Preparing Your Cassette

When preparing your cassette for loading into the tape drive, you must decide if the cassette should be a read-and-write tape or a read-only tape.

To allow a cassette to be written on

To allow a cassette to be written to as well as read from, slide the tab on the rear edge of the cassette so that the recognition hole is closed. This cassette is a read-and-write tape as shown in the following illustration.

Figure 5-2 Close the Recognition Hole to Write on a Cassette

To protect data on a cassette

To protect the data on a cassette from being altered or overwritten, you can make a read-only cassette. To do this, slide the tab on the rear edge of the cassette so that the recognition hole is open.

To load a cassette

To load your cassette into a digital data storage (DDS) tape drive:

Insert the tape cassette squarely into the slot in the front of the drive. Make sure that the label is facing uppermost, then follow the arrowhead on the cassette case. Only minimum force is necessary when doing this. Do not restrain the cassette when pushing it into the drive because it could jam in the mechanism. The drive automatically ejects an incorrectly loaded cassette after 10 seconds.
Figure 5-3 Inserting a Cassette
Locate the cassette squarely in the slot (not at an angle). Using single-finger pressure on the rear of the cassette allows the autoloading mechanism to take the cassette and load it into the drive. The loading sequence to thread the tape takes about 25 seconds.
Observe that the load sequence is finished when only the cassette light remains lighted. The light is a steady green if the cassette is read and write, and is yellow if the cassette is read only.




	CAUTION: Do not try to load another cassette when a cassette is already in the drive. Check for a "cassette loaded" indication on your tape drive if you are not sure whether or not a cassette is loaded.

To unload a cassette

To unload your cassette from the tape drive:

Press the unload button on the front panel.
Figure 5-4 Unloading a Cassette

This starts a sequence that rewinds the tape to the beginning and ejects the cassette. The sequence takes about 10 seconds.
During the unload sequence, both front panel lights pulse green (yellow if the tape is read only).
Remove the cassette, label it appropriately, and store it in its plastic case.

To label a cassette

In order for you to identify what kind of information is stored on the cassette, it is important for you to have a label on it. When you label your cassette, follow these guidelines:

Use only one label on each cassette.
Use only standard labels recommended for cassettes.
Stick the label only in the label area. Do not stick anything else to the cassette.

Preparing Your Cassette

Technical documentation

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To allow a cassette to be written on

To protect data on a cassette

To load a cassette

To unload a cassette

To label a cassette