Specifications

Dell DDS/DAT 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 Cleaning with a Good Tape Cleaning with an Expired Tape
Dell PowerVault DAT72, DDS4, and
other manufacturer DDS drives
Tape and Drive LED will turn on while
drive is cleaned and media will eject
when completed.
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 PowerEdge
TM
Diagnostics to determine media or hardware related failures.