Drive Maintenance; Caring For Tape Cartridges; Cleaning The Drive Read/Write Head - Seagate STT20000A Product Manual

Drive operation and maintenance

Drive maintenance

Caring for tape cartridges

Cleaning the drive read/write head

STT20000A Product Manual
Minimal maintenance is needed to ensure that your STT20000 SCSI minicartridge
drive operates at peak condition. This section explains how to care for tape
cartridges and how to clean the drive head.
Although minicartridge tape cartridges are ruggedly built, they must be handled with
care to preserve the data that they contain. The following points are guidelines for
storing and using minicartridges.
•
Do not open the tape access door of the cartridge or touch the tape itself. One
fingerprint can prevent the drive from reading the tape.
•
Keep the cartridge away from sources of electromagnetic fields, such as
telephones, dictation equipment, mechanical or printing calculators, motors, and
bulk erasers. Do not lay cartridges on the computer monitor or on the base unit
of the computer.
•
Keep the cartridge away from direct sunlight and heat sources, such as
radiators or warm air ducts.
•
Keep the cartridge free of moisture. Do not wet or submerge a cartridge in any
liquid.
•
Do not expose the cartridge to temperature extremes. Allow the cartridge to
assume room temperature slowly.
•
Retensioning the tape cartridge is always recommended for optimal
performance, particularly after exposure of the cartridge to temperature changes
or shock. Retensioning restores the proper tape tension to the media.
Caution. Never clean the read/write head of the drive with anything other than a
lint-free swab or an approved cleaning cartridge. Do not touch the head
with anything other than a lint-free swab.
To properly maintain the tape drive, you should periodically clean the read/write
head. No other periodic maintenance is required.
Follow these guidelines to help ensure that your drive provides long, reliable service:
•
Operate the drive in a clean, dust-free environment.
•
Never apply a lubricant to the drive.
•
Generally Travan drives are highly reliable and require little user maintenance.
For normal operations cleaning once per month is quite adequate.
•
For new cartridges, clean the head after two hours of tape movement.
Thereafter the drive can be cleaned as per normal operations.
Chapter 4
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