Data Cassettes
Media Life
HP DDS data cassettes are currently specified to 2000 passes over
any part of the tape under optimal environmental conditions (50%
relative humidity, 22 degrees C). During a tape operation, any one
area of the tape may have multiple passes over the heads. This trans-
lates into approximately 200 to 300 backups or restores.
Under certain conditions, the life of your data cassette is less. Replace
your data cassettes after 100 backups or restores if your operating
conditions meet any of the following criteria:
The relative humidity in your operating environment is consis-
tently less than 50%.
You know that the backup software you are using makes multi-
ple passes over sections of the tape during backups or restores.
You notice that when you do backups and restores the tape stops
and starts frequently.
Cleaning the Tape Heads
Clean the heads of your tape drive after every 25 hours of tape drive
use or if the Media Wear (Caution) signal is displayed on the LED.
NOTICE:
Only use HP Cleaning Cassettes (HP92283K)
to clean the tape heads. Do not use swabs or
other means of cleaning the tape heads.
Follow this procedure to clean the tape heads:
1.
Insert the cleaning cassette into the drive. The tape automatically
loads the cassette and cleans the heads. At the end of the clean-
ing cycle, the drive ejects the cassette.
2.
Write the current date on the label on the cleaning cassette so
that you know how many times you have used it. Discard the
cleaning cassette after you have used it 25 times.
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