mark@alias.UUCP (Mark Andrews) (08/30/89)
My company recently purchased a 8mm Exabyte tape drive for one of our SGI 4D workstations. I require some information on the availability and price of a Exabyte head cleaning kit. An address (and/or phone #) and price would be appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Andrews Systems Programmer, Alias Research, Toronto, Canada Phone: (416)-362-9181 UUCP: mark%alias@csri.utoronto.ca
battan@qtc.UUCP (Jim Battan) (09/01/89)
In article <450@alias.UUCP> mark@alias.UUCP (Mark Andrews) writes: >I require some information on the availability and >price of a Exabyte head cleaning kit. I called two companies to ask about their cleaning kits. First, Perfect Byte, Inc. said that they were offering kits at $23, quantity one. Theirs are "wet" kits, the ones with Freon. They said there have been some reports of damage with the wet kits (the spindle gets munched), but cleaning them is better than not. They had heard Exabyte would be coming out with a "dry" kit soon. Then I called Exabyte's technical support. They said the wet kits will void Exabyte's warranty on the drive. Exabyte now exclusively sells a dry kit for $25 each (minimum order 5). The tapes work three times, and are recommended every month or after 30GB have been written. Thus, five tapes should last about a year. Exabyte's address: 1745 38th St, Boulder, CO 80301. Direct Sales: 800/767-TAPE(8273), x466. They take Visa or checks. You should read comp.sys.sun; periodically there's useful info there about 8mm drives, particularly from George Goble ("Mr. Exabyte"). -- Jim Battan uunet!sequent!qtc!battan +1 503 626 3081 Quantitative Technology Corporation (QTC) 8700 SW Creekside Place, Suite D Beaverton, OR 97005
ghg@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (George Goble) (09/01/89)
In article <457@qtc.UUCP>, battan@qtc.UUCP (Jim Battan) writes: > In article <450@alias.UUCP> mark@alias.UUCP (Mark Andrews) writes: > >I require some information on the availability and > >price of a Exabyte head cleaning kit. > > I called two companies to ask about their cleaning kits. First, Perfect > Byte, Inc. said that they were offering kits at $23, quantity one. Theirs > are "wet" kits, the ones with Freon. They said there have been some reports > of damage with the wet kits (the spindle gets munched), but cleaning them > is better than not. They had heard Exabyte would be coming out with a > "dry" kit soon. > I suspect the "reports" of damage from Perfect Byte originated here. We finally "damaged" a drive with an official Exabyte "wet" cleaning kit. We had been involved early on in the testing of the BETA "wet" kits (you got a whole bottle of freon-TF with those instead of a few drops). We often got rotor stalls from both the BETA and production "wet" kits. Also it was noticed that the cleaning tape usually evaporated pretty much dry by the time it got to the heads. The drive above took a rotor stall (we have many drives with clear plastic lids so users can gawk at them) and the cleaning tape "folded" on drum and got tangled up real bad, caught in the gears, on the load ring, etc. Something got bent or changed in that drive, so it mangled new tapes when trying to load them after the cleaning. Exabyte has been investigating "dry" cleaning for many months now, and a few bent drives probably convinced them to go with it. The "dry" method is the same as the "wet" method, except that no Freon is used. You can still use your "wet" kits made by Exabyte (and sometimes resold by other vendors), but just don't use the Freon. Exabyte has just issued a Technical Bulletin 89-08-02 15-Aug-89 concerning cleaning kits. Below is this bulletin in its entirety 1) Purpose of this Technical Bulletin This Technical Bulletin (TB) describes a change in the EXABYTE 8mm Cartridge Tape Subsystem Cleaning Kit 2) Number of Pages This TB consists of a total of two (2) pages. 3) Problems and Questions If you encounter any problems or have any questions regarding this information contained in any TB, contact the following: EXABYTE Corporation 1745 38th Street Boulder, Colorado 80301 Attention: Technical Support phone:(800) 445-7736/(303) 442-4333 Telex: 361740 Fax: (303) 447-0467 4) Description of Change The EXABYTE 8mm Cartridge Tape Subsystem Cleaning Kit (Part Number 180123) is being replaced by a cleaning kit without the cleaning solution (trichlorotrifluoroethane). The new cleaning kit (Part Number 727113-A00) contains the same cleaning tape cartridge, but does not This change is related to several issues: o Extensive studies within EXABYTE engineering have concluded that regular cleaning with the dry EXABYTE cleaning cartrdige, starting at the time of installation, adequately prevents contaminant buildup. o The dry cleaning cartridge is easier to use o EXABYTE supports the worldwide environmental concern for the overuse of fluorocarbons 5) Availabiltiy of the New Cleaning Kit Limited quantities of the new EXABYTE 8mm Cartridge Tape Subsystem Cleaning Kit (Part Number 727013-A00) will be available on 15 September 1989. ------- end of TB ---- --ghg Geo. Goble, Engineering Computer Network, Purdue Univ, W. Lafayette, IN 47907 {backbone}!pur-ee!ghg or ghg@purdue.edu
carroll@cell.mot.COM (Steve Carroll) (09/06/89)
Contact Stacey A. Wilderberg of Artecon Inc (address and phone below). She sell Exabyte cleaning kit for $20 unit one. Exabyte suggests cleaning every 30 GB and these unit are good for 3 cleanings. These are procedued by Exabyte and will not violate any warranty that you have on the tape drive. Stacey A. Wildenberg Artecon Inc. Box 9000, Dept. 5500 Carlbad, Ca 92008-0993 (619) 931-5500 -- Steven R. Carroll ---> carroll@ivory ...!uunet!motcid!carroll Thought for the day: 186,000 miles per second. Not just a good idea, its the law.