Dell Powervault LTO6 - Manual (Page 33)

Handle the Cartridge Carefully
v Do not drop the cartridge. If the cartridge drops, slide the cartridge door back
and ensure that the leader pin is properly seated in the pin-retaining spring
clips.
v Do not handle tape that is outside the cartridge. Handling the tape can damage
the tape's surface or edges, which may interfere with read or write reliability.
Pulling on tape that is outside the cartridge can damage the tape and the brake
mechanism in the cartridge.
v Do not stack more than six cartridges.
v Do not degauss a cartridge that you intend to reuse. Degaussing makes the tape
unusable.
Cleaning the Tape Mechanism
Dell PowerVault drives have been developed to have a minimal cleaning
requirement. The tape drive will display a
C
on the single-character display and
the fault LED will flash amber when the drive needs cleaning. Only insert a
cleaning cartridge into the tape drive when the
C
is displayed.
Notice: Only use LTO cleaning cartridges that are labeled "universal." The tape
drive is only compatible with the LTO Ultrium universal cleaning
cartridges. Use of any other type of cleaning cartridge or method can
damage the read/write head in your drive. If you load any other type of
cleaning cartridge, the tape drive displays a
7
in the SCD and retains
the cartridge until it is ejected manually by pressing the Eject button.
An LTO Ultrium universal cleaning cartridge is supplied with each tape drive. Do
not use swabs or other means of cleaning the heads. The cleaning cartridge uses a
special tape to clean the tape heads.
Though the number may vary according to the manufacturer, the universal
cleaning cartridge is generally valid for 50 separate cleaning operations. If you try
to use the cleaning cartridge beyond 50 separate cleaning operations, an error code
of
7
will be displayed. Eject the cleaning cartridge and replace it with a new
one.
To use the LTO Ultrium universal cleaning cartridge:
1.
Insert a cleaning cartridge into the tape drive. The tape drive performs the
cleaning automatically. When the cleaning is finished, the drive ejects the
cartridge.
2. Remove the cleaning cartridge from the drive.
Chapter 3. Using the Tape Drive 3-7