System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems

ProcedureHow to Retrieve Specific Files From a Tape (cpio)

Steps
  1. Change to the directory where you want to put the files.

  2. Insert the tape into the tape drive.

  3. Retrieve a subset of files from the tape.


    $ cpio -icv "*file" < /dev/rmt/n
    
    -i

    Extracts files from standard input.

    -c

    Specifies that the cpio command should read headers in ASCII character format.

    -v

    Displays the files as they are retrieved in a format that is similar to the output from the ls command.

    "*file"

    Specifies that all files that match the pattern are copied to the current directory. You can specify multiple patterns, but each pattern must be enclosed in double quotation marks.

    < /dev/rmt/n

    Specifies the input file.

    For more information, see the cpio(1) man page.

  4. Verify that the files were copied.


    $ ls -l
    

Example 27–10 Retrieving Specific Files From a Tape (cpio)

The following example shows how to retrieve all files with the chapter suffix from the tape in drive 0.


$ cd /home/smith/Book
$ cpio -icv "*chapter" < /dev/rmt/0
Boot.chapter 
Directory.chapter 
Install.chapter 
Intro.chapter
31 blocks
$ ls -l