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incompatible? unknown CD/DVD??


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O.K., i'm stumped.... Checked the manuals... went through the Knowledge Base here... searched these forums...

 

Trying to restore selected files from a backup in Retrospect 5.1.177. Retrospect asks for the first disc of the backup set, a CD-RW, that passed verification when the backup was done a couple of years ago. In the "Please insert..." window, in the lower left there is a padlock icon and the word "incompatible" (?!?). In the upper right, it says "(unknown CD/DVD)".

 

What does "incompatible" and "unknown CD/DVD" mean? I have found nothing anywhere about these seemingly contradictory terms. What is Retrospect trying to tell me?

 

 

Further information:

 

I successfully recovered items from a backup made about 5 days after the problematic backup. Both were originally backed up on the same system, except for an OS change (OS 8.1 for the failing backup, OS 9.1 for the working backup). The only other difference is that the failing backup is on CD-RW blanks (1x-4x), and the working one is on CD-R blanks ("up to 48x"). Both sets of blanks are TDK media.

 

The original backups were done on an 8500/120 with Retrospect 4.3 (with all applicable updates as of early 2003) and a Yamaha CRW-8424SZX drive with firmware 1.0j.

 

The restores, one of which worked (9.1 and CD-R) and one of which failed (8.1 and CD-RW), were both attempted on a 9600/350 running OS 9.2.2 (via OS 9 Helper 1.0.1) using Retrospect 5.1.177 and an OWC Neptune FireWire CD-RW drive, which has a Lite-On LTR-52327S mechanism with firmware QS54.

 

I still have the Yamaha 8424 drive attached to an 8600/300 running OS 9.1. I dug up a copy of Retrospect 4.3 and the catalog file for the failing backup, and put those on the 8600. I tried to verify the backup disc set in Retrospect 4.3 with the 8424S. Retrospect repeatedly got stuck in a loop waiting for communications from the Yamaha drive, long after the drive ceased dealing with the first disc in the set. (When the first disc was inserted, the Yamaha drive made the normal sounds and showed the normal lights for when a Retrospect backup disc is inserted). The only way to break out of the loop was to power down the CD-RW drive (and Stop the operation). I could not easily test another backup disc set. Inserting a manufactured audio CD quickly and correctly displayed the correct "wrong disc" error message, without getting stuck in a loop.

 

Wondering what "incompatible" and "unknown CD/DVD" means, and how they cannot be contradictory,

 

))Sonic((

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I've run into similar problems and have ALWAYS traced it back to the media. Sometimes a CD will up and die without rhyme or reason. But our problem was that my co-worker, wanting to save some money, bought a stack of CD's on sale, 2 for 1, that type of thing. Well they were the blue sided discs which are about the lowest grade you can get. After doing a few backups where the disc wasn't always accepted we ended up with several weeks of backup on these blue discs. On trying to retrieve files, 90% of the time it was impossible. "Cannot read media. Should I eject or erase?" Or It would work one time and an hour later it was garbage!

I've gone through the same steps you've taken (and found that hardly anyone likes to help anyone on these forums)

Basically, we learned a hard lesson. Buy the highest quality media you can. If those files are important enough to backup, spend a little extra to make sure you can access them when the time comes.

 

Now, I'm not sure if this is exactly the type of problem you are experiencing, but it doesn't hurt to look at your discs.

From what I understand, and feel free to correct me on this, CD media is divided into 3 levels of quality.

 

Blue - Bottom of the barrel. Make good coffee coasters.

Silver - Your average quality disc and your information should be safe for a couple or 3 years.

Gold - Which is the top of the line.

 

I hope this helps a little. I know that if this is the problem, it's bad news, but at least you'll know for next time. If I can help in any way, let me know.

I'm still trying to work my problem of transferring 300 CD's of info to a portable hard drive. And I STILL haven't gotten a response. Except from you that is.

 

brett

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Hi

 

Hate to say it but I think the RW discs have failed. The fact that you have trouble when you go back to Retrospect 4.3 and the original burner rules out any kind of compatibility problems.

 

I would try to restore these disks on a few different burners if possible. Some are more forgiving than others. If that fails then you may have to consider data recovery.

 

Thanks

Nate

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