Preliminary
3-6
September 21, 1999
BENCHMARK
T A P E
S Y S T E M S
3.3.4 Caring for your Cartridges
To ensure the longest possible life for all of your DLTtape cartridges, follow these
guidelines:
•
Do not drop or strike a cartridge. Excessive shock can displace the tape leader, making
the cartridge unusable and possibly damaging your DLT1 drive.
•
Store your DLTtape cartridges in their storage cases.
•
Do not expose your DLTtape cartridges to direct sunlight or sources of heat, including
portable heaters and heating ducts.
•
Store your DLTtape cartridges in an environment in which temperatures are always
between 50° F and 104° F (10° C to 40° C). The ideal storage temperature is 72° F,
± 7° F (22° C ± 4 ° C). Always store your DLTtape cartridges in their storage cases.
•
If a DLTtape cartridge has been exposed to temperatures outside the ranges specified
above, stabilize the cartridge at room temperature for the same amount of time it was
exposed to extreme temperatures, up to 24 hours.
•
Store your DLTtape cartridges in a dust-free environment in which relative humidity is
always between 20% and 80% (noncondensing). The ideal storage relative humidity is
40%, ± 20%.
•
Do not place DLTtape cartridges near sources of electromagnetic energy or strong
magnetic fields, such as computer monitors, electric motors, speakers, or X-ray
equipment. Exposure to electromagnetic energy or magnetic fields can destroy data on
cartridges.
•
Place identification labels only in the slide-in slot on the front of the cartridge.
•
Never use any type of adhesive labels on your DLTtape cartridges.
3.3.5 Using the Cleaning Cartridge
When the Alert LED is on, your DLT1 drive’s read/write head needs to be cleaned.
Follow the instructions on page 3-4 to load the cleaning cartridge.
Use only Benchmark-approved cleaning cartridges in your DLT1 drive. Use of any other
type of cleaning cartridge can damage the read/write head in your drive. If you load any
other type of cleaning cartridge or method, your DLT1 drive ejects it immediately.
When the cleaning cartridge has cleaned the read/write head, the Alert LED turns off to
indicate that you should remove the cleaning cartridge.
Note:
If the Alert LED does not turn off when you load the cleaning cartridge, the cleaning
cartridge has expired and must be replaced. Each clearning cartridge has a useful life of 20
cleaning operations.
Follow the instructions on page 3-4 to eject the cleaning cartridge.
Note:
If any LEDs blink or if the Alert LED is illuminated again immediately after cleaning,
see Table 4 on page 3-3 for more information.
