The maintainer of the source for ftape is Claus Heine <claus@momo.math.rwth-aachen.de>. He has a web page at http://samuel.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/ftape-page.html.
If you have a problem or questions about ftape, try posting to the
linux.dev.tape newsgroups. This is a Usenet group that mirrors
the traffic on the mailing list linux-tape@vger.rutger.edu (see
Following the ftape development below).
It is recommended that the newsgroup be used in preference to the
mailing list, since the vger machine is overburdened with the
load of the Linux mailing lists.
I use ftape (it is my sole means of backing up on my linux
box :-). I hesitate to make recommendations on what hardware to buy.
I use an Iomega Ditto Tape Insider 3200 and it seems to work OK for
me, but I won't even try to tell you not to buy something else. See
the section
Supported drives and
Unsupported drives for a list of supported
and unsupported drives.
You should try to post a summary of your problems and its solution(s),
after you've got it working, even if you only got it partially
working. Please also send me (<kjj@pobox.com>) a copy of
your solution or post it to the linux.dev.tape newsgroup so that
I can add it to the HOWTO.
I generally read my mail several times a week, I try to respond to
everyone, but I cannot guarantee that I will respond immediately. I
usually read the newsgroups (linux.dev.tape and the
kernel list).
If you receive this as part of a printed distribution or on a CD-ROM, please check out the Linux Documentation home page or ftp to ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/doc/HOWTO to see if there exists a more recent version. This could potentially save you a lot of trouble.
If you email me, please include the string ftape in the subject
line. This will help ensure the mail doesn't inadvertently get
buried.
ftapeftape is a driver program that controls various low-cost tape
drives that connect to the floppy controller.
ftape is not a backup program as such; it is a device driver,
which allows you to use the tape drive (just like the SoundBlaster 16
driver let you use your sound card) through the device files
/dev/[n]rft[0-3].
ftape was originally written by Bas Laarhoven
<bas@vimec.nl>, with ``a little help from his friends'' to
sort out the ECC (Error Correcting Code) stuff. ftape is
copyrighted by Bas under the GNU General Public License, which
basically says: ``go ahead and share this with the world, just don't
disallow other people from copying it further''.
ftape is quite stable, and has been that for some time now. It
is reliable enough for critical backups (but it's always a good idea
to check your backups, so you won't get a nasty surprise some day).
ftape supports drives that conform to the QIC-117 and one of
the QIC-80, QIC-40, QIC-3010, and QIC-3020 standards.
ftape supports neither QIC-02, IDE (ATAPI), nor SCSI tape
drives. SCSI drives are accessed as /dev/[n]st[0-7] and are
supported by the kernel through the SCSI drivers. If you look for
help on SCSI tape drives, you should read the SCSI-howto.
ATAPI tape drives are supported by the kernel since 1.3.46. See
section
Supported drives and
Unsupported drives for a list of supported
and unsupported drives.