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CRISIS! How may I transfer backups from CD's to a new Hard Drive?


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Equipment:

Macintosh Beige G3/640MB/13GB - Mac OS 9.2.2

External Harddrive - Western Digital 230GB

External CD-RW Plextor

Retrospect 5.1.175

 

Problem:

My client has 3 years of backups on CD (300 of them!) and wants ALL the information on the CD's transferred to the ext. HD. He wants to do all his future backups on HD's and get rid of the CD's. And get rid of the headache of finding Dantz compatible CD burners. How can I do this? Every time I try to set it up, it refuses to let me select the CD's. In fact, I really don't see anything that allows this. What am I missing?

 

This G3 is the primary backup system for the office, there's only 3-4 computers, and is the only computer still on OS 9.2.2. We couldn't get Retrospect 6 to even recognize the old files, so this is the way it's done and it works fine. Or it will once this current dilemma is worked out.

 

So help me people, friends, pals! I'll be forever gratefull. Really, I will!

 

TIA,

 

Brett

 

PS. If I haven't provided enough info, just ask. I'll be checking this forum by the minute!

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Hi Brett,

 

This is probably totally useless, and something you already thought of, yet since pretty much no one from Dantz seems to ever look in here any more (gee, thanks, folks), i hope you at least get the satisfaction of reading *a* response.

 

I cannot think of any one-step way to do what is needed, only an annoying, time-consuming multi-step process. Here’s what i would attempt to do:

 

1) Restore from the CDs to some other HD space, temporarily, using whatever works.

2) Back up the HD space just restored to the ext. 230 GB drive (brand-new backup), using whatever newer Retrospect and OS one might want that is expected to be used from now on.

3) Trash the stuff restored from CD to the temp. HD space, and do incremental backups from there onwards as usual.

 

Like you, i will be all eyes if someone deigns to relate a better way to do this. I apologize if i have misinterpreted what you’re trying to do.

 

Best of Luck and Skill to you,

 

))Sonic((

Hoping someone eventually answers my Q, and wondering why anyone buys Dantz products with lackluster support like this.

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Hey Sonic,

 

Thanks for the response. The ONLY response! Considering the history I have with the lack of support from the almighty Dantz, I'll go out on a limb and say that 'DANTZ TECH SUPPORT SUCKS!!'. I hope they read that one! They'll probably ban me from the forums! Personally I have stopped using Dantz for this very reason. Absolutely no support unless you want to pay $50 an hour or something like that. MOST software venders respect their clients enough to have at the least, a bare minimum of free support.

 

But my client is kind of stuck since he's been using them for years. If he had known then what he knows now, it never would've entered his office. I stay away from ANY vender that uses this kind of proprietary software.

 

Okay, enough whining.

 

I thought of your suggestion and even though I was hoping not to go that way, it looks like I may have to. At least after this initial hardship, it'll be a breeze to manage. One last thing to try is to somehow, hmmmm. Actually, I'll have to think some more on that. I'll post it if it works. It should be as easy as designating the hard drive as a destination and to transfer from the CD's. But when I set up a script like that, it won't run. It keeps telling that it's not ready and to change the parameters in a couple different spots. I've never been able to get past that point. The script SHOULD run, but, being the little butthead it is, it won't. I worked on this for about 6-8 hours last night and finally quit after realizing I had pulled all the hair out on the left side of my head! So I went and played Halo 2 for a while. Pretending that all the bad guys were you know who! It was fun!

 

Anyhow, If I figure this out, I'll post the procedure here. If not, stay away from a certain home office in Spokane WA. there will be heavy objects flying out the windows!

 

Thanks everybody, well, or at least, thanks Sonic!

 

brett

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Hi

 

On the tools menu in Retrospect you will find a "copy" button. You can do a backup set transfer to copy the contents of your CD set to a new backup set on the external hard drive.

 

The hardest part is going to be the manual labor to get it done. I would try to complete the process in one shot if possible. Make absolutely sure to turn off all sleep settings and screen savers before you start. You may even want to boot into a base extension set + Retrospect to make sure the computer doesn't act up during the process.

 

If you do need to stop halfway try to do so at the end of a CD. That way you can choose to skip/set missing all the disks you have already transferred the next time around.

 

Hope that helps

Nate

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I don't think I'm being clear. I (or rather, my client wants) want to transfer the CONTENTS of ALL the backup CD's to the HD and dispose of having to use CD's at all. Transfering the catalog is easy but that's not what I'm trying to do here. So, does that make sense? And, is it even possible?

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Hi

 

You cannot directly copy the CDs to 300 CD images saved on your hard disk. That won't work.

 

The only thing you can do is use the Retrospect transfer function to copy all of the information on those 300 disks into a file backup set on the hard drive.

 

The backup set transfer process copies all the data from one set over to another set. Not just the catalog.

 

I suggest running a small test transfer - maybe one or two disks worth and see for yourself how it works. The manual has some information too.

 

Thanks

Nate

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