User's Manual

40
DAT 72/DDS-4 Product Manual
Media Recognition System (MRS)
The tape drive includes support for the media recognition system (MRS), which is
unique to DDS products.
The MRS refers to a series of alternate opaque and clear stripes at the beginning of
each tape. These stripes are used to classify the media as data- or computer-grade,
rather than audio-grade, media.
Internal to the drive is a system of optical sensors and electronics to identify the MRS
stripes to determine whether the tape is computer-grade media. The MRS capability
can be enabled or disabled using the drive’s DIP switch. When enabled, the drive
does not allow any write operations to any non-MRS tape cartridges.
All DDS-4 (150 meter), DDS-3 (125 meter), DDS-2 (120 meter), and DAT 72 (170
meter) tape cartridges have MRS striping to signal that they are computer-grade
media.
All DDS tape cartridges with the MRS striping either have the MRS logo, the MRS
acronym or
media recognition system
printed on them to readily distinguish them
from audio-grade media.
Audio-grade media is not suitable for data or computer backup purposes. Seagate
DAT drives eject audio tapes.
About the Data Cartridge
The tape drive is designed to use data-grade DDS/DAT cartridges, which comply
with the specifications in the
3.81-mm Helical-Scan Digital Computer Tape Cartridge
for Information Interchange, ANSI X3B5/89-156
standard. Seagate recommends
Seagate-qualified, data-grade DDS/DAT cartridges to ensure optimal data integrity
and reliability.
Seagate also recommends the use of a Seagate-qualified DDS head-cleaning
cartridge (Model STDMCL or CDMCL).
Note:
Proper maintenance of the drive requires that you use the DDS head-
cleaning cartridge after every 50 hours of read/write operation and whenever
the rectangular, green cartridge-in-place LED flashes during operation.
You can order both data and head-cleaning cartridges from Seagate. They are
packaged in multiples of five.
These small (approximately 2 inches × 3 inches × 0.4 inch) cartridges house a
magnetic tape that is 3.81 mm (0.150 inch) wide. The DDS cartridges are slightly
bigger than a credit card. Figure 22 shows the key features of the DDS cartridge.