Cleaning the tape drive, Cleaning the tape drive 36, Cleaning – HP vs80 User Manual

Page 36: The tape drive

Advertising
background image

36 Operating the Autoloader

Chapter 2

Cleaning the Tape Drive

When the Clean Drive LED is on, the autoloader's tape drive needs to be

cleaned. An illuminated Media Attention LED or an exclamation point (!) in the

inventory display may also indicate that the tape drive needs to be cleaned.

Cleaning typically takes several minutes, during which the Ready LED blinks.
Each cleaning cartridge has an approximate life of 20 cleanings. The cleaning

cartridge includes a label with 20 small boxes printed on it. Always place a

check mark in a box each time you use the cartridge to clean the drive.

Replace the cleaning cartridge when all boxes are checked.
The drive cannot keep track of how many times a cartridge has been used.

Therefore, if you are using backup software to manage cleaning, then you

must monitor the software logs to determine when you need to replace the

cleaning tape. Refer to the backup software documentation for more

information.

Caution

Use only DLT 1 cleaning cartridges in the autoloader, available

at

http://www.hp.com/go/storagemedia

. Use of any other

type of cleaning cartridge can damage the read/write head in

the tape drive. If you load any other type of cleaning cartridge

or method, the autoloader will unload it within approximately 25

seconds.

Note

If you are using Operator’s Panel commands to clean the drive,

import the cleaning cartridge only after you have selected the

Clean Drive command. If you would like to keep a cleaning

cartridge in the autoloader, the backup software must manage

drive cleaning.

Advertising