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DLT
tape re-certification program!
Viatek now offers re-certification of DLT tapes.
Type III, IIIXT and IV
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Why
re-certify these tapes ?
What is tape re-certification?
What about the security of my data on these
tapes?
What services are available?
Why Viatek? |
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Why
re-certify?
The short answer is to save money. As you know DLT tapes are
expensive. In order to insure the highest quality of recording,
many companies do not reuse these tapes, those that do reuse
DLT tapes will generally place some limit on the number of
times they will use a tape before they retire the tape and
replace it with a new one. This process has been the norm
with all types of tape drives for over 30 years. DLT tapes,
like any other tape, can and do deteriorate somewhat with
continuous re-use. Over time the error rates will slowly increase.
Part of this is due to the fact that there is no erase head
on the drive, which means that the tape is being continuously
overwritten instead of erased. While the drive has tremendous
error correction capabilities, and while the increasing error
rate will almost never place the data integrity at risk, the
increasing use of the error correction capabilities can and
does slow down the drive performance and the data transfer
rate. Thus, the user must continuously purchase new tapes,
adding to the ongoing operational expense of the system. If
they elect to use re-certified tapes in place of new tapes,
the user is able to achieve significant cost savings. Remember
cost savings go straight to the bottom line and increase profits.
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What
is tape re-certification?
The process we use can be broken down to four basic steps:
1.)
Inspection
All tapes are physically inspected to insure that there
is no damage to the tape, the tape leader, or the tape
cartridge. Then the full length of the tape is inspected.
If there is damage, the tape will not be re-certified.
This re-certification program is not offered as a 100%
yield program.
2.) Deep De-gaussing
Prior to the tape being placed into a tape drive, any
data on the tape is thoroughly destroyed to effectively
remove any and all recoverable information. This insures
the security of the user's data.
3.) Cleaning/Re-tensioning
The tape is then burnished/cleaned to remove any dirt
or loose oxide. During this process the tape is re-tensioned
within the cartridge to it's optimal tension packing.
4.) Error checking |
Data is
written to the tape and the raw error rates (rates before
error correction by the drive) are monitored to insure the
quality of the performance of the tape, and the acceptance
standards used are higher than the original OEM standards
for new drive performance. This monitoring is of the raw error
rate, not the error rate reported through the SCSI bus. The
raw error rate can be as much as 1,000 times higher than the
rate reported over the SCSI bus. The tape is thus re-certified
and sent back to the customer. The tapes will be recognized
and treated by the drive as a totally blank, new tape.
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What
about the security of your data on the tapes?
Confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements can be signed, and
have been done for other customers. In addition, the process
is set up so that the data is removed from the tapes prior to
ever going into a drive. This eliminates the opportunity to
"read" any data the tapes might hold. Each tape cartridge
has two separate and unique "serial numbers" which
are printed on the bottom of the tape cartridge. All tapes are
tracked by the manufacturer's serial numbers throughout the
process to insure that the customer gets back the same tapes
once they have been re-certified. (We encourage the customer
to also track these tapes by the serial number for their own
security purposes.) All tapes are then marked with a sticker
showing "Date Re-Certified" or "Bad Tape".
All tapes are returned to the customer, whether they are successfully
re-certified or not, to further insure the security of the customer's
data. |
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What
additional services are available?
Viatek offers a complete line of service options for the DLT
tape drives. These services include HGA (Head Guide Assy.)
repair, read/write head repair, PCB repair, and whole unit
repair. With whole unit repair we offer the option of returning
your drive back to manufacturers specifications. This "re-certification"
of your drive, after repair, will allow the drive to work
as a brand new unit, thus increasing the transfer rates of
older drives and decreasing the time needed to read and write
data to the unit.
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Why
Viatek, Inc.?
Some may ask how we can do what others have failed to be able
to accomplish in this area. Frankly, this product is a result
of an internal need spawned from our OEM contract to repair
the DLT heads themselves. There are 3 major areas of concern.
(read/write head, tape condition and drive unit) By controlling
two of these we can insure our success in accurately repairing
the third. Therefore we have perfected all these aspects and
are now able to provide a service that we feel is desperately
needed in the industry. |
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Corporate Headquarters
5601 Arnold Rd, Suite 102
Dublin, CA 94568
Phone: (925) 479-7800
Fax: (925) 479-7810
Copyright© 2001 Viatek, Inc. All
rights reserved. This site designed
& maintained by STS International, Inc.
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