Here is information that you should know before you copy files to tape with the tar command:
Copying files to a tape with the –c option to the tar command destroys any files already on the tape at or beyond the current tape position.
You can use file name substitution wildcards (? and *) as part of the file names that you specify when copying files. For example, to copy all documents with a .doc suffix, type *.doc as the file name argument.
You cannot use file name substitution wildcards when you extract files from a tar archive.