Tape Streamer Problems

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

A customer of ours runs an overnight backup using an HP SCSI tape streamer -
not sure of the model number, but it is several years old, and uses DDS3
tapes. The OS is Windows 2000 server, and it is using the NTBackup software
supplied with the OS. The problem is that the orange light is flashing on
the front panel, which suggests that the tape drive needs cleaning. He puts
the cleaning cassette in, it cleans the drive, ejects the cassette and the
orange light goes out. Everything seems OK until after the overnight backup,
when the cleaning light is then flashing again. On looking in the backup
log, there are messages about media errors. I would suspect a faulty tape,
but he has 6 tapes, and the all do the same thing. Any suggestions would be
appreciated.

Regards,
Andy Baker

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Clean the drive with a *new* cleaning tape. Next use only *new*
tapes, i.e. do *not* re-use the old ones. If the problem still persist,
get the drive checked/repaired/replaced. Note that DDS drives are
similar to VCRs and have similar failure modes, i.e. dirty/worn-out
tapes and heads.

Andy Baker <abakerREMOVESPAM@vanputer.com> wrote:
> A customer of ours runs an overnight backup using an HP SCSI tape streamer -
> not sure of the model number, but it is several years old, and uses DDS3
> tapes. The OS is Windows 2000 server, and it is using the NTBackup software
> supplied with the OS. The problem is that the orange light is flashing on
> the front panel, which suggests that the tape drive needs cleaning. He puts
> the cleaning cassette in, it cleans the drive, ejects the cassette and the
> orange light goes out. Everything seems OK until after the overnight backup,
> when the cleaning light is then flashing again. On looking in the backup
> log, there are messages about media errors. I would suspect a faulty tape,
> but he has 6 tapes, and the all do the same thing. Any suggestions would be
> appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> Andy Baker

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Thanks for the advice - I have obtained a new cleaning tape and new DDS
tapes and forwarded them to the customer. It has now worked for 2 days, so
hopefully the problem is solved.

"Frank Slootweg" <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote in message
news:40e92fbb$0$1735$abc4f4c3@news.wanadoo.nl...
> Clean the drive with a *new* cleaning tape. Next use only *new*
> tapes, i.e. do *not* re-use the old ones. If the problem still persist,
> get the drive checked/repaired/replaced. Note that DDS drives are
> similar to VCRs and have similar failure modes, i.e. dirty/worn-out
> tapes and heads.
>
> Andy Baker <abakerREMOVESPAM@vanputer.com> wrote:
> > A customer of ours runs an overnight backup using an HP SCSI tape
streamer -
> > not sure of the model number, but it is several years old, and uses DDS3
> > tapes. The OS is Windows 2000 server, and it is using the NTBackup
software
> > supplied with the OS. The problem is that the orange light is flashing
on
> > the front panel, which suggests that the tape drive needs cleaning. He
puts
> > the cleaning cassette in, it cleans the drive, ejects the cassette and
the
> > orange light goes out. Everything seems OK until after the overnight
backup,
> > when the cleaning light is then flashing again. On looking in the backup
> > log, there are messages about media errors. I would suspect a faulty
tape,
> > but he has 6 tapes, and the all do the same thing. Any suggestions would
be
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Andy Baker