Stupid question, but.

Can you use a DLT IV cleaning tape in a SDLT drive?.

I have a SDLT drive thats prompting for a cleaning tape, but the DLT IV cleaning tape doesnt seem to clear the prompt.

Does anyone have a spare sdlt cleaning tape lying around they can donate to me.

Ive got one you can have

PM me your address and ill chuck it in the post tomorrow

our DLT cleaning tapes have the words Caution: Not for use in DLT VS or SDLT drives on the box. but the netbackup admin console seems to suggest we've got a quantum SDLT6000 drive :confused:

I have a vague memory of having to set the type of cleaning tape we use on the drive:confused::confused:

our DLT cleaning tapes have the words Caution: Not for use in DLT VS or SDLT drives on the box. but the netbackup admin console seems to suggest we've got a quantum SDLT6000 drive :confused:

I have a vague memory of having to set the type of cleaning tape we use on the drive:confused::confused:

Netbackup doesnt care what media/cleaning media assigment is used its mainly just to differentiate between different types of media/storage units.. eg HCART for LTO's, DLT for DLTs etc If you put a cleaning tape in the drive, the drive will clean itself, netbackup's use of cleaning tapes is to allow netbackup to mount a cleaning tape if a drive requires one or after a specified mount time.

I swear we kept a cleaning tape in one of the mags but the drive was never actually cleaned when the little "toothbrush" was displayed until the correct type of cleanng tape was set/selected...but I'm not 100% on where it was set

I swear we kept a cleaning tape in one of the mags but the drive was never actually cleaned when the little "toothbrush" was displayed until the correct type of cleanng tape was set/selected...but I'm not 100% on where it was set

It depends on the tapedrive hardware and netbackup.

In our MSL5000 tape library we have 4xLTO1 drives and 58 slots.. unfortunately not all drives can communicate that they need cleaning back to the software.. ours cant, so we just periodically clean them manually.. we keep 2 barcoded cleaning tapes in the library.. as long as they are assigned correctly in netbackup (1/2" cleaning tape in our case because our media type is 1/2" hcart) and the media/cleaning media type matches the media type/density specified in the storage unit, netbackup will mount the cleaning tape when required or manually invoked on the drive.

this type of media management works quite well. but can be troublesome if you have a large enviroment with a mixture of drive types EG LTO1, 2 and 3 drives..

even though the drives are backwards compatible, Netbackup will not mount any other type of media it has in its database.. so then you either have to reconfigure the storage group/drive, or force-change the type and density of the media in the EMM database... i had to do this on our DR trial recently because the drives at the DR site are LTO2.. luckily i found out the command line to perform it on the whole database, or i would have been messing about for ages!.

ours was installed and configured by a combination of RM (who wouldn't support it), some bloke that installed the software (that didn't seem too clued up) and our "network manager" who's about as much use as a very broken useless...thing...on the least useful day of it's life

the fact that it's able to back anything up ever is actually a bonus

Stupid question, but.

Can you use a DLT IV cleaning tape in a SDLT drive?.

I have a SDLT drive thats prompting for a cleaning tape, but the DLT IV cleaning tape doesnt seem to clear the prompt.

Does anyone have a spare sdlt cleaning tape lying around they can donate to me.

No, it won't even load into the drive.

Tape drive cleaning can usually be setup on either the software or the hardware. I always advocate letting the changer clean iteself, as it will respond correctly to a "cleaning required" light. Most software just does it periodically (EMC Networker does it every two weeks).

Too much cleaning is as bad as not enough, as it wears the tape heads out.

I've seen a duff cleaning tape in an ADIC i2k stop Netbackup from runinng any backups!

Phil

Hi,

The sdlt 320 are backward compatible fot dlt4000 and dlt7000 so not to worry in having them used.

and if its a sdlt6000 or etc .. for a urgent reuse, if its a desktop drive try using a lint free soft cloth over the head after removing the cover and while the drive powered off and it surely works wonders or a VHS spray would do.