Five Phase Certification Compliance Program
Tri-Magnetics engineers continue to evaluate and improve their
data tape certification process in order to ensure the quality of
the product based on performance and functionality.
Thru their continuous improvement and zero defect methodologies,
TRi has maintained their reputation for providing a low cost, high
quality certified data tape.
- Phase I Sourcing Evaluation Process
- Phase II. Physical Inspection
- Phase III. Data Tape Degaussing and Sanitation
- Phase IV. Data Tape Eradication for Servo track Preservation
- Phase V. Data Tape Certification
The Five Phase Certification process was developed to ensure an
error-free performance and longer life-span. Products are
individually tested in TRI’s high tech testing lab to improve data
recording integrity, tape life, and to eliminate debris that often
causes data checks and head wear. This process is compliant with
industry mandates on data traceability, and data sanitation for
reclamation against replacement tape or disposal.
Five Phase Certification Compliance Program
Phase I Sourcing Evaluation Process
Initially, tape cartridges are sourced from large data centers to
ensure the quality of the used product that is received in our
facility for the re-certification process.
This is important for two main reasons:
- These sourcing targets must abide by their strict storage
policies, which ensure the tapes proper storage conditions.
- Since sourcing targets track the date the tape was purchased
as well as the usage of each tape, this information allows us to
determine the expected life of the tape.
Tape cartridges sourced from smaller computer centers are
evaluated and sorted according to age, usage and condition to ensure
the reliability of the used tape to be certified.
Phase II. Physical Inspection
Once the tape has undergone our sourcing evaluation process and
is received at our facility, it is stored according to manufacturers
recommended storage conditions (15 ± 3° C (59 ± 5° F) and 20-40%
maximum relative humidity (RH). Each tape cartridge then goes
through a physical inspection to ensure that there is no damage to
the tape casing, the leader block, spring loading hub, and the write
protect selector.
Each tape that passes the physical inspection is submitted to our
data degaussing/eradication process to completely remove all
previous data and data remanence. A tape that is deemed unusable due
to physical/mechanical defects is completely degaussed, mechanically
chopped/crushed and properly destroyed according to environmental
requirements.(add environmental link)
Phase III. Data Tape Degaussing and Sanitation
For non-servo track tapes, each tape is degaussed with Garner’s
4000 oersted CDS-4000FS Eliminator degausser. This industry
recommended degaussing equipment complies with the following
mandates and security guidelines for data tape sanition:
Garner’s CDS-4000FS degausser brochure and specification link.
http://www.garner-products.com/pdf/4000FS.pdf
Phase IV. Data Tape Eradication for Servo track Preservation
For servo track tapes, each tape undergoes an eradication process
to sanitize the previous data and preserve the servo track. TRi’s
eradication procedure overwrites all addressable locations with a
test pattern of characters and verifies the pattern of characters;
all locations with binary zeros. These procedures comply with the
United States Department of Defense (DoD) 5220.22-M National
Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM).
The process of eradication consists of overwriting usable data
with a pattern of non- usable data, binary zeros in every bit
position, every track, and the full length of every cartridge if
necessary. In result, the previous data is overwritten thereby
providing total eradication of all previous recorded information.
Eradicating the data preserves the prerecorded ‘servo track’ on each
tape, which deems necessary for tape reclamation against replacement
tape.
Through this process, our customers remain confident that their
data will never be compromised. Once the tapes received have
undergone our data eradication process, a certificate of data
eradication is issued to the customer to provide documentation for
verification of compliance to regulatory mandates.
The United
States Department of Defense (DoD) 5220.22-M National Industrial
Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). The Clearing and
Sanitization Matrix can be obtained from on page 57-58 of the NISPOM
manual. This matrix identifies sanitation processes that are
compliant.
http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/500/d522022m.pdf
Phase V. Data Tape Certification
Once the data tape has been sanitized, each tape is individually
tested in a tape testing lab utilizing original manufacturer’s tape
drives and proprietary certification software. This certification
process ensures the data recording integrity of the tape by
performing a stringent write/read/verification test.
First, a complete test pattern is written on the specified length
of the tape and verified to ensure that each data byte can be
written on the tape. For example, recertifying a 3480 data cartridge
consist of writing test data throughout the full length of the tape
10000 bytes by 21000 blocks, which represents its native capacity of
210mb.
Once the test pattern is written and verified, our certification
software ensures that the pattern can be read back without one data
mismatch.
This write/read/verification test uncovers real errors and test
for dropouts that cannot be recovered. The testing specification is
set to abort the test if the tape exceeds one data mismatch to
ensure an error free performance on each tape.
Tapes which pass Tri-Magnetics certification process are
submitted back into the data degaussing/eradication processes for
its final sanitation prior to resubmission into the market.
Only when the 5 Phases have been completed is each tape
guaranteed to be fully certified according to industry standards and
in compliance with regulatory mandates. Regardless of the brand name
of the data tape, this certification process creates a tape that is
compatible in all drives.
