dd if=/dev/nrst0 of=blocks45 bs=<your blocksize> seek=3 count=2

(For 'tar', blocksize is probably 20b.)

That should get the last two blocks off the tape.  I don't know how
to make sense of the last 2/5 of a 'tar' file, however.

David S.

Sorry I have not made myself clear.

Star is used to backup files onto the tape. I have 5 separate 
directories which I have backuped. So in my secipts I issued 5 Star 
backup command for each of the directory. They are sequentially backup 
onto the tape.

So when I said the 4 and 5 blocks I meant the last 2 directories which I 
backuped.

Should I then use files=x instead

my command line is

dd if=/dev/nrst0 of=files45 bs=64b files=4

On the block size issue, I use -b=64 as an option of my star command. So 
  in my dd command my bs should be 64 or 64b ??

Any comment is much appreciated.

David Kwok