DW027A Needs constant cleaning

[gknoll9862]

I have a DAT72 drive model DW027A.

Some weeks ago it started indicating it needed to be cleaned. This went on for several days, while I changed the tapes.

I began to think the tapes we have been using were old and causing the drive to become dirty.

So I got a new set of tapes and started to use them.

All was well for about a week or so. And now the clean light comes on again, even with the new tapes.

I saw in another post about a differant model, that if this starts to happen then the drive is pretty much in it's death throws.

I have also having space issues on the tapes. Not sure if this is related or not.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you for you time.

Greg

[RbBsmn]

Dat tape drives are supposed to be cleaned often, unlike LTO tape drives.
However I would run a Drive Assessment Test in LTT and check if it passes.