• What is AIT?
• Is AIT compatible with other 8mm data cartridges?
• About how long is the media life?
• Where can I find technical specifications or other answers about AIT drives?
• Where can I download the latest drivers for my AIT drive(s)?
• What happens if I mistakenly insert an 8mm cartridge other than an AIT cartridge into the drive?
• Does AIT require cleaning like other tape mechanisms?
• Why won't my tape drive eject tapes?
• How do I set compression for my AIT tape drive?
• I can not reach full capacity on my AIT tapes.
• Can I use the Auto Clean function?

What is AIT?
AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) is a new intelligent tape technology developed by Sony. It incorporates a new recording format, ALDC compression, and the exclusive use of AME (advanced Metal Evaporated) media.

Is AIT compatible with other 8mm data cartridges>
The AIT format is a future oriented format that sets new performance and capacity standards for utilizing high density recordings. It's design is optimized for AME media and will not accomodate older media types.

About how long is media life?
Based on Sony's media life experiments, it is estimated to be 30 years, similar to other current tape media.

Where can I find some technical specifications or answers about AIT drives?
You can click on these links for answers:
Sony FAQ Page
Sony AIT Support
AIT Tape Forum

Where can I download the latest drivers for my AIT drive(s)?
You can get them here: Sony AIT drivers page

What happens if I mistakenly insert an 8mm cartridge other than AIT into the drive?
The AIT drive will eject the cartridge as unsupported media. If you mistakenly put the AIT into another drive, other 8mm mechanisims will accept the tape, however it is permanently write protected and the data is never damaged.

Does AIT require cleaning like other tape mechanisims?
Unlike many conventional tape drives, there is no need for periodic cleaning of AIT drives. The drive itself constantly monitors head output to check for possible contamination and will then invoke the built in Active Head Cleaner. Under extreme environmental conditions, a cleaning cartridge may be required and the drive will indicate this to the user and the application.

Why won't my tape drive eject tapes?
First, make sure the correct type of tape is being used. Try issuing a SCSI bus reset or power the drive OFF and back ON to override this condition. Disconnect the SCSI cable from the drive to determine if the cable or connection may be the problem. If this does not work and if it is absolutely mandatory that the tape cassette be removed prior to returning the ?library? for repair, an emergency cassette removal procedure can be performed. See manual or contact technical support for further assistance.

How do I set compression for my AIT tape drive?
The compression can ONLY be set in the software.

I can not reach full capacity on my AIT tapes.
Your tape drive is a streaming device. If the data buffer in the drive becomes empty during the backup process the tape will continue moving thus leaving areas on the tape with no data and reducing the tapes capacity - This can be caused by poor system performance or by backing up over a slow or busy network.

Incorrect SCSI configuration can also cause data bottlenecks, for best performance it is recommended to configure the tape drive with a dedicated SCSI controller. Poor media condition can cause write errors, the data will then have to be written again, this also reduces tape capacity - Be sure your media is in good condition. Due to the built in head cleaning mechanism on all AIT drives, only under extreme environmental conditions should it be necessary to clean the heads on an AIT drive.

If you are using data compression, remember that some files do not compress very well, ie: MPEG, JPEG, PDF etc. If your drive has built in hardware compression enabled be sure that you do not have the backup applications software compression enabled also.

Can I use the Auto Clean function?
Yes you can use the Auto Clean funtion for the AIT drives in our libraries. **NOTE**Several backup software packages support Auto-Cleaning. If your package supports Auto-Cleaning, use this feature within the software package. To prevent damage, use the Auto-Clean feature at the software level OR the hardware level, NOT both at the same time.