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Compaq DAT AutoLoader Reference Guide
Compaq Confidential – Need to Know Required
Writer: Debbie McRill Project: Compaq DAT AutoLoader Reference Guide Comments:
Part Number: 326817-003 File Name: f-ch5 Cleaning.doc Last Saved On: 12/20/99 2:36 PM
drive is not cleaned regularly, however, up to 4 cleaning cycles may be
necessary to fully clean the drive.
Compaq recommends a routine cleaning schedule every 100 hours of use. In
addition, the drive should be cleaned whenever the front panel LCD indicates.
Not all tape drives require the same frequency of cleaning to keep them
operating efficiently. Factors such as the design of the tape drive and the
quality of the tape media used for backups affect cleaning frequency.
Errors Resulting from
Cleaning Neglect
Following are some of the errors that can result from failure to observe routine
maintenance and cleaning of tape drives:
■
Dropouts — Caused by weak signal strength from dirty read/write
heads, a dropout can result in reduced tape capacity and backup
performance.
■
Media errors — The backup tapes can be jammed, torn, or otherwise
damaged by a dirty read/write head.
■
Read or write errors — Because of a dirty read/write head, data may not
have been recorded on the tape during backup. Even if the data is on the
backup tape, retrieval may not be possible if the dirty head cannot read
the data.
■
Format failures — During backup, data is laid on the tape in a certain
format for easy retrieval. A dirty write head can cause format failures,
which means that data can be lost or impossible to retrieve.
■
Bad blocks — Because of media damage (see Media errors above), the
tape may not accept backup data. Also, the read/write head may be
unable to retrieve data from bad blocks.