On Mon, Nov 03, 2003 at 04:44:08PM +0200, Daniel Brewer wrote:
> Hi
> 
> We're looking at the possibility of using a scsi tape drive connected to a
> NetBSD box to store long-term data and then accessing this data from a
> windows box at a later date.
> 
> So, firstly, how simple is it to either write data on the fly, or write data

What do you mean by "on the fly" ? From where to the data come ?

> from HD, to a scsi tape drive in NetBSD?

You have several tools for that: tar, cpio, dump, dd, ... which one is
most suitable depends on your application.

> 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?

Tape drives aren't direct-access devices, so they don't show up as drives. 
However, if the tool you used to write the tape isn't too dumb, you can
copy back to hd only the files you need before reading them

> 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?

Not directly, but you only need to copy the files you need.

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
     NetBSD: 24 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--