[Info-vax] DAT drive misreads write protect tab

[Rich Jordan]

I'm reluctant to bring this up so soon after the most recent DDS bash
session here but I'm hoping someone has seen this particular issue
before and has a suggestion for an in-situ correction.

TLZ10 tape drive (I believe this is a Sony OEM) is randomly reading a
loaded tape as being write protected when it is not.  If the tape is
write protected it always comes up so, but write enabled has about a
30% chance of being seen as write protected.

The brand of cartridge (HP, Imation, or Sony), new or used, makes no
diff.

The earlier DAT drives I disassembled (for fun and pieces parts for
friends' art projects) had a spring mounted physical sensor to
determine if the tab was visible or not; anyone know if a TLZ10 still
is or is it optical?

This is a home hobby site with zero budget and I'm just trying to help
them out.  Thanks for any info.  Suggestions to replace hardware would
not be helpful at the moment (though down the road they hope to
inherit a DLT IV drive and tapes).  They just need to keep their
backups going for now.