How do I restore files from my tape backup on Linux?

If you are just interested in testing the readability or listing the contents of a tape, you may perform a table of contents listing (aka readback):

tar -tzf /dev/st0

To restore a single file (CONTROL) to a temporary directory (/esupport/restore):

mkdir -p /esupport/restore
cd /esupport/restore
tar -xzvf /dev/st0 ./u2/eclipse/CONTROL

To restore an entire directory (/u2/eclipse) to it’s original location (/u2/eclipse) for a full system recovery:

Warning: As always, please exercise caution when performing system maintenance, especially when initiating processes that can potentially overwrite data.
cd /
tar -xzvf /dev/st0 ./u2/eclipse