need help cleaning a tape using veritas backup exec 9.1

[david_brooks_2]

so i went through technical support and then i realized that 9.1 is not supported anymore.
basically all i want to be able to do is clean a drive using a cleaning tape.

i found this: "if you have a library, designate one of the slots a cleaning slot and keep it stocked with cleaning tapes ONLY. BE should issue mount command against the cleaning slot when the drive issues a clean required status. i think this requires a) a supported library and b) the veritas drivers.

if you have only a single drive, you'll have to insert a cleaning tape manually when required.

cleaning media is a regular tape that is somehow sticky, designed to pull dust and gunk away from the head., someone correct me if i'm off."

how do i create a library so i can clean a drive? is there an easy way to do this? also each machine only has 1 tape drive. correct me if i'm wrong but a library is used to designate between different tape drives. so a computer could have like 2 or 3 tape drives and then you would just keep one drive with a cleaning tape at all times and then the veritas software would clean it when ever it wanted or was scheduled for.
so i need to find out how to clean a tape drive and only 1. if someone had a step by step instruction guide that would be mighty nice. backup exec 9.1 does seem hard to use. please help!

[Ken_Putnam]

A library is a separate piece of hardware that houses one or more tape drives and also has a magazine of some type, so that you do not need to manually mount tapes.

if you have stand-alone drives (which it sounds like you do) all you need to do is insert the cleaning tape, wait for the cycle to complete, then remove the tape

How long the cycle lasts depends on your hardware.

A couple of more points -

When you got it, each piece of cleaning media should have come with a label with a series of check boxes (usually 20 of them) Each time you use a cleaning tape, tick one box. When they are all ticked, toss the cleaning tape and start a new one.

If you have never cleaned your drive before, and are getting errors, run the cleaning tape through two or three times to start with.


Check your drive documentation for recommended cleaning intervals.