Re: Tape drive cleaning -- PCTECH

Yep they all work no matter what. Brand etc. do not matter, so I find the
cheapest ones I can find and use those. A prior poster did point out that
the cleaning tape has limited uses, usually 50. After it hits that magic
number it will load, then immediately unload. Toss it when that happens.

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects

-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jeff Crosby
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 10:01 AM
To: PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) Users
Subject: Re: [PCTECH] Tape drive cleaning

I think I will just start doing a once a month cleaning whether it asks for
it or not.

YADQ: Are *all* LTO cleaning cartridges universal? We have the LTO4 for
the Windows servers and LTO2 for the System i. Each came with it's own
cleaning cartridge. If I google it, I can buy universal cleaning cartridges
for LTO 1-2-3-4-5-6. But that doesn't mean the LTO2 cleaning tape I got
years ago is necessarily universal.

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 10:36 AM, Dave Parnin <dpcoke@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I agree that you should clean your drive periodically and it won't
hurt to clean it even inf it is already clean. If I recall, the
cleaning cartridges are good for a fixed number of cleanings and then
the cartridge won't load. Can you check any backup statistics like
you can on the IBM i for a report of read/ write errors? I recall at
my last job the LTO4 drive was too dirty a red display would come on
and it wouldn't allow you to use the drive until it had been cleaned.
Our backup ran about 2 hours a night,
5 nights a week. I cleaned the drive once every two weeks which
seemed adequate.

Dave Parnin

________________________________
From: Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) Users <
pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: [PCTECH] Tape drive cleaning

No, I wasn't sure the light wasn't burned out (And I DID think of that).

I just stuck the cleaning cartridge in and the clean light came on. I
will clean it twice.

Thanks.

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Jim Oberholtzer <
midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It never hurts to clean a tape drive, and if it has not been cleaned
in a while it might take a couple of cleanings to get it ready.

Any LTO cleaning tape will do regardless of the brand/labeling.

Besides, are you sure the light is not burned out?

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects

-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

On

Behalf Of Jeff Crosby
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 8:15 AM
To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
Subject: [PCTECH] Tape drive cleaning

All,

We back up a number of Windows servers to an HP1760 LTO4 tape drive.
The last couple of backups have taken much longer than normal (8.5+
hours vs

7

hours), but there were no errors. Amount of data has not changed.

In looking at possibilities I thought of cleaning the tape drive
with the cleaning cartridge I have. The "Clean" light is not
flashing, but I

don't

remember the last time I did it. The manual says "An Ultrium
universal cleaning cartridge should ONLY (emphasis mine) be used
when the orange Clean LED is flashing."

Since it's not flashing, is it going to hurt to clean it? I can't

imagine

how, but there are many things I do not know.

Thanks.

--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of
my company. Unless I say so.
--
This is the PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Users
(PcTech) mailing list To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a
moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.

--
This is the PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Users
(PcTech) mailing list
To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe,
unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a
moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.

--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of
my company. Unless I say so.
--
This is the PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Users
(PcTech) mailing list
To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe,
unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.
--
This is the PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Users
(PcTech) mailing list
To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe,
unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.

--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of my
company. Unless I say so.
--
This is the PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) Users
(PcTech) mailing list To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx To
subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.