HP 216886-B21 AIT Drive Reference Guide - Page 33

Cleaning the AIT Drive, Reliability of Backup Devices, Importance of Routine Cleaning

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4 Cleaning the AIT Drive Reliable backup of your system is the product of at least four components: • A reliable tape drive • Quality cassettes • Regular backup schedule with backup media stored off-site • Routine tape drive maintenance Compaq tape drives are designed to operate reliably under worst-case conditions; however, they require simple routine maintenance to operate efficiently. Regular cleaning is the most essential step in properly maintaining a tape drive and preventing errors. Reliability of Backup Devices The reliability of any backup device is directly related to its duty cycle (the number of hours per day that the device is in use). For example, if a tape drive designed for 1-GB backups is being used to back up a 10-GB computer, the result on that drive will be premature aging and reliability problems. Importance of Routine Cleaning The tape drive has a cleaning roller built in, which assists in preventing and recovering from head contamination. This feature minimizes buildup on the read/write heads so fewer cleaning cycles with a cleaning cassette are required. However, Compaq recommends a routine cleaning schedule every 100 hours of use to keep the tape drive in good working order. The drive also needs cleaning when the drive Status LED displays long flashes with short pauses (see Chapter 3, "Operating the AIT Drive," Table 3-2). IMPORTANT: Regular cleaning is vital to trouble-free operation of any tape device. Failure to follow recommended cleaning procedures could result in serious damage to the tape drive. AIT Drive Reference Guide 4-1

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AIT Drive Reference Guide
4–1
4
Cleaning the AIT Drive
Reliable backup of your system is the product of at least four components:
•
A reliable tape drive
•
Quality cassettes
•
Regular backup schedule with backup media stored off-site
•
Routine tape drive maintenance
Compaq tape drives are designed to operate reliably under worst-case conditions;
however, they require simple routine maintenance to operate efficiently. Regular
cleaning is the most essential step in properly maintaining a tape drive and preventing
errors.
Reliability of Backup Devices
The reliability of any backup device is directly related to its duty cycle (the number of
hours per day that the device is in use). For example, if a tape drive designed for 1-GB
backups is being used to back up a 10-GB computer, the result on that drive will be
premature aging and reliability problems.
Importance of Routine Cleaning
The tape drive has a cleaning roller built in, which assists in preventing and recovering
from head contamination. This feature minimizes buildup on the read/write heads so
fewer cleaning cycles with a cleaning cassette are required. However, Compaq
recommends a routine cleaning schedule every 100 hours of use to keep the tape drive
in good working order. The drive also needs cleaning when the drive Status LED
displays long flashes with short pauses (see Chapter 3, “Operating the AIT Drive,”
Table 3-2).
IMPORTANT:
Regular cleaning is vital to trouble-free operation of any tape device. Failure to
follow recommended cleaning procedures could result in serious damage to the tape drive.