OnStream's Technical Support 5

[ChrisTyrrell]

Has anybody been able to get technical support from OmStream lately? I've been trying for the last several days. Their on-line technical support form takes me back to their home page as soon as I click on any language and their London telephone number seems to be constantly busy. I've even tried calling one of their overseas numbers and that seems to be busy as well. What's happening to OnStream?

 

[RogerBClark]

Greg, if cleaning tapes are hard to come by right now, can the heads be cleaned another way? Or, do I need to worry about cleaning if the drive is functioning without errors? (SC50).

Roger

 

[gwootton]

Roger,
Honestly, the cleaning tapes aren't really even necessary. They were made due to customer demand. Unless you are running the drive in a particularly dusty environment, they stay clean. The drives don't need to be superclean because the technology is designed to reduce any errors that may occur due to a somewhat dirty head. if you do want to clean the head, or are in a dusty location, you could probably get a cotton swab and just wipe the head off, but no, it's not necessary.
Thanks,
Greg

 

[RogerBClark]

Thank you Greg. Your participation here is most appreciated!

Roger

 

[tzarob]

Hello all and thanks to Greg for all the great support - now for MY problem...

I have an Onstream FW30 running on Mac OS X (10.2.8), and although it worked fine a few months ago, now the Mac and Retrospect does not see the drive with or without a tape. It does not appear in Apple System Profiler or Retrospect Config. I tried a different Firewire Cable - FAILED. Am I correct that for starts, it needs to appear as a Device in Apple System Profiler as a Firewire Device? Most of what I read about firmware and driver updates all apply to PC.

Any help would be greatly enjoyed.

- Todd

 

[giuz]

Hi All

I'd like to add the following:

1st. OnStream tapes cannot be bulk erased. They contain servo tracking information that is applied at the media manuf. plant and cannot be rewritten by the tape drive.

2nd. The ADR2.60 IDE LVD and USB2 and ADR2.120 LVD drives can use Tape@Once instead of TapeFirstAid to 'clean' tapes (erases media headers)

http://www.hastec.nl/support/onstream/support/downloads/manuals/installation/Tape_Once/index.html

Furthermore, it is advised to run this tool once when using these tapedrives with NT backup that comes with 2000 pro, XP pro and .NET as it will adjust a few system (harmless) settings for compatibility.

3rd. There was a unsolved firmware problem with the ADR 2.60LVD and the ADR2.120LVD that causes them to malfunction on certain LVD host adapters when the drive's id is set to 3 (amazing he?).

As for the rest, Greg's right on the spot.

Giuz

 

[electronicsman]

Regards to a 50gb drive not opening and closing, even when disconnected from scsi data cable. I recently purchased one which claimed unable to power up. Upon receipt, it powered up but the drawer did not open. Upon further inspection, there is a small white gear in the rear center of the sled that is very close to the bottom cover. I just took a very slim flat head screwdriver and gently pried the gear up and vola the drive now opens and closed properly. I next need to power up in system and check full functionality. I hope this helps someone!