Head Cleaning Procedures

SLR Drives
With SLR drives with high capacity capabilities, clean once a week with a DRY Head Cleaning Kit.

And of course have your tapes cleaned twice a year (Aust. Standard AS 3636.4)

Travan Drives (Clean weekly)
Which Cleaning Cartridge for Travan: The DC2000 Head Cleaning Kits (Wet) are used on all.

Travan drives up to the Travan 3 except in the HP Colorado T3000 and above. The HP drives will not accept any cleaning kits on the market due to the materials of the heads of the drive. The new NS Dry Cleaning Cartridge will work on all Travan drives except any HP Colorado and the Iomega Easy 800.

4mm DDS Drives (DATS) (Clean weekly)
HP says:
·   Use 1 tape a day, clean weekly
·   Use 2 or 3 tapes a day, clean every other day
·   Use 4 or more tapes a day, clean daily

Sony says: Clean drives weekly

8mm Data Cartridge Drives
Exabyte says: IMPORTANT! Clean your tape drive regularly with an EXABYTE or EXABYTE-approved Cleaning Cartridge, the only authorized cleaning method for 8mm tape drives.

NOTE: There is a specific cleaning cartridge for Mammoth Drives. There is a different cleaning cartridge for AIT Drives.

DLT and LTO Drives (Refer Drive Manual or System Supplier)
The information on this page has been gleaned from tape and drive manufacturers' literature. If you have any specific concerns, please contact your system supplier.

DATASHIELD can supply the correct head cleaning equipment to suit your drive, the correct tapes for your system, and clean your tapes in accordance with AS 3636.4.

Tape Cleaning

SLR, DDS, TRAVAN, LTO type tapes are cleaned using a blade system to remove deep-seated contamination. Any loose particles, loosened by the blades are ‘sucked’ away by an internal fan. Electronic Measurements taken by 3M of the surface of tapes, indicated no reduction in the thickness of the Mylar after 200 cleaning cycles.

DLT, Super DLT, VXA and AIT tapes are cleaned using a tissue system. This is very effective and the contamination removed from the tapes can be seen on the tissue.

Both sides of LTO, Super DLT, DLT, VXA and AIT tapes are cleaned to ensure no ‘back to front’ transfer of contamination takes place once the tape is rewound back into its cartridge.

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