Update the Drive Firmware

Keep drive firmware up to date with the most current and supported drive firmware.

Make sure that the proper device driver is installed, if applicable. Use Windows Update to obtain the driver for an IBM tape drive. Download the driver from the HP website, if needed. For example, Oracle has qualified the HP LTO-5 and LTO-6 drives with Windows driver 3.5.0.0.

If possible, update drive firmware during periods when host applications are not heavily using of the library. The library cannot respond to host commands during the updates, which may take up to 20 minutes per tape drive.

1. Download the drive firmware (see Download Firmware from My Oracle Support)
2. Extract the drive firmware ZIP (the extracted folder should contain HTML and text release notes, a LEGAL_LICENSE.TXT file, a tload.tar file, and two versions of the firmware file).
3. Log in to the remote user interface as an administrator.
4. Take the library offline (see Place the Library Online or Offline).
5. Select Firmware in the left menu. Click the Drive Firmware tab.
6. Click Upgrade Drive Firmware .
7. Click on the table entries to select the drive(s) that you want to update (hold down the Shift key to select multiple drives). Click Next.
8. Browse to the folder that contains the drive firmware, and select the file with the .E extension (such as Z5BD.E).
9. Verify you have selected the correct file, and then click Upgrade. The update begins immediately.

   If you are updating multiple drives, you can click Cancel to skip the upgrade for any drives that have not yet been processed. However, the upgrade that is currently underway will continue.

10. If a firmware upgrade fails, make sure that the chosen firmware is correct for the LTO generation and interface specification of the drive. If it is not, repeat this procedure to download a copy of the correct firmware.
11. When all firmware is up to date, bring the library back online.