dat 24x6i clean light continues even after cleaning

[Antonio Hardin]

I have a surestore dat 24x6i tape autoloader, and every time I start a job, the clean drive light comes on. I run a clean job, and it goes out until trying to finish a job, whether it is cataloging, on inventory job. Can someone tell me how to use the L&TT to determine if the drive is still good?

[David Ruska]

First off, make sure you're using a cleaning tape that is not expired.

For LTT, you probably want to run the device analysis test. It has a lot of rules that help identify the source of problems in DDS drives. For example, it may suggest doing a write recalibration.

There's an LTT users manual here:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ltt/documentation.html

[Antonio Hardin]

Thanks, I rtied to download the instructions and the server timed out. I ran a device analysis on the drive and it stated that it may need recalibrating. Is it possible for me to do this?

[David Ruska]

> Is it possible for me to do this?

Yes, the recalibration script is already included in the LTT install.

Here's online documentation on the background and how to use the script:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50236

You could also call HP support and they can help walk you through it.

[Antonio Hardin]

I have went through the procedure for recalibrating the drive by running the script from the L&TT. Now I am getting an error stating:Unable to read tape at any write current setting

What does this mean?

[David Ruska]

> Now I am getting an error stating:Unable to read tape at any write current setting

The procedure steps through a range of write current settings, looking for the one the provides the best read quality. In your case it was not able to find any that would meet the error rate requirements.

From the online doc:
Recalibration will not always make a drive work better - this is because this script only recalibrates the write heads in the drive - there is a 50:50 chance that it is the read heads which are in need of recalibration. It is not possible to determine this without running the script and it is not possible to recalibrate the read heads if they are the component at fault.


So it is likely that you have a worn read head.

[Antonio Hardin]

Thanks for your help, it has been most rewarding.

[David Ruska]

You're welcome. Maybe you could award some points :-)

[Antonio Hardin]

no problem, if i can figure it out

[David Ruska]

> no problem, if i can figure it out

Well, I've never posted a question before, so I can't say first hand. From the forum email notification (maybe you didn't enable that), it provides some explanation:

> IF YOU ARE THE AUTHOR OF THE QUESTION:
> When you return to view the answers, you'll have the ability
> to rate (on a scale of 1-10) each response you have
> received. Simply login and click the 'Assign Points'
> button next to each response.

Look for the 'assign points' buttons.