Should I clean the heads on my DAT machine ?

A very LOUD yes to this one. The most common and expensive repair we see is head replacement. Most heads are replaced due to the use of cheap tape (.ie. 90 meter DDS tape) and inadequate cleaning. While over cleaning a head can cause early failure, not cleaning enough is worse. If you don't have a machine with a usable error rate counter, clean the heads every 100 to 200 hours of use. The frequency of cleaning is a function of the qualitity of tape used. Follow the directions on the head cleaning system you choose to use.