Veritas-bu

Re: [Veritas-bu] Poll: How many times do you use a cleaning tape?

2008-10-13 18:22:21
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Poll: How many times do you use a cleaning tape?
From: Justin Piszcz <jpiszcz AT lucidpixels DOT com>
To: A Darren Dunham <ddunham AT taos DOT com>
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:10:14 -0400 (EDT)

On Mon, 13 Oct 2008, A Darren Dunham wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 04:54:22PM -0400, Justin Piszcz wrote:
>> Also I've read / heard its best to let LTO-3 LTO-4 drives set the tape
>> alert flag when they need cleaning vs. cleaning drives at intervals
>> (which is recommended for sure with LTO-2) -- what have you observed?
>
> I'm not sure which you're saying is recommended for LTO-2.  As far as
> I'm aware, periodic cleaning is not recommended for any model of LTO
> drive.  This is documented for HP and IBM drives:
>
> HP
>    Should I do regular cleaning like DDS?
>
>    The HP Ultrium drive is designed to require very minimal
>    cleaning. The internal head cleaner provides an effective
>    preventative cleaning against head contamination. Regular cleaning
>    using cleaning cartridge is not necessary. Do not use a cleaning
>    cartridge unless the drive requests it and the Use Cleaning
>    Cartridge
>
> IBM
>    The IBM Ultrium LTO Tape Drive was intentionally designed to be
>    self-monitoring and self-cleaning. Therefore, the IBM recommendation
>    is not to manually clean the tape drive, but rather to use the
>    automatic cleaning function provided with the library or by your
>    application.
>
>    Each drive determines when it needs to be cleaned and alerts the
>    library or your application.
>
>    In order to prevent recontamination of drive surfaces, you are
>    limited to using a specific cleaner cartridge a maximum of 50 times.
>
>    Note: Do not manually initiate drive cleaning unless requested by
>    support engineers. LTO drives are self-cleaning and will require
>    infrequent cleaning using cleaning cartridges.
>
> I found the document I was thinking of.  HP LTO-1 uses 18.5 meters of
> cleaning tape, other models use 5.5 meters.  So you get 15 on an LTO1
> and 50+ on LTO-2 and LTO-3 (and I assume on LTO-4 as well).
>
> I love whoever proofread this sentence.  (...up to at least..)
>
>   IMPORTANT: A cleaning cartridge can be used up to at least 50 times
>   (LTO2 and LTO3) or 15 times (LTO1). The cleaning cartridge is ejected
>   immediately if it has expired or if it is not an approved Ultrium
>   cleaning cartridge. Discard it and use a new one.
>
> Technically, because the cleaning usage algorithm isn't mandated,
> there's no way for a universal cleaning *tape* manufacturer to know what
> the usage will be beforehand.  A manufacturer could use more or less.
> However, it appears that both IBM and HP use 50 on recent drives.
>
> -- 
> Darren

Very nice information/description, thanks!

Justin.
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