
Keeping Your Computer Happy
Page 3-3
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
For the AM-629 and AM-650 drives use the appropriate drive-cleaning cartridge, as described in the
documentation for the tape drive.
If you have a DAT drive, you should clean the drive heads whenever the tape cartridge status light
flashes.
As routine maintenance, the heads of a DAT drive should be cleaned after every 50 hours of use.
To clean the heads on the DAT drive, use a cleaning cartridge designed for your drive. The cartridge
contains the correct recognition holes to allow the DAT drive to identify it as a cleaning cartridge.
Follow these general guidelines to use the cleaning cartridge:
1.
Insert the cleaning cartridge into the DAT drive. The drive will immediately detect that this is a
cleaning cartridge.
2.
The drive will load and run the cartridge in about 10 seconds, then eject it.
Caring for the Tapes
A cartridge tape can store data from an entire disk, so it is worth taking care of properly. When using and
storing tapes, remember the following:
•
Don’t touch the tape itself with your fingers or anything else.
•
Keep tape cartridges in a dust-free environment.
•
Store cartridges on edge, not lying flat. This places the weight of the tape on the hub of the
cartridge, not on the edge of the tape, which could bend the tape over time. Keep the write-
protect switch in the SAFE position.
•
Keep magnets away from your tapes. Even weak magnets such as those in paper clip holders can
erase data on a cartridge tape.
•
Don't expose tapes to very high or low humidity (more than 80% or less than 20%), or extremely
high or low temperatures. Don’t store them in direct sunlight.
•
Cartridge tapes should be acclimated to computer-room temperature and humidity conditions
before use. If the tape has been stored away from the computer, it should be returned to the
computer environment at least eight hours before use. If it has been in a different environment for
less than eight hours, it should be kept in the computer location for at least as many hours as it
was away from it.
Caring for the Diskette Drive and Diskettes
Like the tape drive, a diskette drive needs to have its read/write heads cleaned regularly. This prevents
problems, such as data loss, which can result from dirty heads. If you do start noticing data loss, cleaning
the heads will probably take care of it.
You can clean your diskette drive using a special head-cleaning kit available from computer supply
stores.