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Imation products. For more information, including brochures, demos, and spec sheets, visit the 4mm & 8mm Data Cartridges product page.
What is the optimal operating environment for Imation 4 & 8mm Data Cartridges? If you have additional questions or comments, please contact our Technical Support.
The following are conditions and environments that allow for maximum usage for Imation 4mm products. Most users who perform daily backups remove the tape from service after 30, 60 or 90 days. As your drive wears, the expected life of the cartridges used in it will decline.
An optimal user environment includes:
- Good Housekeeping. Minimize debris generators, such as: impact printers, carpeted floors, smoking, food or drink in the area. Keep tapes in their protective cases.
- Tape Acclimation. Tapes should be acclimated to the operating environment prior to using. One to two days is the minimum for tapes that have been exposed to temperatures or humidities outside the manufacturer’s recommended operating/storage conditions.
- Environmental Control. This means a temperature of 68° +/- 4° F, and humidity of 45% +/- 5% RH. Humidity significantly below 40% promotes deposits on the heads resulting in poor read/write integrity, while humidity significantly higher than 55% results in increased head wear, which results in shorter head life.
- Drive Location and Air Flow. Drives should not be located near the floor, or at the top of an equipment rack. Rising heat from other equipment in the rack may elevate drive temperatures, and too much air flow may cause excessive dust and dirt to be ingested by the drive. It is only necessary to create sufficient airflow through the drive to maintain tape path temperature at or near the ambient temperature.
- Tape Motion Efficiency. Tape Motion Efficiency equals tape motion/tension time versus data transfer time. To maximize efficiency, use Streaming Mode whenever possible; use off-line buffers to limit the maximum duty cycle of the drive to 2:1; and condition the cartridge from end to end to relieve tension fluctuations wound into the tape pack.
- Tape Drive Maintenance and Cleanliness. Regular preventative maintenance is important for data and interchange reliability. As the drive wears, the expected life of the cartridges used in it declines. Erasing the cartridge before use will alleviate overwriting problems.
- Tape Path/Head Cleanliness. Regular drive cleaning is important for data reliability. Cleaning of the scanner and tape path components by other means than those prescribed by the drive manufacturer will void the warranty of the cartridge, and may also void the drive manufacturer’s warranty.
These conditions and environments will allow for maximum usage of 4mm and 8mm products. You can expect between 90 and 150 backup, restore or verify operations when these conditions are met.
Remember the "Rule of 30" for cleaning frequency: 4mm and 8mm tape drives should be cleaned at least as often as whichever of these "30s" is hit first:
- 30 hours of tape loaded
- 30 tapes loaded
- 30 GB processed (reading or writing)
- 30 days
Drive models vary, consult the hardware manufacturer for specific details.
Without data compression:
- DDS-1 90 meter tape 2GBs
- DDS-2 120 meter tape 4GBs
- DDS-3 125 meter tape 12GBs
- DDS-4 150 meter tape 20GBs
- DAT 72 170 meter tape 36 GBs
With data compression, tape capacity nearly doubles. However the amount of achievable compression depends on the nature of the data. Already compressed data files, such as GIFs, will not compress further. Other forms of data, such as databases, are highly compressible.
If you are trying to get the maximum amount of data stored on your Imation data cartridges, data compression supplied through your hardware typically allows twice the tape's native capacity. In other words, you will usually achieve a 2:1 compression ratio. However, the compression ratio depends on the type of data you are storing and if it has been backed up in a compressed mode previously.
Files already compressed by software will not compress much further and may actually increase in size. Some examples are files processed by PKZIP and the compress utility on UNIX. Popular graphics formats already compressed are .GIF, .JPEG, and MPEG.
Text files and empty databases compress very efficiently. A compression ratio of 2:1 is typically also obtained with commercial data.
If you are not using hardware compression (perhaps because it is disabled, or you do not know how to use it, or your drive does not support it) you will get no more than the tape's native capacity.
The compression software supplied with your backup drive generally is more efficient and flexible than utilizing a Windows backup option. If you need assistance with compression questions your best contact is the software manufacturer, not your media manufacturer.
The temperature can go as low as -40°C or as high as 45°C during transportation, and no damage will occur to the tape cartridge due to the temperature. However, whenever any data tape cartridge experiences any temperature or humidty deviation from the operating environment, the cartridge must be properly acclimated before use.
These temperature values are also available at http://www.ecma-international.org.
The metal particle media used in Imation 4mm cartridges will last in excess of 1500 physical passes in a drive under optimum laboratory conditions. The complex motions of writing the directory, then data, then rewinding and updating the directory, all in start/stop mode actually accumulates six to twelve physical tape passes each time the tape is used for a backup, restore or verify operation. You can expect about 250 backup, restore or verify operations under optimum conditions. (Please note that a restore utilizes double the number of passes that a writing pass does.)
Here are a few tips for protecting critical data, we recommend operating under conditions which include:
- closely controlled temperature and humidity for operation and storage
- a low particle (airborne debris) operational environment
- proper drive maintenance and regular cleaning done in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. Expected tape life also depends on the type of usage, namely streaming vs. start-stop/multiple searches to the same locations on the tape.
Because typical usage conditions may not always be optimum, we recommend a guideline of 90 to 150 backup, restore, or verify operations before the cartridge is retired and replaced.
Write protection allows the cartridge to be read, but not accidentally changed without actively taking a step to unlock it. If you receive a write protected or locked error message and want to allow data on the cartridge to be altered, the tab position must be changed. Unlock is accomplished by moving the write protect tab from the locked position to the unlocked position. In order to write to a cartridge the tab must be in the unlocked position.
To unlock the cartridge, use the following tips for the cartridge you are using:
- Travan Cartridges - Look for the red arrow slide that points to a padlock symbol identifying locked or unlocked and position it appropriately.
- Mini-cartridges - Look for a slide, often grey, that should be positioned all the way to the left to allow backups.
- 5.25" Cartridges (now known as MLR or SLR) - Look for a small circular button on the top left surface of the tape. This circular button has a subtle arrow that points. This can be turned to point to locked or unlocked padlock symbols. Some cartridges have write protected identified as 'Safe.' Use a pointed object to change as needed, e.g. a paper clip.
- 4mm Data Tapes (also known as DDS or DAT 72 tapes) - Look for the write protect slider on the lower edge which should be closed to allow backups. Also please be aware that the DDS drives require a Media Recognition System [MRS] tape to detect when qualified media is being used. Non-MRS media can only be read, not written. This commonly is identifyed as a write-protect error, when in fact it is not.
- 8mm Data Tapes (also known as D8 and Mammoth tapes) - Look for the sliding tab, often red, on the lower edge. A red tab indicates that the cartridge is read only. This should not be full red to allow backups. Some but not all 8mm tapes also have arrows reflecting the correct position identified as "Record" and "Save," or "Erase on" and "Erase off."
- 8mm AIT tapes - Look for the sliding tab, often orange. This slider should be moved to the lower position (marked "REC") to allow backup.