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Technical News and quick tips:

  1. SKYDATA Firewriter cannot be seen by Toast after upgrading Mac OS to 9.2
  2. To see an example of how to setup a 5 day rotation backup script using Retrospect.
  3. Raidstar - Procedure for rebuilding drive to restore Raid to Fault Tolerance
  4. For LED info for DAT and AIT tape drives, click here
  5. DLT Tape Media Handling and Inspection Guide
  6. DLT Tape Drive Cleaning Explained

1. SKYDATA Firewriter cannot be seen by Toast after upgrading Mac OS to 9.2

Problem: Toast cannot see my Firewriter after the Mac OS was upgraded to 9.2. It used to work before the upgrade was done.

Solution: Go to Extension manager and disable the Firewire Authoring Support extension and restart the Mac. The Firewriter should be detected again by Toast software.

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2. To see an example of how to setup a 5 day rotation backup script using Retrospect.

Under Construction.

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3. SKYDATA Raidstar - Drive Rebuild Quick Note

To rebuild a drive with Raidstar: (Must running terminal program)

  1. Add drive to pool spare from System Menu:
    System Menu > Pool Spare Menu > Add Pool Spare (and select the drive)

    If you get a message “Pool spare unusable”, then go to step 2 and repeat step 1. Otherwise the rebuild will initiate automatically.
  2. System Menu
    Utilities Menu > Drive Utility Menu > Clear Meta Data
  3. The rebuild should start once the drive is added into the pool spare.

NOTE:
1. The spare drive must have equal or larger capacity than drives in the RAID set in order for the rebuild to initiate properly.
2. The rebuild must be done while running the terminal emulation program.

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4. SONY DDS and AIT Tape Drives LED indicators:

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5. DLT Tape Media Handling and Inspection Guide

Click here to download the file (Adobe Acrobat Required)

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6. When to use a cleaning cartridge with DLT tape drive?

If

It means

And you should

The use cleaning light is lit

The drive head needs cleaning or the tape is bad.

Load cleaning tape in drive

The use cleaning light goes out and then come back on after a data tape is loaded

The data tape may be damaged. Inspect tape for damage

Back up data from this tape to another tape and discard it.

The use cleaning light stays lit after using the cleaning tape

The cleaning tape may have expired. Each cleaning tape can be used for 20 times.

Use another cleaning tape

After using the cleaning tape several times the "Use Cleaning Tape" light reappears with different data cartridges

The drive may be defective

Return drive for service

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Additional Q/A regarding cleaning

How many times can I use a Cleaning Tape?
Cleaning Tapes have 20 uses before they expire and should be discarded. That is why you should mark the label after each use.

Can the head be cleaned with a solvent or alcohol?
No, the only cleaning that the user can do is with the DLT Cleaning Tape. No solvents or alcohol are approved for cleaning.

Should I perform periodic cleanings on a set schedule?
Periodic cleaning is not recommended. Use the cleaning tape only when the indicator is lit.

What can I do to help prevent the occurrence of cleaning lights?
Always store cartridges in the protective plastic boxes provided. Never touch the leader or tape with bare fingers. Keep drives and cartridges in an area free of excessive dust. Be sure to acclimate the tapes and drives that have been exposed to higher or lower temperatures than the ambient room temperature where they will be in operation. Example: If the tapes are stored in a warm room they must sit for a while in an air conditioned room before being used.

The "Use Cleaning Tape" light came on and my backup failed, why?
If the tape drive senses an uncorrectable read or write error during backup, the "Use Cleaning Tape" light will be lit. Cleaning would be required before the backup could continue.

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