Operation
Drive Maintenance
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Drive Maintenance
The Ultrium drive requires little or no maintenance. However, the drive mechanism may need to be
cleaned.
Cleaning the Tape Drive
Excessive tape debris or other material may accumulate on the tape heads if the drive is used with
non-approved media or operated in a hot, dusty environment. In this case, the drive may experience
excessive errors while reading or writing, and the amber Status LED remains on continuously during
operation. This means that the drive heads need to be cleaned.
The LTO cleaning cartridge has the same dimensions as the data cartridge and contains an LTO-CM
(Cartridge Memory), but is loaded with cleaning media instead of recording media. Always keep
the cleaning cartridge in its protective case when not in use.
To clean the drive, insert an LTO Ultrium cleaning cartridge, such as the Certance Model CLMCL.
During the cleaning process, both the Status and Drive LEDs remain lit. After the cleaning process is
completed, the cartridge may be ejected automatically, or you may need to press the load/unload
button to remove the cartridge, depending on the drive configuration. Each time you use the clean-
ing cartridge, write the date on the label for future reference.
Each time the drive is cleaned, the tape advances to a new, unused section of media. After approxi-
mately 50 cleanings, all of the media will be used up and you should discard the cleaning cartridge.
When a cleaning cartridge is used up, the amber Status LED flashes, while the green Drive LED
remains on. Do not reuse a spent cleaning cartridge
NOTE: If the Status LED comes on continuously within 24 hours after a cleaning cycle, perform
the cleaning cycle again. If, after three cleaning cycles in a 72-hour period, the Status LED lights
up again, contact Technical Support.
NOTE: The cleaning procedure will not run and the cleaning cartridge will be ejected in the fol-
lowing circumstances:
• The drive does not recognize the cartridge as an LTO cleaning cartridge.
• All of the tape on the cleaning cartridge has been used up (at EOT). In this case, the Status
LED will flash rapidly while the Drive LED remains on.
