At 4/30/99 05:23 PM , Black, Cory wrote:
>Isn't SKIPEOF needed to put all 3 files on one tape?

Ummm...  I don't think so.  (But it's been a long time...   as in *years* since I copied multiple files to one tape.)

From Chapter 3 of the FCOPY manual (which I found online at http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/doc3k/B3221290008.11607/18 ):

-----begin-fcopy-manual-text-with-minor-editing-----

Combining Disk Files on Tape

To combine several disk files into a single tape file, follow the steps described below:

1. Use the MPE FILE command to describe the tape file to be written. For example,
        >:FILE T;DEV=TAPE;REC=-80,20,F,ASCII

2. Copy the first disk file to tape using an asterisk before the tofile name to backreference the FILE command. For example,

        >FROM=DATA1;TO=*T
        EOF FOUND IN FROMFILE AFTER RECORD 610
        611 RECORDS PROCESSED * * * 0 ERRORS

3. Copy the subsequent disk files to tape without repositioning the tape drive. Use an asterisk as the tofile name. For example,

        >FROM=DATA2;TO=*
        EOF FOUND IN FROMFILE AFTER RECORD 711
        712 RECORDS PROCESSED * * * 0 ERRORS
        >FROM=DATA3;TO=*
        EOF FOUND IN FROMFILE AFTER RECORD 472
        473 RECORDS PROCESSED * * * 0 ERRORS

-----end-fcopy-manual-text-with-minor-editing-----

If you don't use the ";TO=*" syntax from within a single fcopy run as shown in this example, you have to use ";SKIPEOF" to skip past previously written files on the tape because each time the tape is closed it's rewound to BOT.  The only thing I'm suspicious about is whether the ';TO=*" syntax writes a file mark between each file copied, but I think it does.  If not, then the SKIPEOF technique would work, but you would specify the ";to=*t" on each command instead of ";to=*".
--
Jeff Woods
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