Dell Powervault 132t replacement tape drive (and error codes/blocked tape)

Check the PV110T LTO-2 manual, specifically the section on the error codes.

The PV110T is a standalone drive, but if memory serves me correct, the drive itself is similar to what's in the PV132T.

THe PV110T now uses half height (cd rom size) drives, you would need a 1st gen full height drive, also you would need to flash the firmware from the 132t firmware package. As the pv110t firmware is different.

The 132t uses IBM drives other makes probably wouldn't work, swapping the drives over will be fiddly as the cable lengths are quite short. Obviously this is totally unsupported and only as a last resort to get an out of warranty box working.

The manual also has a troubleshooting section and a bit about manual tape removal.

I have looked into the manual. It indeed seems like those are similar devices.

NOTE: I misread the tape drive that was in there: 18p8964 is the correct PN.

I looked into the lto2gen ibm manual before and now tried to remove the tape from the drive.

However the tape did not came out (it only went up). As the support is expired on this device I forced the tape outside the drive.

THis gave a crack-sound :p so after plugin it back in, I got the same status on the one character display.

Thanks for your help

I will maybe be able to get the exact same drive.

However, can I put the new firmware on it through a linux/bsd machine?

I have seen a firmware (.exe) on the support site. So I wonder if I really need this.

What do you mean with other makes? Other vendors? I see that the connector layout of the 110t is the same as on the IBM 18p8964.

Thanks for your help

HP/quantum/certance all made lto drives. All share common connectors but the 132 used ibm drives and it's not just the drive that's involved. The sled it sits on has fimware and boot code that talks to the library controller. So the drive needs to talk to the sled etc. If the sled is expecting and ibm fw and it's another /makemodel then it may not communicate.

The 132t firmware package has all you need to upgrade all the library components including a linux drive tool. When you extract the package there is a comprehensive guide to upgrade the library (readme.htm). 

I have never done it, in theory it should work but in practise i can't say. I have removed many drives from sleds to get tapes out but they were always replaced with a new complete module,

You may not even be able to flash Dell code onto the IBM drive. The f/w has a personality bit it looks for prior to actually transfering the image, this prevents people from flashing different drive personalities... keeps Dell drives Dell and IBM drives IBM...though they are both made by IBM, Dell drives are made for Dell.... keeps pricing in line.

This may not be the case w/ 132T f/w... but keep this in mind if you run into troubles.

The 132T is EOL.

If you do go ahead with this, i would suggest cutting the rubber boot on the 132 drive and removing it. It will give you better visibilty to the cabling. You can always feed back and tape over the cut when you're done.