by making an inter-
       mediate copy of the tape in a disk file.  This disk file has a  special
       format that preserves the block boundaries and tape marks of the origi-
       nal physical tape.

       Each block is preceded by a header identifying what sort  of  block  it
       is.   In the case of data blocks, the length of the data is also given.
       Each header is on a separate text line, followed by a  newline  charac-
       ter.


       CPTP:BLK nnnnnn
       data\n

          A  data  block  is identified by the keyword BLK.  The length of the
          block is given in a  six-character  numeric  field.   The  field  is
          zero-padded on the left if less than six characters are needed.  The
          header is followed by a newline character.  The original  data  fol-
          lows.  The data may have any characters in it, since copytape uses a
          read(2) to extract it.  The data is followed by a newline,  to  make
          the file easy to view with an editor.

       CPTP:MRK
          A tape mark was encountered in the original tape.

       CPTP:EOT
          When two consecutive tape marks are encountered, copytape treats the
          second as a logical end-of-tape.  On output, both MRK and EOT gener-
          ate  a  physical tape mark.  copytape stops processing after copying
          an EOT.

SEE ALSO

       mtio(4)

BUGS

       Some weird tapes may not use two  consecutive  tape  marks  as  logical
       end-of-tape.



                                 8 August 1986                     COPYTAPE(5)