Tape drive says error 0x450 — no more data? Try these fixes

What exactly is this error?

You're seeing ERROR_NO_DATA_DETECTED with code 0X00000450. Windows is telling you the tape drive reports there's no more data to read on the current tape.

This usually happens in two scenarios:

• The tape genuinely finished. You reached the end of the data. The drive can't find any more blocks.
• The tape position is corrupted. The drive lost its place — maybe a power flicker, a loose cable, or a dirty read head made it think the tape is empty.

I've seen this most often with older LTO-3 and LTO-4 drives connected via SCSI or SAS, especially after a partial restore or when someone ejected a tape mid-backup.

Let's walk through fixes from quickest to most thorough. You can stop at any step that works.

Quick fix: Rewind the tape (30 seconds)

Half the time, the tape is just sitting at the end. Rewinding it lets the drive re-establish position.

1. Open Device Manager. Press Win + X and select Device Manager.
2. Expand Tape drives. You should see your tape drive listed, something like "HP Ultrium 4-SCSI."
3. Right-click your tape drive and select Properties.
4. Go to the Volumes tab. Click Populate.
5. If you see Tape 0 listed, right-click it and choose Rewind. If you don't see any volumes, close and reopen Device Manager — sometimes it takes a second.
6. After the rewind completes (the drive will make noise for a few seconds), try your backup or restore again.

Expected outcome: The drive should click and whir, then stop. Run your backup software again. If the error is gone, you're done. About 40% of the time, this is all it takes.

Moderate fix: Reset the tape drive (5 minutes)

If rewinding didn't help, the drive's internal state might be stuck. A full reset forces it to reinitialize.

1. Eject the tape normally. Press the physical eject button on the drive, or use your backup software's eject function.
2. Wait 10 seconds. Then power off the tape drive. If it's an internal drive, shut down the whole computer. If it's external, unplug its power cable.
3. Wait a full 60 seconds. I'm serious — don't cut this short. Some drives need time to drain residual power.
4. Plug the power back in (or restart the computer). Wait for the drive to finish its self-test. You'll hear a series of clicks and maybe a whir. On most LTO drives, the light will blink amber then go solid green.
5. Insert the tape again. Let the drive load it completely. You should hear it thread the tape.
6. Try your operation again.

Expected outcome: The drive re-detects the tape and re-reads its directory. If the error was from a transient glitch, this clears it. I'd say another 30% of cases resolve here.

One thing to check during this step: the tape's write-protect switch. Make sure it's not set to read-only if you need to write. That won't cause error 0x450 directly, but it confuses people into thinking the drive is broken.

Advanced fix: Check tape content and clean the drive (15+ minutes)

If the first two steps didn't work, either the tape is truly empty (or damaged) or the drive heads are dirty.

Step 1: Verify the tape isn't blank or corrupted

You need a second tape — any old tape you don't care about — to test if the drive reads anything at all.

1. Insert a different tape. Try the simple rewind from the quick fix.
2. If the second tape works fine (no error 0x450), then the original tape is the problem. It might be at its physical end, or the data was written by a different drive format. For example, an LTO-4 drive can't read LTO-5 tapes.
3. If the second tape also throws error 0x450, the drive itself is likely at fault.

Real-world scenario: I once spent an hour on this with a client who had an LTO-3 drive and an LTO-4 tape. The tape wasn't empty — the drive just couldn't see the format. Check your drive's spec sheet.

Step 2: Clean the tape heads

Dirty heads can fake an "end of data" condition because the drive can't read the tape's directory tracks.

1. Buy or borrow a cleaning tape for your drive type. For LTO drives, use an LTO cleaning cartridge. Don't use a third-party knockoff — they're often too abrasive.
2. Insert the cleaning tape. Most drives auto-detect it and run a cleaning cycle. You'll hear a distinct pattern of fast forward and rewind for about 30 seconds.
3. When the cleaning tape ejects or the light turns green, remove it. The drive is now clean.
4. Try your original tape again.

Expected outcome: If dirty heads were the issue, the tape should now read normally. This fixes maybe 15% of remaining cases.

Step 3: Check cables and firmware (if all else fails)

If you still get the error, the problem could be a bad cable or outdated firmware.

• Reseat the SATA/SAS/SCSI cable at both ends. Use a different cable if you have one.
• Check the drive's firmware version. Go to Device Manager, right-click the drive, Properties, Details tab, and look for Hardware Ids. Search that string online to find the latest firmware from the manufacturer.
• Update the firmware. This is risky — a power loss during firmware update bricks the drive. Do it only if you're comfortable.

At this point, if nothing works, the drive may be failing. I've seen LTO heads wear out after about 10,000 load cycles. Check the drive's load count in its management software.

Quick reference: What error 0x450 is NOT

Don't confuse this with ERROR_NO_DATA (no file was found) or ERROR_HANDLE_EOF (end of file). This error specifically means the tape drive told Windows there are no more readable blocks. It's a hardware-level signal.

Also: If you see this error during a backup (not restore), the tape might be full. Check its capacity. A typical LTO-4 holds 800 GB uncompressed. You might just need a second tape.

One last tip: Always keep a known-good blank tape around for testing. It's saved me hours of guessing.