Based on testing and the experience of our customers over the years, IEM recommends cleaning 8mm tape drives after every 10 hours of use. All the cleaning in the world, however, cannot compensate for a poorly manufactured tape cartridge. The vast majority of the problems our customers experience---including head wear, read/write problems, and tape jamming problems---are caused by the use of low-quality media. ONLY Exabyte data-grade tapes should be used. Many people consider this to be a "marketing myth," but we have had many customers with persistent problems that immediately clear up when they change to Exabyte tapes. We have experienced the same phenomenon on our 4mm tape drives with customers who use non-HP media. Also, the older 8mm technology using Exabyte's EXB-8500 drive---which most existing customers have---has an MTBF of only about 40,000 power-on hours, based on a duty cycle of 10% (the tape is in motion across the heads 2.4 hours per day, on average). An increased duty cycle will adversely affect the life of the drive, as will environmental conditions such as fluctuating temperature/humidity or high levels of particulates in the air. The new EXB-8505XL drives have an MTBF of 160,000 hours. Even though the EXB-8500 was the best available a few years ago, it is now outdated and outperformed by subsequent improvements in the technology. To get the most out of your 8mm tape drive: use only Exabyte tapes, make sure your environment is stable and clean, clean the drives after each 10 hours of use, and upgrade to an EXB-8505XL if possible. -- Mike Peebles Support Department IEM, Inc. [log in to unmask]