Tape Stool stuck in DLT 80

[David Tobias]

We are using a SureStore DLT 80 tape drive. The drive is external and connected
to Windows 2000 Server.

Last week we had a power outage. When the power came back on I checked the tape
drive and all four lights on the right side were flashing. It took me a while
but I finally got the tape to eject. The tape seemed unusually light. The tape drive still had the all the lights flashing on it.

I finally took the tape drive apart and realized the spool with all
the tape was still loaded into the back part of the drive. Only the tape case had ejected.

How do I get the spool out of the tape drive?

Thank you.

[David Ruska]

I assume the drive is out of warranty (and not under support).

You can manually unspool the tape out of the drive, and then you will need to reattach the drive leader.

See this doc: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50338

This may also help:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50027

[Stuart Whitby]

Looks like you'll need a screwdriver and/or a hammer (the bigger the better). And I hope that tape wasn't necessary for a recovery, since it'll just be a case of pulling the tape back out (try to keep it as near its normal line as possible rather than twisting it) and binning it.

If it *was* necessary for a recovery, I'd recommend sending the entire drive and original media case to a recovery company. They'll have a laugh, and it'll cost .... a lot for a non-standard recovery like this, but you'll probably get back the data you wanted.