Very Computer

If someone hands you a bunch of tapes and can't remember the format is there
any intelligent way to find out what format they are or just try tar, gtar,
cpio, ufsdump etc until you get a hit?

thanks

+ Assuming one knows what format a tape was made in, what is the easiest way
+ to list the contents of the tape?

Well, if you know what format they're in, that would imply you know what
command was used to write them... and all the tape-writing programs I know
have "list table of contents" functions.

+ If someone hands you a bunch of tapes and can't remember the format is there
+ any intelligent way to find out what format they are or just try tar, gtar,
+ cpio, ufsdump etc until you get a hit?

That /is/ the intelligent way.  :-)

(Although knowing at least what platform created them may help, e.g.,
the byte-ordering differences between a Sun and an SGI machine will make a
big difference, if the tape was created on one and you're trying to read
it on another.  Simply dd(1)'ing the stuff off of the tape raw onto disk
and /then/ experimenting with the disk file can also help, just because
you don't have to wait on the tape drive.)

Phil