diff --git a/matlab/@ustar/ustar.m b/matlab/@ustar/ustar.m
index 8c71deb..13d0153 100644
--- a/matlab/@ustar/ustar.m
+++ b/matlab/@ustar/ustar.m
@@ -163,6 +163,43 @@ classdef ustar < handle
       %   fname           name of subfile
       flag = any(ismember(obj.subFile,fname));
     end
+    function writeIndex(obj,outfile)
+      % obj.writeIndex(outfile)
+      % Write a index file for tar archive in custom '.taridx' format
+      % The format is:
+      % nsubfile      int64
+      % [nsubfile times]
+      % subFileName      256*char
+      % subFileBeg       int64
+      % subFileSize      int64
+      % Input
+      %   outfile     name of index file to be written (with extension '.taridx')
+      fid = fopen(outfile,'wb');
+      fwrite(fid,obj.NumberOfSubfiles,'int64');
+      for ii=1:obj.NumberOfSubfiles
+        nchar = length(obj.subFile{ii});
+        subfile = blanks(256);
+        subfile(1:nchar) = obj.subFile{ii};
+        subfile(nchar+1) = 0;
+        fwrite(fid,subfile,'256*char');
+        fwrite(fid,obj.subFileBeg(ii),'int64');
+        fwrite(fid,obj.subFileSize(ii),'int64');
+      end
+      fclose(fid);
+    end
+    function [fname,foffset,fsize,nfile] = dumpIndex(obj)
+      % obj.dumpIndex()
+      % Get indexing data of tarfile
+      % Output
+      %   fname     cell array of file names
+      %   foffset   data offset within tar file
+      %   fsize     data size
+      %   nfile     number of files in archive
+      nfile   = obj.NumberOfSubfiles;
+      fname   = obj.subFile;
+      foffset = obj.subFileBeg;
+      fsize   = obj.subFileSize;
+    end
   end
   %% ------------------------------------------------------------------------%%
   %%                          PRIVATE METHODS                                %%
@@ -267,6 +304,23 @@ classdef ustar < handle
         else % no msgpack decoder available
           error('No msgpack decoder available.');
         end
+      case '.taridx'
+        % Open and read file contents (binary)
+        indexfileID = fopen(obj.IndexFile,'rb');
+        if indexfileID<0
+          error('Unable to open file: %s',obj.IndexFile);
+        end
+        fseek(indexfileID,0,'bof');
+        nsubfile = fread(indexfileID,1,'int64=>double');
+        tarFileName   = cell(1,nsubfile);
+        tarFileSize   = zeros(1,nsubfile);
+        tarFileOffset = zeros(1,nsubfile);
+        for isub=1:nsubfile
+          tarFileName{isub}   = deblank(fread(indexfileID,[1,256],'char=>char'));
+          tarFileOffset(isub) = fread(indexfileID,1,'int64=>double');
+          tarFileSize(isub)   = fread(indexfileID,1,'int64=>double');
+        end
+        fclose(indexfileID);
       otherwise
         error('Unknown file extension of index file: %s',fileExtension);
       end
@@ -310,7 +364,8 @@ classdef ustar < handle
         error('Checksum mismatch! %d,%d',chksum1,chksum2);
       end
       % Evaluate magic
-      if ~strcmp(ustar.parseStr(magic),'ustar')
+      %if ~strcmp(ustar.parseStr(magic),'ustar')
+      if isempty(strfind(ustar.parseStr(magic),'ustar'))
         error(' Not a UNIX standard tar file.')
       end
       % Parse header information
@@ -339,6 +394,9 @@ classdef ustar < handle
       curPosition = ftell(obj.fileID);
       blockref = zeros(1,obj.blockSize,'int8');
       blockcur = fread(obj.fileID,[1,obj.blockSize],'int8=>int8');
+      if feof(obj.fileID)
+        isEOF = true;
+      end
       if isequal(blockcur,blockref)
         blockcur = fread(obj.fileID,[1,obj.blockSize],'int8=>int8');
         if isequal(blockcur,blockref)