The Importance of Cleaning Your Tape Drive

Tape drives are used by almost every computer user at one time or another. This mass storage peripheral is used to store backup copies of important files. It can be found in home offices, small and medium businesses and large companies. Since we are constantly using these tape drives day in and day out has it ever crossed our minds to use a cleaning tape to clean our tape drives once in awhile?

When we do stop and think about cleaning our tape drive we must consider a few things. First, it is important to know what kind of tape drive you are using because depending on the tape drive there are various ways of cleaning it. For example, if it's a stand-alone tape drive, you may use a cleaning tape and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Some tape drives need you to use the DPM (Data Protection Manager) when cleaning them. It is always best to follow instructions from the manufacturer when your are cleaning your tape drive so as to not mess up your drive.

Another question related to cleaning pertains to how often does your tape drive need to be cleaned? Cleaning processes will depend on how often you backup and how long is your backup process. Most tape drives need to be cleaned with a cleaning tape at least once per month.