Reading Tapes

[Greg Copeland]

Yes.  NT does allow you to directly access a device in such a manner.  From
the application perspective, it does look like a single large file.  Assuming
the device supports seeks (I'm sure a DAT will), seeks can also be directly
performed on the device in question.

Greg


Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> writes:

> Mark Rowe wrote:
> > 
> > Windows NT: You can use the CreateFile function to open a disk drive or a
> > partition on a disk drive. The function returns a handle to the disk device;
> > that handle can be used with the DeviceIOControl function. The following
> > requirements must be met in order for such a call to succeed:
> > 
> > The lpFileName string should be of the form \\.\PHYSICALDRIVEx to open the
> > hard disk x. 
> 
> That explains part of the situation. :)  Live and learn.
> 
> But I still wonder whether any of this applies to a TAPE drive 
> under NT.
> 
> I wonder whether you've answered the original question, however, 
> with the part about "The caller must have administrative privileges 
> for the operation to succeed on a hard disk drive." ?
> 
> -- 
> ----------------------
> Peter Hansen, P.Eng.
> peter at engcorp.com

-- 
Greg Copeland, Principal Consultant
Copeland Computer Consulting
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