The improved design of DLT® Technology drives and media has greatly reduced the need for head cleaning. In the event that cleaning is needed, specially formulated cleaning cartridges are available for all DLT drives. These cartridges are designed to exacting specifications to ensure that they provide the right level of care for the tape drive head to keep your drive running long into the future.

Cleaning Cartridge Use

There are five important things to remember when cleaning your drive:

• Clean your drive when cleaning is required through the cleaning indicator light or through your backup software. The drive constantly monitors its performance and will tell you when it needs to be cleaned.

• Never use a cleaning cartridge if the cleaning indicator light is not on. Cleaning on a preset schedule, rather than waiting for a cleaning light, leads to excessive wear, diminishing drive life and performance.

• Always mark the label on your cleaning cartridge. When the cartridge has been used 20 times it’s done.

• Know your drive’s cleaning compatibility. There are different cleaning cartridges for drives that may use the same data cartridge, i.e. the DLT 8000 and DLT VS80 use different cleaning cartridges. The cleaning cartridges have been tuned to the read/write heads used in each drive.

• Periodically check for drive firmware updates on the web. Updates to firmware may include improved cleaning algorithms or other improvements that will help keep your drive running at optimal performance.