> 
> So, firstly, how simple is it to either write data on the fly, or write data
> from HD, to a scsi tape drive in NetBSD?

Depends on what you mean by "simple".  I've used 'tar', 'cpio', 'dump',
and 'dd' to write data to tapes.  Whether one method is "simpler" than
another depends on the nature of data, the programs that create and/or
use them, how you want to access them in the future, and probably some
more considerations ...

> Secondly, how can this data be accessed under windows? Does windows see the
> tape drive as another drive on the system? Or do you have to copy everything
> off the tape to the HD before accessing it?
> Also, if we were to access the data stored on a tape from a BSD box, would
> we have to copy the whole lot to HD first? Or can we access it from the tape
> directly?

The answers to most of these questions depend on you write the data to
the tapes originally.  'Cygwin' or some other Unix emulator for Windows
probably has 'tar' and 'cpio' - don't know about 'dump' or 'dd'.  Any of
those tools can used with 'ssh' to read from or write to remote tape
drives.

David S.

> 
> Thanks
> -Daniel