Exabyte EXB-8205 - Manual (Page 28)

3 Preventive Maintenance
The only routine maintenance required by the tape drive is
regular cleaning of the tape drive’s heads and tape path. The
only cleaning material authorized for use with the tape drive
is an Exabyte or Exabyte-approved 8mm Cleaning
Cartridge. In addition, proper storage and maintenance of
your data cartridges will maximize the shelf life of you tapes
and ensure data integrity.
Important
Using a cleaning method other than the Exabyte
8mm Cleaning Cartridge or an Exabyte-approved
cleaning cartridge will void the warranty for the
tape drive and can lead to premature head wear.
Determining When to Clean the Tape Drive
You should clean the tape drive’s heads and tape path either
once a month or after every 30 tape motion hours
,
whichever occurs first. This cleaning frequency does not
depend on the format in which you write and read data.
However, if you are using the tape drive in a particularly
dirty environment, or if you operate it infrequently, you
may want to clean the tape drive more often.
The tape drive keeps track of its tape motion hours
internally. When 30 tape motion hours have elapsed, the top
and bottom LEDs will flash rapidly and the middle LED will
flash irregularly, depending on SCSI bus activity. For best
results, clean the tape drive as soon as possible after the
LEDs begin flashing.
Note: Some backup software programs may use
additional ways to notify you when the tape
drive needs cleaning. Refer to the documentation
for your backup software for more information.
28 EXB-8205 and EXB-8505 (Standard and XL) 302967