Contiuous message to Clean Drive on SureStore DLT Library

[Shanan Harris]

Please help!

I have been using Retrospect 5.x for Mac OS 9 to back up my raid to a SureStore DLT Library and lately when I try to load the first tape in the backup, I get the message indicating the drive needs to be cleaned. I have run a new cleaning tape on both drives and I still get the same message - but now it seems to only appear with that particular tape. I can load any other tape and it is fine. Has the tape itself been damaged? Or would that have anything to do with a cleaning message? I have noticed that when I try to access that tape with Restrospect, it is also the only one that gives the error "Content Unrecognized." I'm afraid to retrieve any more documents in case something is wrong with the way the drive is recording or retrieving information. Please let me know if there is something I can do to correct this.

Thanks!

[CA713937]

You might want to let us know what type of library you have (and what type of drives).

In general, the "cleaning required" message is driven by the read/write error rate. When the drive detects a high error rate, it doesn't really know if it's caused by a dirty head or a bad tape, so it requests cleanings just in case.

In the specific case of DLT drives, they will generate a "cleaning required" message when they have difficulty calibrating a tape (again, it may be a tape issue and not a dirty head).

If a recently cleaned drive requests cleaning on a particular tape, it's usually safe to bet the tape is poor and should not be used.

In your particular case, it sounds like the tape may not be readable anymore (perhaps because the drive can no longer calibrate it during load).