Why does `amrecover` start over and over again, when I tell it to extract from tape?

This is related to the usage of the rewinding tape-device. 'amrecover' basically runs 'amrestore' in the background, which searches through your tape(s) for the tar/dump-file containing the requested files. If you use the rewinding tapedevice, 'amrestore' will restore the requested files, after that the tape-device will REWIND, which in turn causes amrestore to find the tar/dump-file AGAIN and start over .... The bad thing about this is that this loop won't end and the restored files will be wiped out at every turn, also your tape will be stressed ...

Solution:

Make sure you call amrecover with the proper non-rewinding device as option, for example:

 amrecover daily -d /dev/nst0

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