Note from support -

Drives should NEVER be run in dirty or dusty environments. During reading and writing the tape is exposed within the drive and this will quickly age both the tape and the drive itself. This may also void your warranty.

Some LTO tapes are designed for cleaning purposes and have a limited number of uses. When your tape drive displays the C fault code, it is time to use one. If you need extra, you can buy them in the shop at MagStor.com. Once inserted the cleaning tape will automatically do its job.

After extended use LTO Tape drives will request cleaning with an error code of "C" on your drive's front panel LED.  We recommend IBM, Fujifilm or Quantum brand cleaning cartridges.  Avoid marketplace sellers or resellers as they can sell you very old cleaning cartridges that're not compatible with newer LTO tape drives.

Please DO NOT routinely use a cleaning cartridge under the assumption that you're performing regular maintenance.  Each time you use a cleaning cartridge it degrades the read/write head, think of the process similar to sharpening a pencil.

Only insert a cleaning cartridge when the tape drive requests to be cleaned, and if you've cleaned the drive and the light is still ON, please STOP using the drive and submit a support ticket for service.  

In some cases a cleaning light can be triggered by inserting a dirty or bad data cartridge.  It is a good idea to always try a different data cartridge if you're having cleaning light issues often, as you should rarely need to clean your LTO tape drive.  

Here are some cleaning cartridge part numbers:

Quantum - MR-LUCQN-01

IBM - 35L2086

Fujifilm - 600004292

If the error code persists after cleaning contact MagStor support.