This is to announce a pricing change effective May 1 2013. There will be no charge to evaluate a product. This will apply all tape drives, and repairs of tape libraries. The freight will still be charged if shipped on the Pinetree account.
Additional interfaces have been added to the test systems. They are SAS and SATA. These are on the LTO4 and LTO5 tape drive. These additional interfaces allow Pinetree Peripherals to repair and test newer products.The Storagetek Sl500, ADIC I500, Qualstar TLS 88132 have had the LTO4 tape drives that Pinetree repaired. The process has been tested and passed. This has given consistent good results of the repairs. We continue to add new products that we can repair and test. If you don’t see the product listed on our site please call and talk to Michele.

Pinetree is celebrating the first repair actually done by the team on this day 20 years ago. The 4 1960 9 track tape drives where for a customer in Chicago. The team was Joe Puhr, Tony Tilleman and Chuck Tilleman. We still offer repair of the Storagetek 9 track tape drives. The product line for repairs has expanded several times to include the M4DATA 9914 and M490E. The Storagetek 9840 and 9940 have a proven process to repait that yields a constant good repair. In recognition of this anniversary Pinetree is offering to do evaluations at no cost. Please call for a RMA to allow us to track your product through our process. All you pay is shipping in and out if the unit is not repaired. We thank all our customers that have supported us with their business for these 20 years.

PInetree has delivered a new first in library repair. The Storagetek SL500 picker was dropped and bent. The team was able to recover the picker assembly by reforming the bent pieces and realigning the hand assembly. The job was bigger than originally thought but the team got it done. This was a task that took the team working together to get it doe. This adds to our library repair capability. The Storagetek tape drive repair is one of the specialties of Pinetree. LTO tape drives HP LTO3: HP LTO4 are now being repaired with a good rate of return. Providing on site service for these units has been enhanced with a additional person. At this time we would like to offer you a special deal on service of Storagetek tape library L700 and Storagetek tape library SL500. Power supply repair has expanded to include the Dell tape library power supplies. This adds to the Tape backup drives that have been the mainstay for Pinetree.

Our business is legacy tape drives and tape libraries.We have a large selection of parts available. Pinetree continues to support legacy Storagetek 1960 tape drives. Also the 2920 tape drive and the M4 9914 tape drive for users of 9 track tape. We can provide repairs and replacement parts for these units if needed. The Storagetek 9840A and Storagetek 9840B and the Storagetek 9840C are in stock for sale or advance exchange. The Storagetek 9940A and Storagetek 9940B repair is also offered. Pinetree provides a complete line of service on the Storagetek L700 library. The processes to repair the Sun StorEdge SL500 robot, power supply and RLC PCB have been proven to a reliable fix every time. We are proud of the ability to deliver a high quality repair at a fair price. Pinetree does provide free technical support on the Storagetek products. If you do not see what you are looking for please call so we might share our items available.

Pinetree has a inventory of parts to repair , service or refurbish The 9 track 9914 and the 36 track M 490E tape units. We can provide in depot repair of these units. New parts are still available. Call for information .

Pinetree continues to add products to the skill set. The addition of ADIC i500 parts to the service capability with an expanded unit for test as part of the procedure defined ay ISO standards. As with other products Storagetek L700, Storagetek SL500,and Storagetek L20, L40 and L80 we are able to provide repair service and maintenance. The repair of power supplies for these units is also part of the service offered. The repair of the logic boards in the Storagetek SL500 has been successful. They are repaired and tested in the unit to insure that the repair is reliable. HP LTO1, HP LTO2, HP LTO3 and HP LTO4 are offered for repair and sale. The Quantum DLT8000, DLT7000, SDLT220 ,SDLT320, tape drives that can be repaired. The Storagetek 9840A, 9840B, 9840C and the 9940A and 9940B tape units are also repairable by the technicians at Pinetree.

New Midrange Tape Drives Now Available for Oracle’s StorageTek SL8500 and SL3000 Tape Libraries

• Additionally, with LTO 6 now supported in the StorageTek SL8500 enterprise tape library, Oracle offers the most scalable LTO tape solution(1) available.
• StorageTek LTO 6 Tape Drives offer increased capacity for better storage economics with 2.5 TB native storage capacity on a single tape cartridge. Customers can process more data in less time, while driving down the cost of tape operations.
• Supported by a variety of media suppliers, StorageTek LTO 6 Tape Drives offer excellent investment protection with backward read compatibility with Oracle’s StorageTek LTO 5 and LTO 4 drives to help preserve media investments and reduce implementation times.
• Additionally, for maximum flexibility Oracle StorageTek enterprise tape library customers can mix and match StorageTek LTO tape drives and StorageTek T10000 series enterprise tape drives in the same tape library.

