5190/5194 Modular Tape Subsystem Manual

Operating the Cartridge Tape Drive and ACL

5190/5194 Modular Tape Subsystem Manual—426878-002

4-25

Unloading Cartridges

The tape drive must be powered on to unload a cartridge tape. Normally, the cartridge

is unloaded by the unload command from the system. If the tape is positioned at EOT,

a 5190 tape drive takes approximately 60 seconds to rewind the tape and unload the

cartridge and a 5194 tape drive takes approximately 1 second or less. To unload a

cartridge using the drive front-panel controls, use the following procedure:

1. Press the RESET button. The message panel shows NT RDYU or NT RDYF.

These are the NOT READY drive states. See NOT READY States on page 4-30

for more information.

2. Press the UNLOAD button to eject the cartridge. During unloading, the

UNLOADNG message appears on the message panel. If the tape needs

rewinding, the drive automatically begins rewinding the tape and the REWINDNG

message appears. When the tape is unloaded, the AUTO MODE WAS

INTERRUPTED message appears.

3. Press RESET to clear the message.

When a cartridge cannot be unloaded successfully, the message panel returns an error

code or message. If this happens, press RESET and then UNLOAD. When the drive

has recovered from the error state, the cartridge is ejected. If power is removed from

Figure 4-9. Loading a Cartridge Tape Into a Tape Drive Without an ACL

VST018.vsd