Re: [Bug-tar] Tar doesn't stop tape after extracting all specified files

[Sergey Poznyakoff]

Don Himelrick <address@hidden> wrote:

> When I specify only one or a few
> files to be extracted, tar ties up the tape drive for hours, like it is
> reading the entire tape until the end. Even when the files to be
> extracted are at the beginning of the tape and are done extracting after
> only two minutes, tar seems to keep on reading the tape.

That's because several copies of the same file may be stored on tape,
and tar scans the entire tape in order to find all the copies. I am
planning to add a special option that would disable this behavior. It
should be available soon.

Regards,
Sergey