Technical data

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6 Notes on 8 mm MTC drives
This section provides information on how to avoid problems during data backup,
which magnetic tape cartridges are recommended, and how to handle the 8 mm
magnetic tape cartridges correctly.
6.1 Tips for avoiding problems during data
backup
If you observe a few important rules when using the 8 mm MTC drive and the
appropriate cartridges, you will avoid problems with the drive and will have a
reliable data backup device with an extraordinarily large capacity.
● Eliminate any sources of dust or other impurities in the vicinity of systems
using 8 mm MTC drives. Paper and toner dust from printers and photo-
copiers is particularly aggressive.
● Clean the MTC drive regularly and observe the sequence described in for
this drive in the chapter on “Care and maintenance”. Failure to clean the
drive or insufficient cleaning increases the read/write error rate, speeds up
wear on the tape and the head drums and can even lead to contaminants
being burned into the head drum. In this last case, even the use of a cleaning
cartridge will not rectify the problem; the drive must be sent into the service
center for cleaning and inspection.
● Only use the MTC drive in streaming mode. This means that data is written
and read without stopping the tape.
Wear on the magnetic tape drum and the tapes themselves is increased
considerably if you do not observe this rule and instead use the MTC drive
in start/stop mode.
The MTC drive will operate in streaming mode if you perform backups at
times when the load on the system is low and you specify the following block
size in the backup command:
In addition, you should observe the notes in the next section regarding care of
magnetic tape cartridges.
8 mm MTC drive (7 Gbyte) block size
≥ 32Kbyte
8 mm MTC drive (20 Gbyte) block size
≥ 64 Kbyte