Re: [Bug-tar] tar command option suggestion...

[Tim Kientzle]

On Dec 20, 2011, at 2:14 PM, Gomes, Robert wrote:
 
> After a discussion on computing.net, I’m writing to suggest a new option for 
> the tar command.  Namely, to copy an entire tar file from tape to disk 
> without extracting its contents.  …   Community suggestions around using dd 
> or piping seem to border on blind stabs as opposed to having a legitimate, 
> concrete means to carry out this particular operation with data integrity.

dd was designed for exactly this purpose:  copying data to/from devices with 
fixed block size requirements, which includes tape drives and other "raw" media.

$ dd if=<tape drive> of=<disk file> bs=<block size>

Tim