Cleaning the Tape Heads

Cleaning the drive's tape heads regularly with a cleaning cartridge is important to maintain the integrity of your backup data. For optimum performance and to prevent the loss of data, HP recommends that you incorporate a cleaning cycle into your backup routine.

Cleaning Frequency

As a general guideline, you should clean the tape heads after every fifth backup cartridge. You should also clean the tape heads if the media caution signal (flashing amber light) is displayed on a tape drive or the 'Clean Me' message is displayed on an autoloader.

HP SureStore Tape 5000, DAT8, DAT24, DAT40, DAT24x6 and DAT40x6 models all have an internal head cleaner. The models also support TapeAlert, which will send a message to your backup software when the tape heads need cleaning. You will only get these messages if your backup software supports TapeAlert.

DAT40 and DAT40x6 models feature many improvements to keep the tape path and heads as clean as possible. Therefore, they will require less cleaning than previous models. However, we still recommend, as a general guideline, cleaning the DAT40 and DAT40x6 every fifth backup.

Cleaning Cartridges

Use only an HP cleaning cartridge (part number C5709A) to clean the tape heads. Do not use swabs or other means of cleaning the heads. The cleaning cartridge uses a special tape to clean the tape heads. A cleaning cartridge can only be used 50 times or as instructed on the cartridge packaging. When the cartridge runs out of tape, discard it and use a new one.

Cleaning the Tape Heads on a Drive

1. Insert a cleaning cartridge into the drive. The tape drive automatically loads the cartridge and cleans the heads.

At the end of the cleaning cycle, the drive ejects the cartridge. The cleaning cycle takes approximately 30-60 seconds. If the cleaning cartridge ejects in less than 20 seconds, it has probably expired. In this case, discard the old cleaning cartridge and repeat the operation with a new one.

2. Remove the cleaning cartridge from the drive.

Discard the cartridge after you have used it 50 times, or as instructed on the cartridge packaging.

Note: For the HP SureStore DAT8, DAT24 and DAT40, the drive's TapeAlert feature will send a message to your backup application when the tape heads need cleaning or a cleaning cartridge has expired. Your backup software must include TapeAlert support for you to receive these messages.

Cleaning the Tape Heads on an Autoloader

In addition to regular cleaning, use a cleaning cartridge under the following circumstances:

• When a "Clean Me" message is displayed on the front panel and the Operator Attention Required light flashes amber.
  
• When your backup application warns you that the drive needs cleaning (providing your backup application supports the TapeAlert feature).

Cleaning the tape heads on an HP SureStore DAT24x6 and DAT40x6 can be performed manually by the user or automatically by the backup application.

Manual Method

1. Place a cleaning cartridge in any magazine slot and note the slot number.
2. Insert the magazine into the autoloader.
3. Press the Select button until the slot number where the cleaning cartridge is located is displayed.
4. Press the Load Cartridge button to load the cleaning cartridge into the drive. The drive will then automatically perform the cleaning cycle. The LCD display will display the message "Cleaning" while the cartridge is in use.
5. Eject the magazine and mark the label on the cleaning cartridge to keep a record of how many times it has been used.

Automatic Cleaning

Certain backup applications that provide autoloader support have provision for automatic use of the cleaning cartridge. In this case the cleaning cartridge is put in a magazine slot (usually slot 6). The application can then be told that slot 6 contains the cleaning cartridge and also when it is to be used. The magazine is then loaded in the usual way and the cleaning cartridge is used at intervals programmed into the application.