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Looking for freeware app to do HP Dat72 Tape Drive Cleaning
A customer of ours has an HP DAT-72 tape drive (an old model HP C7438A) and we are trying to create a cleaning regime, after recently having problems where several tapes all needed renewing at the same time in order for it to keep functioning. We have a brand new cleaning cartridge.
The customer has already invested in two types of backup software. Their HP DPE backup software tape-cleaning function is not working and we have abandoned trying to resolve that after trying all possible solutions. Their Acronis backup software has no tape-cleaning function.
HP do not seem to provide such software for free, so does anyone know of a public freeware software utility to clean this drive please - perhaps from an old HP Engineer's CD collection?
The customer has already invested in two types of backup software. Their HP DPE backup software tape-cleaning function is not working and we have abandoned trying to resolve that after trying all possible solutions. Their Acronis backup software has no tape-cleaning function.
HP do not seem to provide such software for free, so does anyone know of a public freeware software utility to clean this drive please - perhaps from an old HP Engineer's CD collection?
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When tested as described here, indeed, the drive and cleaning cartridge behaved and sounded as if cleaning was taking place; then the cartridge was ejected.
With this in mind, it now seems probable that that during our tests we may have been cleaning the heads without knowing - and therefore our write problems stopped because the drive was clean and not because we used new tapes.
Also, HP say this model has "an internal automated self-cleaning head cleaner activated by excessive soft write errors and a time based threshold", so that may have been at work in the background, too.
Thank you very much to those who answered the question! :-)
With this in mind, it now seems probable that that during our tests we may have been cleaning the heads without knowing - and therefore our write problems stopped because the drive was clean and not because we used new tapes.
Also, HP say this model has "an internal automated self-cleaning head cleaner activated by excessive soft write errors and a time based threshold", so that may have been at work in the background, too.
Thank you very much to those who answered the question! :-)
Apart from that you should consider replacing the tapes regularly. DAT tapes don't have a record of lasting very long. I never used more than 20 full write cycles. After that I archived them and used a new tape.
As rindi said be sure to mark each time it is used and dispose it when it is all used up.