In regard to: Re: [Networker] A way to recover Networker data without...:

On Jul 25, 2007, at 12:15, Tim Mooney wrote:

Every NetWorker volume starts with a label in a well-defined format.  One
can use `dd' to read a bit of the tape and determine if it's in NetWorker
format.  I've posted the dd command to do that here a couple different
times over the years, so anyone that searches the archives should be able
to determine if it's a NetWorker volume pretty quickly.

Is the label easily recognizable by something like the file(1) utility?

I don't think the format is part of the magic(4) that comes with file,
but it wouldn't be difficult to add.  You would still need to pull the
label off using dd or something similar and write it to a file on the
filesystem, since the file(1) utility doesn't read from character devices:

$sudo file /dev/nst1
/dev/nst1: character special (9/129)

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                        Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT edu
Information Technology Services                   (701) 231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building                        (701) 231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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