StorageWorks DAT 72 SCSI

[yonatan]

I've had this tape drive for about 5 years. The firmware is up to date ZP76 and I use Data Protector Express SSE 3.1 SP3.

The last 2-3 weeks, everytime a backup is performed I get the following message in Data Protector Express,

"HP C7438A (Serial Number HU10635WHA) The device needs to be cleaned"

I've purchased a new cleaning tape and cleaned 3 times in a row, and as before once a week, but the message still appears.

I ran HP Library and Tape Tools and chose Drive Assessment and everything looks good except it says to clean the drive regularly.

The backup routine is full backup every night during the week, i.e. Monday through Friday. The tapes are new since June 2008.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Russell C. Smith]

Hi Yonatan,

You seem to have done all the right first steps, which unfortunately makes diagnosing and finding your issue a bit more difficult. Are you able to try using a piece of brand new media only? It's best to use HP branded media...and cleaning cartridges for that matter. It might be possible, though unlikely given their age, that one or more of your tapes are dirty and causing a build up of dust in the drive. If you try with a brand new piece of media just use that single piece of media for a week to see if it makes any difference. Don't mix the new piece with the older media you've been using and clean the drive before using the new media.

Also, are you able to notice any patterns as to when the cleaning error occurs...like maybe when/after using a specific piece of media?

Thanks,
Russell

[yonatan]

Hi Russell

Thank you for your reply! I just spoke to HP support and they said that DAT tape drives are very sensitive with cleaning. They suggested that I clean the drive 5 times in a row (i.e. twice more than I did with the new tape) and see if the cleaning message disappears. If that doesn't work they suggested that I re-flash the firmware to the same version I currently have ZP76 and see if that works.

Otherwise, I should contact them again and discuss the issue further.

I will try cleaning first and then if it doesn't help re-flashing. I don't want to do both things at once, so that I can investigate what helps and what doesn't.

Thanks