Michael D. Schleif said:
> Also, what is the best way to turn off compression?
>
>     # sudo mt-gnu -f /dev/nst0 datcompression
>     Compression on.
>     Compression capable.
>     Decompression capable.
>
>     # sudo mt-gnu -f /dev/nst0 datcompression 0
>     Compression off.
>     Compression capable.
>     Decompression capable.
>
>     # sudo mt-gnu -f /dev/nst0 datcompression
>     Compression off.
>     Compression capable.
>     Decompression capable.
>
> Will this persist across power cycles?  Will previously hardware
> compressed tapes turn hardware compression back on?

mt datcompression 0 will work fine for you. Just make sure you run
that command every time you boot. Put it in one of your boot
scripts. I'm using debian, and made a file called "nocompress" which
contains:

#!/bin/sh
#turn off tape drive hardware compression
/bin/mt -f /dev/nst0 datcompression 0

This file resides in /etc/rc.boot and is mode -rwxr-xr-x (755).

-- 
Kurt Yoder
Sport & Health network administrator