Heavy problems with a 35480A DDS-1 Tapedrive

[Adrian van der Lek]

I've got a 35480A DDS-1 Tapedrive, wich is eight years old and built-in in a external
SCSI-Case. The Case is Connected to a SCSI-
Card into my PC. There are no other SCSI-
Devices connected. These are the problems:

-> Abort of Writing while Backupprocess
(With one tape after 90 Seconds, with
another after 80 Minutes.) and showing
dialogbox "Hardware-Error".

Tries to troubleshoot:
-> Cleaning with a Cleaningtape: failed
--------------------------------------------
-> After aborted Processes: random crazy
flashing of the two LED's and cannot
eject Tape. After Reboot of PC (without
turning off the streamer) the Status
of the Tapedrive doesn't change, and
it will NOT detected by the SCSI BIOS
of the SCSI-Card.

Tries to troubleshoot:

->Hold eject button to reset, push it certain
times: failed.

->Switch off for a couple of seconds and then
switch on again: failed.

->Switch off PC and Tapedrive for
Minutes/Hours: succeed, the Drive works
normally, is detected by SCSI BIOS and
Windows and ejects the Tape, BUT: After
starting of a new Backupproccess (with
another Tape) there cames after a short or
longer time again the
dialogbox with the error and the Drive goes
again crazy.

Who can help me? Its very important cause i should backup my files immediatly!!!

[meloni · Accepted solution]

It seems your drive is dead, or it is having serious problems. I do not see what you can do to recover the situation, I can suggest standard tips like: clean several time with a new cleaning cartridge, use brand new dds1 tape , run L&TT test and see what are the errors,
but the most important tip I can give you is: if your data are so important, I recommend you to backup it on a new device,

using bad drives or old tape to save impotant data is like to play loto, you can win and have your important data back when needed or you can loose...
For my experience, always use good running drives to backup data, if it write down badly, even if you try to restore on a new one, this restore may be unsuccessful

[Adrian van der Lek]

Thank you for helping