> Perhaps the original poster wasn't using the largest possible buffer
> size?  Since I have a Sparc-1 running NetBSD-1.3.1 running beside me
> that I can plug the QIC-150 right into....  Yes, it can stream with
> 'dump 0cf /dev/rst0 /dev/rsd0g' (though there's a pause during during
> directory writes, and another between directory writes and regular file
> writes.  This machine has an ancient Maxtor 7120SCS drive in it.

I tried "buffer", and with a "-u 100" (but not without) that certainly
made it stream, but when dump writes to stdout it doesn't assume a write
error implies end-of-tape, which is a bummer.

However, I tried changing the jumpers on the tape drive to set a 16k
"disconnect size", rather than 32k as it was before, and this seems to
do the trick, at least if the disk is otherwise quiescent.

Thanks for the tips.
-- 
Scott Telford
Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre        "Every worthwhile creation is at
University of Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK.       once an act of love, and an act
s.telford@ed.ac.uk  +44 131 650 5978        of violence." - G. Pascal Zachary