In <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] writes:

> We are sending ASCII tapes (DDS-3) to a vendor, one file per tape. The vendor
> asks, "Any specs on how FCOPY formats a tape?  Some of our computers can read
> them, others can't."
>
> Could someone point me to a place where I can get the information to pass alon
> ng.
> I looked in the the FCOPY manual, but the formatting information seems to rela
> ate
> mostly to putting more than a single file on a tape.

FCOPY doesn't do any formatting... it just dumps data to the tape. Hardware
options (like compression) are enabled via external interfaces.

If they can't read the tapes, it's likely one of the following;
 1) bad tape (or a tape made bad in transit)
 2) newer media than their drive can read (i.e. trying to read a DDS3 tape in
    a DDS2 drive)
 3) tape was created with compression enabled and being read on a tape drive
    without that capability
 4) tape written in ascii and they expect EBCDIC (or vice versa); though in
    this case the tape would be readable -- the data would just look odd
 5) seeing "some" data sometimes results from improper blocking factors.
    writing data at 10 records per block but reading at 1 per block results
    in seeing only every 10th record when read

 HTH,
   Chris Bartram