Question : Getting Dell tapedrive to work properely.

I have a Dell Poweredge 2800 with a DAT 72 tapedrive in it. It is running Tapeware ver7.0 and runs okay for a couple of days then errors out.  The tapeware log says that device has timed out.  If I stop the service and restart, it works fine again for only a couple of days.  It is running Netware 6.5 and I am wondering if the driver is incorrect, and if so how do I change to the correct driver.  The entire Novell LAN is running fine, not slow so I don't know why it is timing out.  Also the tapedrive appears to be causing system ABENDS and reboots when it fails.  Help!!!!!!

Answer : Getting Dell tapedrive to work properely.

How about the tapes?  Usually when I get an error on a DAT tape backup, that tape gets retensioned - and I put a mark on it so I remember that it has had errors and has been retensioned.  

If I get an error again on the same tape, it gets retired.

That's one thing about DAT - they just don't last.  Too much stress from the helical-scan head and the inevitable shoeshining.  If you want a solution where the tapes can be used hundreds or thousands of times without problem go linear - DLT or LTO.