All former Backup Tapes have become unrecognizable

[Guest]

ALL my backup tapes have become unrecognizable. They were working perfectly
fine March 12. On March 19, Microsoft Backup version 5 no longer recognizes
media that I've been using for over two years.

I usually rotate between several tapes to perform backups every few days. I
use one tape for a month then swith to another so that I can go back at least
three months at any given time.

NONE of my tapes are now recognizable. I would blame it on the tape if it
was just one, but its ALL my tapes. I performed Windows Updates March 14.
Could the updates be the cause?

Microsoft Backup wants to reformat my tapes, which would destroy the data.
For daily backups, I just append the data. At the beginning of a new month,
I completely replace the four month old data. This has worked great for two
years until now.... any ideas???

 

[Guest]

After more research, one article suggested the tape drive be cleaned.
CLEANING THE TAPE DRIVE WORKED!!!!!!! I used a standard cleaning tape and
everything is back to normal. I'm going to start a regular tape drive
cleaning schedule in addition to the backups. I had just never given it much
thought before. Any ideas on how often a drive should be cleaned if I use it
approximately 10 to 15 times a month?

 

[Bob I]

Try this link.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=clean+tape+drive

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bob, the links were very helpful.

--
swatfor
Windows 2000 Server
Pentium IV, 2 Ghz
1 GB RAM

 

[Bob I]

You're welcome, google is usually my first stop for a query.

 

[Enkidu]

After more research, one article suggested the tape drive be cleaned.
CLEANING THE TAPE DRIVE WORKED!!!!!!! I used a standard cleaning
tape and everything is back to normal. I'm going to start a regular
tape drive cleaning schedule in addition to the backups. I had just
never given it much thought before. Any ideas on how often a drive
should be cleaned if I use it approximately 10 to 15 times a month?

About once a month.

Cheers,

Cliff