How to Use Mkisofs From Tape

The "mkisofs" command in Linux creates a standard ISO-format file from a provided directory of files. Users can burn the ISO file to a CD or DVD using almost any disc-burning program. Tape drives are often used as backup drives on a Linux or UNIX system. Unfortunately, users can't mount tape drives and create an ISO file directly from their contents, because a tape drive is a sequential drive with files compressed in the "tar" archiving format. Users can extract files from the tape drive with the "tar" command -- and use the "mkisofs" command -- to create an ISO file from the extracted contents of the tape drive.

Instructions

1. Open a terminal by clicking "Applications," "Accessories" and "Terminal."

2. Type "mkdir backup" and press "Enter" to create a directory named "backup" for the contents of the tape drive.

3. Type "cd backup" and press "Enter" to enter the backup directory.

4. Type "tar -xzf /dev/st0" into the terminal and press "Enter" to extract all files from the tape drive into the current directory. If you just want to extract files from a specific directory, such as "/home," type "tar -xzf /dev/st0 /home" instead.

5. Type "cd .." into the terminal and press "Enter," to exit the current directory.

6. Type "mkisofs -o cd.iso -R backup" into the terminal and press "Enter."

7. Type "rm -rf backup" and press "Enter" to delete the backup directory containing the temporary files.

References

• Ubuntu Manuals: mkisofs
• Ubuntu Manuals: tar
• Ubuntu Manuals: st
• Ubuntu Manuals: mkdir
• Ubuntu Manuals: cd