I have a Quantum LTO-4 HH Original Drive, and recently i'm getting a lot of problems with tapes.
For a long time every 3-5 tapes, the drive asks me for a cleaning tape, but lately the drive needs to be cleaned very often (every 2 tapes, and sometimes only one and it even stops in the middle of a tape). I thought that the problem were the tapes because they have been used a lot of times, then I bought new tapes.
The problem now is that new tapes are unusable, because after 5-6 GB of backup, the drive gets dirty and asks for a cleaning tape. I've tested 4 tapes (Sony and Quantum) of 2 different providers, and all of them fail.
After the first "disaster" of new tapes (Sony) I was able to backup one full old tape, but now after the second "disaster" (Quantum tapes), even the old tape fails after 5-6GB.
Shall I replace the unit or can it be solved with a "manual" cleaning?
If the latter, do I need any special product for a manual cleaning?
Best Answer
Use common sense. Replace the unit or leverage the manufacturer/warranty contacts.
The behavior you're experiencing is not common or acceptable. Imagine this were a common kitchen appliance like a microwave or your refrigerator. Would you tolerate a weekly failure of those?
Nope...
So apply the same logic to your malfunctioning tape drive :)