'dd' will also throw away all the original blocking information on the tape. Many platforms and OS's will depend on finding tape marks and varying record lengths, and if you just 'dd' the tape all this information is lost. I've made a good amount of money over the years recovering RSX-11M BRU tapes where someone transferred the tape through a Unix system with 'dd' and lost all the blocking information. Most Unix-like OS's come with "tc" or a variation that will display tape blocking information; often folks take the output of "tc" and use this to create a script of "dd" commands that will handle the various block sizes on a particular tape. Under RSX-11M and VMS, I much prefer "TPC" format, which allows exact tape images to automatically be made with all the blocking information preserved. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927