– Redwood Shores, Calif. – January 11, 2013

Pintetree congratulates Oracle on the release of their next generation LTO tape drives, and looks forward to adding these drives to our repair and maintenance service offerings. What does this announcement mean for our customers? Well certainly and end-of life designation for LTO-4 and LTO-5 generation tape drives, as well as added pressure from Oracle America to upgrade to libraries supporting their latest generation of tape drives, as well as increased costs for continuing service contracts on existing tape libraries. Pinetree will continue, to provide our world-class, expert repair services on your current tape library assets and will be able to offer upgrades to LTO-6 on tape libraries that can support these drives natively. The long-awaited release of these next generation LTO tape drives, is a strong signal, that tape is not a dying backup format, in fact it signals a resurgence in an industry that was long ago consigned to the dustbin of:  “Oh how quaint,” technologies. Pinetree looks forward to working with you, our customers in implementing this latest technology, in your tape backup solution.

Over the past year, Pinetree has survived by doing what we have always done, offering the reliable and timely tape drive and tape library repairs. We stand behind our work, and do our best to grow our most valuable asset, OUR CUSTOMERS. We take this opportunity, to thank all of the customers who have stood behind us, through thick and thin and to welcome all of those who are just discovering us for the first time. Just as an organism that is not always growing and adapting to the changing environment will go extinct, so have many of our competitors as well as OEM manufacturers. the incessant gobbling of yet another company, by the larger well-heeled companies, continues unabated, and Pinetree intends to hold our own through this seemingly hostile period in the industry. Our core business, is still the repair of tape based backup peripherals that are no longer economically supported by the few large players left in the business.
Just because tape does not appear to be the flavor of the month, with everyone talking about cloud-based and SSD back-up, does not mean it is not a viable alternative to more costly solutions. That topic has already been cover here, so we will not waste your time going through the economic and practical reasons for the survival of tape drives and libraries. What we will do is present a brief overview of the new tape drive and tape library services we have added over the past twelve months. First, our expansion into repairing LTO-5 tape drives, as well as our continued support of the previous generations. Pinetree, can now repair any generation of Ultrium drives and plans to expand our repair offerings as generations six and seven begin to arrive in the market. Our continued support of DLT drives. allows us to support many of the DLT-based libraries that are still chugging along even after a decade of continuous service. This expanded as well as legacy knowledge, allows us to offer not only depot repair services, but on-site maintenance repair and service contracts as well. Twenty-four by Seven; Five by Nine or Just In Time, Pinetree has a service plan that fits your needs as well as your expectations, best of all, our contracts and services are reasonably and competitively priced to suit your budget.
By adding a full line of Dell, Hewlett-Packard and STK SL-500 and SL-8500 by Oracle tape libraries to our repair services, continues to help us maintain or competitive edge and continue to evolve into a company that can will do business in real-time, offering a wide range of services, based on out corporate values. after all, how many other companies, believe that good customer service means getting a human voice on the other end of a telephone call?

Pinetree has proven the process of repair of the hand and picker assembly of Quantum/ ADIC Scalar 1000 tape library. The belt will cause pick and place failures. The team has developed a process to replace this belt. The testing in the Quantum/ADIC Scalar 1000 runs for 100 picks and places to insure trouble free operations. The assembly will also be serviced with the recommended preventive maintenance process. The process will provide a unit the will perform the pick and place operation reliably. The maintenance is being expanded on the Quantum/ADIC i500 library. This includes providing on site service in 3 standard offerings.(1) 9hr a day 5days a week next business day repair; (2) 9 hrs a day 5 days a week 4 hour response and (3) 7 days a week 24 hrs a day and 4 hour response. The telephone support of the Quantum/ADIC tape libraries is offered to users free for 15 minutes. The service of the Quantum M1500, M2500, P1000, P3000, P7000 is also offered. Repair and service of the Quantum/ADIC Scalar 100, Quantum/ADIC Scalar 218 and the Quantum/ADIC Scalar 24 is available from the Pinetree team.

Pinetree has expanded the maintenance offering of on site service. The addition of the Storagetek L700E with HP LTO4 drives has completed. This is in addition to the Storagetek SL500, Storagetek 9714, Storagetek 9710 , Storagetek L20, L40, L80, and Storagetek 9730. Pinetree offers repair of the Storagetek SL500 picker assembly , Storagetek SL500 power supply ,and Storagetek SL500 RLC PCB. The Storagetek L700 repairs have been expanded to include the hand PCB’s MPE /MPD and MPH /MPJ. The Storagetek L180 library repair and service has been expanded to include the power supplies and the hand PCB MPE /MPD and MPH / MPJ . A service contract to provide on site service or self maintenance are available from Pinetree. The Storagetek M4 Data 9914, Storagetek M4 Data M490E products are available for repair, on site service contracts and sale.