The purpose of these directions is to assist you in determining the condition of the cartridge or the magnetic tape and to direct you to the procedure you must follow to

remove the cartridge.

1. The best solution for recovering data on a damaged cartridge is to send it to IBM® for professional data recovery.

2. Before with this procedure, you must exhaust all other means of removing the tape cartridge from the drive. Use this procedure only if you cannot remove the tape

cartridge by with any other means.

3. Determine from the customer if the cartridge contains critical customer data. If the cartridge contains sensitive data that cannot leave the site, inform the customer

that certain failure conditions diagnostic procedures are completed to test the drive for continued use.

4. The following removal procedures can destroy customer data! Use extreme care when you handle or remove the customer's tape cartridges to minimize tape

damage and lost data.

5. DO NOT TOUCH the magnetic tape or tape path. Both are sensitive to the oil and salt from your skin. Use clean, lint-free gloves when you are working around

magnetic tape or the tape path components.

6. Electrostatic-sensitive components: Consider with an ESD Kit.

7. After you remove the tape cartridge, advise the customer to copy the data to another cartridge and to remove this tape cartridge from service.

8. Do not use power tools or magnetic tools to perform this procedure.

9. To avoid contamination and electrostatic-discharge damage to the drive, never touch the head or electronic components inside the drive.

10. If you cannot remove the cartridge from the drive with the following procedures, contact your next level of support.

11. The cartridge does not eject automatically at the end of a mid-tape recovery. Instead, the tape is reloaded into the drive and might result in the loss of data.

12. INTERNAL COMPONENTS OF THE DRIVE ARE DELICATE AND CAN EASILY BE DAMAGED. EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN MANUALLY REMOVING A

CARTRIDGE THAT WILL NOT EJECT AFTER PRESSING THE UNLOAD BUTTON.

Recommended tools

Before you begin

Beginning procedure

Tape spooled off supply reel

Tape pulled from or broken near leader pin

Tape broken in mid-tape

Tape tangled along tape path

No apparent failure or damage to tape

Ending procedure

Removing a stuck cartridge magazine