Cleaning tape

[Manuales]

Hi !! could you tell me
how do i use a cleaning tape?
why do i must use it?
how often i must use it?

Thanks!! Manuales.

[Pete Randall]

You use it by inserting it into the drive. The drive automatically operates the tape. The drive also tells you when it needs cleaning by flashing the "clean" light.


Pete

[Helen French]

If you just have one tape drive (not a Library), just insert your cleaning tape and the tape will clean by itself. It should eject the tape after the cleaning. If you have a Tape Library, using your backup software allocate one slot for "Cleaning Slot" and then do a cleaning through the backup software. You can also do this manually with Library control menu by mounting the cleaning media to the specified drive.

It's a good practice to clean the drive to keep it in a good shape, in other words you are doing a preventive maintenance.

How often you do this depend on how busy your tape drive is. A normal practice would be to clean it once in a month.

[Rodney Hills]

Cleaning tapes are inserted into the tape drive, the tape drive recognizes them and runs them against the tape heads to clean out any residue from other tapes. The tapes are then usually automatically ejected.

How often depends. If you do a full backup once a week, then cleaning the drive just prior would be a good idea.

HTH

-- Rod Hills

[A. Clay Stephenson]

It depends somewhat upon the kind of tape drive --- that you forgot to mention. In most cases, because the cleaning tapes/cartridges are abrasive, it's actually best to wait until the "Clean" LED is illuminated. That is certainly true for DLT and DDS drives. Most libraries will automatically sense the cleaning bit and automatically clean the drive as required.

[Manuales]

thanks !!!

where do i buy a cleanning tape?
and .
what is a cleanning tape?
isn't undertood for me ..

tbanks, Manuales

[A. Clay Stephenson]

First, what KIND of drive do you have? Some kinds of tape drives must be manually cleaned with a cleaning solution and swabs. Others like DLT and DDS/DAT use cleaning tapes that are loaded just like normal media and eject themselves when finished. You can purchase these wherever you get you normal tapes.

[Helen French]

May be you should mention what type of drive you have. You can buy these online by googling. Something useful here:

http://downloads.quantum.com/sdlt320/DLTtapeCleaningDS.pdf

[Dave La Mar]

As A.Clay mentioned, cleaning and cleaning cycles are totally dependent upon the drive type.
Our Backup Software vendor recommended a particular interval for our DLT drives, while HP totally contradicted the recommendation.
Thus, you might be better served by referring to the drive vendor for appropriate intervals, cleaning tape types, and procedures.

Best regards,

-dl

[Dexter Filmore]

A cleaning tape is a tape used to clean the inside of the tape drive. If the tape drive is not clean, it can affect backups and reduce the life of the drive.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Manuales,

My tape drives have a clean light. It flashes when it needs a cleaning tape and won't make tapes until that is done.

I know some people like to use them more often, but unless the manual on the tape drive says, I tend to not do it until needed.

If you state the model number of your drive, someone can look up the specs including the cleaning interval.

SEP