Re: When to replace LTO4 tapes -- PCTECH

I had to ask... :) The cleaning cartridges also (at least for the IBM i) have a limited life. If I recall, on the i it either won't accept the cartridge if it's at end of life or it immediately ejects it. I've also had a bad cleaning cartridge (i.e. it didn't clean very well). That was the one that came with the drive.

Dave Parnin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Crosby" <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "PC Technical Discussion for IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries) Users" <pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:59:28 AM
Subject: Re: [PCTECH] When to replace LTO4 tapes

I did a tape drive cleaning yesterday during the day and the error occurred
last night.

Here's why I did the cleaning yesterday. When I came in to work yesterday
morning, the tape was popped out but the backup shouldn't have been done
yet. I looked at the backup software and it said there was no media in the
drive. So I inserted it. It popped out again. So I cancelled the backup,
power cycled the tape drive, and did a cleaning. It still wouldn't accept
that tape. (This is not the tape in question with the media errors in my
original post.)

So I asked the person who inserted the tape if anything unusual happened
and she said yes. She had dropped it. Arrghh! Don't tell me these
things, OK?

On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Dave Parnin <dpcoke@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I assume that you are cleaning the drive every now and then so this isn't
just a false bad tape message.

Dave Parnin
home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Crosby" <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users" <pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 9:05:06 AM
Subject: [PCTECH] When to replace LTO4 tapes

Wanted to pick everyone's brain.

Our Windows servers get backed up to an HP LTO4 SCSI tape drive. Last
night it failed with the software saying the tape had media errors and
don't you ever ever ever use that tape again. I put a new tape into
service and am running that backup now.

There are 10 LTO4 tapes for this backup. Each has used once every other
week for approximately 4 years now. I can replace them at $25 apiece.
Should I? Should these tapes last longer? How do I know in a Windows
environment that it's time to replace a tape? If it's time, I may as well
do all 10 at once.

Our System i tapes have been in use longer than 4 years without issue. But
I get a report every
Friday morning on the System i that will tell me tape errors. There never
are any, so I keep using the same tapes.

Thanks.

--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of my
company. Unless I say so.
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