Data Cartridge/Care & Handling

Data Cartridge/Care & Handling

Situation You May Encounter:

Error performance of data cartridges can be adversely affected by environmental conditions, lack of acclimatizing, and prolonged operations over a short length of tape.

Why The Situation Exists:

Exposure to environmental conditions outside of the specified operating environment can create step (uneven) winds and tape pack shifts and as a consequence, affect tape tension. Repeated cycling, without a periodic conditioning pass, over a short length of tape also can create step winds which can result in "thrown tape loops", severely damaging the tape.

Recommended Action:

Data cartridges are designed to comply with specified environmental conditions. The following are the recommended environmental conditions:

Shipping and Storage:
-40°F to 113°F (-40°C to 45°C)
20% to 80% Relative Humidity
79°F (26°C) Max. Wet Bulb Temperature

Operating Conditions:
-41°F to 113°F (5°C to 45°C)
550 oe media, 122°F (50°C) Max. baseplate temp.
900 oe media, 134°F (57°C) Max. baseplate temp.
(Measured on the exterior surface within 1/2 inch
(12.7mm) radius of the belt capstan pin.)
20% to 80% Relative Humidity
79°F (26°C) Max. Wet Bulb Temperature

Data Cartridge Conditioning:

Prior to beginning any data recording operation, the data cartridge must be acclimatized to the operating environment's temperature and humidity. The required time to condition it to the operating environment is equal to the time period outside of its operating environment, up to 8 hours maximum.

A data cartridge is conditioned by exercising its tape one complete cycle from BOT to EOT and back to BOT when any of the following occurs:

1. The data cartridge is inserted into a drive which does a load cycle.

2. The data cartridge has been used approximately 50 times in any application where the full length of tape was not used.

3. The data cartridge was exposed to operating, shipping or storage temperature changes greater than 30°F (16°C).

4. The data cartridge has been operated in a stop-start-stop shuffle mode for a period of one hour or more.

Storage:

1. Always store a data cartridge in its protective plastic container.

2. When possible, store a data cartridge in a room or environmental condition of 68°F ± 9°F (20°C ± 5°C), 50% RH ± 20% RH.

3. Do not store a data cartridge in direct sunlight.

4. Always rewind the data cartridge to either the BOT (Beginning-Of-Tape) or the EOT (End-Of-Tape) before removing it from the drive.

Cleaning:

1. Clean the data cartridge drive's magnetic read-write head on a regular basis. A recommended level is at least once a month using an approved head cleaning cartridge.

2. DO NOT CLEAN THE TAPE nor touch the tape or the data cartridge's drive roller with your fingers or other foreign objects.