Cleaning quarter-inch tape drives

For quarter-inch tape drives, you should clean the head after every 8 hours of tape movement when using IBM® tape cartridges. Other tape media might require cleaning more frequently.

When you use a new tape cartridge, it is advisable to clean the head after 2 hours of tape movement, or before loading each new tape cartridge.

System messages are posted when the tape unit determines that cleaning is required. The MLR1, MLR1-S, and MLR3 tape units also have a cleaning status light that indicates that cleaning is required. It is important to respond to these cleaning indicators and clean the head using a recommended cleaning method.