Using the Integrated Tape Drive
Cleaning the Tape Path
90
Cleaning the Tape Path
If excessive magnetic dust or debris collects at one or more of the tape heads, the DAT drive may not
be able to read from or write to tape, or may experience a number of recoverable soft errors. When
a threshold for recoverable soft errors is exceeded, the CP 3100 issues an Attention, the Attention
LED blinks amber slowly, and a message to clean the physical tape drive appears.
Table 22 on page 90 lists the frequency that the tape path should be cleaned. To clean the tape
path, use an approved DAT cleaning cartridge, such as Certance Model CDMCL, and refer to the
instructions that come with the cartridge.
NOTE: For more information about the integrated tape drive contained in the CP 3100 desktop
and rack-mount units, see the Certance DAT72/DDS-4 Online User's Guide on the Certance
Resource CD or at www.certance.com/support. For non-Certance DAT tape drives, refer to the
manufacturer's documentation.
Table 22. Cleaning the Tape Path
Daily Usage (Hours)
Optimum Cleaning Frequency
0-4
Three times per month
4-8
Weekly
8-12 or more
Twice a week
