Cleaning Tape Drives; Cleaning Sdlt Tape Drives; Cleaning Ultrium Tape Drives - HP StorageWorks ESL E-Series User Manual

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Cleaning tape drives

Use the guidelines in the following sections to clean your tape drives.

Cleaning SDLT tape drives

Be aware of the following:
Note:
SDLT cleaning tapes are gray and use a 7- or 8-character bar code label, CLNxxxS or
CLNxxxS1.
To clean the tape heads:
1. Move a cleaning cartridge into the drive using your application software. The
2. Remove the cleaning cartridge from the drive.

Cleaning Ultrium tape drives

Be aware of the following:
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Under normal conditions, the cleaning cartridge is effective for about 20
cleanings.
SDLT tape drives typically do not need regular cleaning, as their design
allows for minimal head contamination.
Use the cleaning tape only if the library indicates that the drive needs
cleaning.
Use the cleaning tape more than once if a tape has severely contaminated the
drive heads. If the problem persists after two cleanings, and the cleaning tape
has not expired, contact your authorized service provider.
Do not use a DLT, DLT1, or VS cleaning tape (almond in color) in an SDLT drive.
tape drive automatically loads the cartridge and cleans the heads.
During the cleaning cycle the drive's green Ready LED flashes. At the end of
the cleaning cycle, the drive ejects the cartridge.
Ultrium tape drives have been developed to have a minimal cleaning
requirement.
An HP Ultrium Universal Cleaning Cartridge can be used up to 50 times. If
you are using an older HP Ultrium cleaning cartridge, check the
documentation that came with your media.
ESL E-Series Tape Library User's Guide