Sun Storage L8 Tape Autoloader
 

GCS>Sun Microsystems>Storage - Tape>Libraries - L-Series
 

Applies to:

Goal

Solution

Q1) How does LTO drive detect incompatible cleaning cartridge? Does the LTO drive look into the contents of the Cartridge Memory or, does it check anything else?

A1) This is a function of the LTO drive. The drive is capable of detecting if the cartridge is compatible: type H -- original HP type cleaning cartridge, or type U -- current Universal Cleaning Cartridge or UCC

Q2) How does LTO drive detect expired cleaning cartridge ? Does LTO drive look into contents in Cartridge Memory or, does the LTO drive judge the cartridge as 'expired' when it reaches End-Of-Tape (EOT)?

A2) This is physically recorded on the CM (Cartridge Memory) of the cleaning cartridge. Once loaded, the drive immediately detects if there is available usage for another cleaning or if the cleaning cartridge is expired.

Q3) How does LTO drive detect Defective/Contaminated/Non-acclimated media? Will the LTO drive determine that a Cleaning cartridge is 'bad' and report an error if the LTO drive encounters some errors, similar to the following, during the cleaning cycle? - cartridge load/unload failure. - defective Cartridge Memory. - hard/soft errors (ex. positioning error) during cleaning.

A3) This is not a function of any tape drive product. Defective/Contaminated/Non-Acclimated media only shows symptoms in the field. If excessive errors occur, the media should be tried in another drive to ensure it is not a drive issue. If it is resolved that the customer's drive does not have an issue, the media should be sent to the original media manufacture for failure analysis.

Q4) Is it true that the Cleaning Tape is "expired" after 15 cleanings?

A4) For LTO-1, 15 cleanings per cleaning cartridge. For LTO-2, up to 50 cleanings per cleaning cartridge.

Q5) Are the following criteria below the same for SE L8 F/W A11r and A12r?

The firmware performs a check to prevent excessive cleaning being forced upon the drive. Unnecessary cleaning shortens the useful life of a cleaning cartridge as well as risks degrading drive  performance.  The excessive cleaning criteria is met if the following is TRUE:

* Cleaning LED is not turned on.

* Tape Alert flag 20 is not set.

* Cleaning operation has been performed in the last 336 hours (2 weeks) since the drive was powered on.

A5) A11r and A12r are identical--this is the autoloader firmware and simply passes through the drive behavior.

Q6) How does L8 work if an EXPIRED Cleaning Tape is inserted? - Does 'Media Attention LED' light? - Is 'internal head cleaning' performed?

A6) - The media attention does "not" light. - Yes, the internal head cleaner is activated to brush the heads.

Q7) It seems that the LTO drive keep a 'time stamp' when the last cleaning was performed. Is this time stamp also updated when 'internal head cleaning' is performed, or is it updated only when normal cleaning with Cleaning Tape is performed ?

A7) The 'internal head cleaning' is not frequency based, therefore the 'time stamp' is only updated. The 'time stamp' is updated, only when a normal Cleaning Tape is used.

This solution has no attachment