BOW Industries, leader in the quality control of magnetic media for over 35 years, is proud to introduce the first LTO (Linear Tape Open) cleaner available on the market. The LTO cleaners employ the basic time proven cleaning principles that have been the hallmark of BOW's commitment to quality tape care. The all new LTO cartridge tape cleaners clean, re-tension and optically scan (or magnetically tests) all LTO compatible cartridges.

The benefit of cleaning your LTO tapes is the assurance that your cartridges are functioning at optimum performance levels. By removing surface debris that interferes with head to tape contact, you greatly reduce dropouts as well as prolong the life of expensive magnetic heads. At 200 ips (inches per second) the LTO cleaners can process a 2000 foot cartridge (LTO 1) in approximately 5 1/2 minutes (from insertion to ejection).

In one cycle the tape is automatically extracted from the cartridge, wrapped around four (4) automatically advancing tissue stations, cleaned by a sapphire blade (if engaged), optically inspected (or magnetically tested) and then ejected or returned to the magazine (LTO-A). The automatically advancing cleaning tissue is made of non-shedding nylon material that is placed in such a position, both upstream and downstream of the sapphire cleaning blade, that both sides of the tape are cleaned twice. The cleaning blade, which burnishes the tape, is a precise bi-directional double-edged sapphire blade designed to remove debris adhered to the tape.

The Optical Scanning feature allows you to purge your library of defective cartridges thereby improving the system process time. The optical scanner detects edge damage and tape deformities, such as creases and folds. An indicator on the control panel is provided that counts and displays the number of defects in the tape. In the LTO-S (single cartridge) tape cleaner, after the tape has been cleaned/inspected, an UP and DOWN scan feature indicates the location of each defect that occurred. A print option (P) can be added to provide the operator with a hard copy of the scan information (defect count and location). On the LTO-A, which is equipped with an autoloader, the user can process a magazine of up to ten (10) LTO cartridges at a time for hands-off operation. This option gives the operator a simple PASS/FAIL indicator for each cartridge so that when a magazine of cartridges is completed the status of each cartridge is clearly displayed as PASS or FAIL. If a detailed defect analysis is required (defect count, position and sequence number) units with an autoloader must have the printer (P) option installed.

As an alternative to optical inspection, a Magnetic Testing option is available. This option records a 1 MHz sine wave on the tape, between the servo tracks. The tape is then read by an in-line multi-track longitudinal head to detect signal loss, thereby detecting magnetic defects on the tape. The units with magnetic testing have an additional control panel located in a separate cabinet beside the LTO unit. The panel contains a separate Threshold and Duration selection for the tape edges and center areas. A test On/Disable button is also provided to enable or disable the magnetic testing option. During testing the tape speed is reduced to 120 ips. 

An Erase (E) option is also available that allows the operator to erase unneeded data from the tape WITHOUT DISTURBING THE ALL IMPORTANT SERVO TRACKS that are needed for reuse of the tape. Once cleaned, scanned and erased, the tape can be used with the assurance and reliability you look for in a new tape.