Dell PowerVault 100T DDS4 Media Handbook - Page 12

3.5 Identifying Exhausted/Expired Cleaning Tape Characteristics The cleaning tape for a DDS/DAT drive only moves in one direction. Looking at the figure below if all of the tape resides on the left roller, then you have a new cleaning tape. If all the tape resides on the Right roller then the tape is expired. Figure 13- New and Expired Cleaning Media Drive Type Dell PowerVault DAT72, DDS4, and other manufacturer DDS drives Cleaning with a Good Tape Tape and Drive LED will turn on while drive is cleaned and media will eject when completed. Cleaning with an Expired Tape Clean light will flash rapidly and Media Light will remain on. Nothing will happen and tape will stay in drive. Table 5 Characteristics of DDS/DAT cleaning tape in various drives The cleaning light on a DDS/DAT drive can come on for two reasons. 1. A periodic maintenance threshold has been exceeded. 2. A high error rate has occurred. This can happen for 3 reasons. • A head clog • A hardware failure on the drive • Bad or marginal media. (see Troubleshooting Cleaning/Read/Write errors) Note: Run Dell PowerEdgeTM Diagnostics to determine media or hardware related failures. Dell DDS/DAT Media Handbook Page 12