We show how to install MTX command on windows 11 as part of the Tape Data Storage series.
The mtx command controls single or multi-drive SCSI media changers such as tape changers, autoloaders, tape libraries, or optical media jukeboxes. In the video we use the MTX command with a Quantum i3 scalar library on Windows 11.
The mtx command is used to load and unload media and ask the robot or assessor to move media and generally control the library functions.
As part of the mtx utilities also included are the following commands:
loaderinfo
The loaderinfo command reads various information from SCSI tape loaders. Its intended use is for high-level programs that are trying to decide what the capabilities of a device are
scsieject
The scsieject command controls SCSI devices in a platform-independent manner. As long as ‘mtx’ works on the platform, so does ‘scsieject’.
scsitape
The scsitape command controls SCSI tape drives in a platform-independent manner. As long as ‘mtx’ works on the platform, so does ‘scsitape’. Note that ‘scsitape’ and your OS’s native tape driver may stomp on each other. In particular, if you use ‘setblk’ and your OS’s native tape driver has a different notion of the block size, you may get evil results. It is recommended to use ‘scsitape’ only for software where you’ve written your own low-level READ and WRITE routines that use the SCSI command set to directly talk to tape drives (i.e., you do not use the OS’s native tape driver at all).
tapeinfo
The tapeinfo command reads various information from SCSI tape drives that is not generally available via most vendors’ tape drivers. It issues raw commands directly to the tape drive, using either the operating system’s SCSI generic device ( e.g. /dev/sg0 on Linux, /dev/pass0 on FreeBSD) or the raw SCSI I/O ioctl on a tape device on some operating systems. One good time to use ’tapeinfo’ is immediately after a tape i/o operation has failed. On tape drives that support HP’s ’tapealert’ API, ’tapeinfo’ will report a more exact description of what went wrong. Do be aware that ’tapeinfo’ is not a substitute for your operating system’s own ‘mt’ or similar tape driver control program. It is intended to supplement, not replace, programs like ‘mt’ that access your operating system’s tape driver in order to report or set information.