I have the same unit and went through the HP swap to replace it. It was very expensive. You may be better off just buying a few of the $ 100 units off ebay, run a cleaning tape through them, then test until you get one that works reliably. It will be much cheaper in the long run and you'll have lots of spare parts.
Scott... Scott R. Burns NETCON Technologies Inc. Suite 135 - 4474 Blakie Road London, Ontario, Canada N6L 1G7 Voice: +1.519.652.0401 Fax: +1.519.652.9275 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jon LaBadie Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 3:14 AM To: Jon LaBadie Subject: tape drive repair question Not strictly amanda related, but I can't use my amanda setup until it is resolved. I've got an HP DDS3 autoloader (SureStore 6x24) and need to have it serviced or do something myself. The drive uses a plastic magazine to hold 6 tape cartridges, 3 each in the front and rear. During normal operation the magazine must be rotated 180 degrees to reach the tapes at the other end. This movement is what is failing. The rotation begins and seems to stick about 1/3 of the way around. If I operate the drive without a cover, I can manually assist the operation and it completes. If it was only a mechanical device I'd try spraying some lubricant. But that is probably not a good idea inside a tape drive ;) What can be seen with the cover off looks remarkably clean. None of the dust and fuzz seen blown around inside a computer. Maybe if it was disassembled further I'd find something to clean. I tried calling HP Support and eventually got someone 'knowledgeable'. Seems their "out of warranty repair policy" is to swap you a discounted, refurbished unit for about 1/2 what I paid for mine on eBay several years back. I expected HP's authorized repair/service centers to be able to do something, but HP does not authorize them to work on tape units. Anyone ever resolved a similar problem on one of these units? Or have other suggestions? -- Jon H. LaBadie [EMAIL PROTECTED] JG Computing 4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159 Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)