Tape drives have two areas that are very important to maintain. The tape itself is only good for so many copies and it's shelf life is usually limited to only a few years. The best thing to do with archives is to re-copy them to new tapes after a couple of years. The tape mechanism itself is also an area where cleaning is imperative for proper operation. Most tape drives have capstan-cleaning kits available, and these should be used periodically.

1. To insure backup integrity, use at least 2 tape cartridges in rotation every other day. This way if your hard drive fails AND the backup from the previous day also fails, the most you'll lose is one day's worth of work. See your backup software manual for additional strategies.

2. Keep at least one of your tapes at another site. In case of fire or natural disaster your data will be intact. Be sure that this tape is kept in regular rotation so that it contains current data. Remember: The man-hours invested in creating the data is usually worth more than the equipment itself. It pays to take little precautions like this one.

3. Remember to store your tapes in a temperature friendly environment and away from magnetic fields. This means NOT on top of your CRT, on the bench next to your table saw or the dashboard of your car. Take the time to read the materials enclosed with one of your tapes for more detail.

4. Don't be concerned with how fast your tape drive can transfer data. Be sure to take advantage of the scripting functions of backup software to define your backup and schedule it to occur at a time when no one is using the computer(s) being backed up. This way you're not waiting for the backup to get done so you can resume work. For example: If you work during the day, setup the backup to occur at midnight. See your backup software manual for additional details and instructions.