HP SDLT 320 Drive Head Cleaning

[Niall Godwin]

The SDLT Cleaning Cartridge instructions say to perform cleaning when the "yellow Alert" light is on. The Quantum SDLT320 drive does have such a light, but the there is no such indicator on the HP SDLT320 drive. There is an Amber "Drive needs attention" light, but the User Reference Manual does not say if this indicates cleaning required.
In the absence of an indicator, how are we to know if cleaning is required ? Wait for backup errors ? We could perform regular preventative cleaning, but this causes unnecessary wear of the head.

[Kurt Beyers. · Accepted solution]

Niall,

The following document 'HP StorageWorks SDLT - Interpreting Front Panel Lights ' shows when your tape drive requires cleaning:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00067306&locale=en_US

best regards,
Kurt

[Niall Godwin]

Kurt, thank you for the link.
It would be helpful if the information in this Tech Support document was included in the User Reference.
Niall Godwin