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Chapter 5. Using the AIT Tape Drives
44
Built-In Cleaning Feature
The Sony AIT drive uses a built-in head cleaner designed to last for the life of the drive.
This built-in cleaner works well, but it should not be relied upon as the only drive-
cleaning mechanism, particularly in environments where more excessive drive head
contamination may occur. Spectra Logic recommends that drives be cleaned after every
100 hours of use in normal data center environments. If excessive read or write errors
occur while the drives are being cleaned with that frequency, Spectra Logic
recommends cutting the cleaning time to every 50 hours of drive use.
Caution: Drive cleaning should be performed using only approved Sony
SDX-TCL cleaning cartridges. For ordering information, see
Purchasing Additional Library Accessories on page 64.
For more information about cleaning your drives, see Tape Drive Head Cleaning on
page 46.
Getting Information From the Drive LEDs
The AIT tape drive has three light emitting diodes (LED) on the front of the drive:
Busy Indicates drive read and write activity.
Tape Indicates tape load and unload activity and error rate information.
Status Indicates the status of the tape drive, including whether the tape inside is write-
protected, if it is a cleaning tape, or if the drive failed a self-test.
Figure 5-2 The AIT tape drive LEDs.