sstackho Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi there. It's late, and I'm frustrated. First of all, earlier today my Maxtor OneTouch II, suing Retrospect Express HD failed a backup for the first time, saying that it didn't have enough space for the backup. I believe this was the first time the external HDD had enough data on it that it was getting close to full. However, my understanding was that the software would automatically delete old restore points to make room for new ones. Other than the restore points, I have about 5 gigs of backup data on the Maxtor HDD. After the failed backup, I noticed that it stated that I had a bunch of restore points available, but none were available when I went to the Resore screen (with the calendar). Based on the advice of other posts, I renamed the RestorePoint.rbc file and tried the backup again. Express HD then worked for about SIX HOURS preparing for the backup. It eventually made a RestorePoint.rbc file that was over 200 megs in size, and then the backup began - only for it to fail again. Is there anything I can do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi How much data is on the source disk you have specified? What is your OS and how are the source and maxtor disk formatted? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Update: My 200 meg RestorePoint.rbc was deleted after the last backup failed. I had to go through the Setup process again. This time, I asked Express HD to use 75% of the Maxtor drive for backups. After running Setup, Express HD states "Backup maintenance in progress... this may take a while." That started 7 hours ago, and hasn't changed. It has created a RestorePoint.rbc file that is 280 MB, but the last "Date Modified" for the file is 4 hours old. My source HD is around 96 GB (81 GB used), and the Maxtor drive is 250 GB (246 GB used). Both are NTFS. I am using XP Pro SP2. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Further update: After stopping the Retrospect process described earlier, and restarting it, my restore points were once again available. went through the Setup process (again!) and then I got to a new message screen - "Reclaiming Space" which sounded promising. However, the free disk space on the Maxtor drive never changed at 5GB. That process took perhaps a half-hour, and then it briefly went to the Setup/Restore message before automatically going to "Backup maintenance in progress" yet again. Once again, it deletes the RestorePoint.rbc file and appears to be rebuilding it. This process takes hours. I am assuming once that is done, it will try to backup again and fail due to lack of space. Can I arbitrarily delete .rdb files in order to make room? I thought Express HD was supposed to do all this on its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Me again. More info. Again, the backup failed because it didn't have enough space. I've had enough of this, so I decided to manually delete restore points. Now I got a message about an unhandled exception. "Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: '22' is not a valid value for 'displayIndex'. See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box. ************** Exception Text ************** System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: '22' is not a valid value for 'displayIndex'. at System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItemCollection.get_Item(Int32 displayIndex) at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.LvnBeginDrag(MouseButtons buttons, NMLISTVIEW nmlv) at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.WmReflectNotify(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ListView.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ************** Loaded Assemblies ************** mscorlib Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/microsoft.net/framework/v1.1.4322/mscorlib.dll ---------------------------------------- RetroExpress Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/RetroExpress.exe ---------------------------------------- System Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Windows.Forms Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.windows.forms/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.windows.forms.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Drawing Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.drawing/1.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/system.drawing.dll ---------------------------------------- rdaccif Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/rdaccif.DLL ---------------------------------------- System.Runtime.Remoting Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.runtime.remoting/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.runtime.remoting.dll ---------------------------------------- BmpBtton Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/BmpBtton.DLL ---------------------------------------- BmpPanel Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/BmpPanel.DLL ---------------------------------------- locfiltr Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/locfiltr.DLL ---------------------------------------- System.Xml Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0 Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.2032 CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.xml/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.xml.dll ---------------------------------------- DtPicker Assembly Version: 1.0.196.0 Win32 Version: 1.0.196.0 CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Dantz/Retrospect%20Express%20HD/DtPicker.DLL ---------------------------------------- ************** JIT Debugging ************** To enable just in time (JIT) debugging, the config file for this application or machine (machine.config) must have the jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled. For example: <configuration> <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" /> </configuration> When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the machine rather than being handled by this dialog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Hello. I would really appreciate some support with my problem. Since my Maxtor drive has filled up, I have been unable to perform any backups. I tried deleting some Restore Points via Express HD, but even that did not reclaim any disk space and the subsequent backup attempt failed. I assume I should not be manually deleting the files in the '1-RestorePoint' directory. So how can I successfully do any more backups??? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Hi Do not manually delete the .rbf files in the Restore point directory. Exit Express HD and the Express HD taskbar icon. Delete this folder c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\RetEXP Uninstall Express HD and reboot the machine. Reinstall and run the setup again. Make sure that you have Microsoft .net version 1.1 service pack 1 installed. If the problems continue, uninstall and reinstall the .net service pack. Thanks nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Hello, I have followed these steps (deleted the settings folder, uninstalled Express HD, reinstalled .NET 1.1 SP1, reinstalled Express HD, rebooted after each step, and over an hour later it doesn't look like anything has changed. Once again, it went through the "Reclaiming Space" screen for about 30 minutes, and reclaimed all of 200 MB on the 250 GB drive. So, now there's only 500 MB free, and it's back at the "Backup maintenance in progress" screen, where it will rebuild the .rbc file, and then it will start a backup which will fail due to lack of space. Brilliant. What are my options? Will it help if I abadon my previous backups (not at all what I would like, but I will do it if necessary) and start again? How would I go about doing that? Or should I try installing the Express non-HD version that is on the installation CD? Should I tell my company not to buy these backup drive/software bundles any more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Hi How many restore points are listed when you go into the restore screen? If you delete all but one restore point for each volume what happens? When you ran setup did you select just the one drive to backup or did you select everything in "my computer"? Try selecting just the drive you want to back up and see how that goes. The other version of Retrospect would give you the option to delete all your old data and start again periodically but it would not allow you to selectively delete old data. Thanks nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Hi there, If it helps, I installed Retrospect 7.0 and tried letting it do its pre-defined grooming strategy. I got the message "RestorePoint was groomed, but that did not free up enough space." When I first ran Setup, I had chosed "My Computer", whereas I now realize that it would be better to just have chosen C:. I did remove a number of Restore Points in Express HD, but it still didn't reclaim the space. When you ask it to remove restore points in Retrospect 7.0 or manually remove restore points in Express HD, does it keep one verison of each file backed up? Or if a file version hasn't changed (and thus isn't updated in a recent restore point), are these files no longer available once the restore point is removed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 I have successfully managed to reclaim 95 GB of space using Retrospect 7.0, by selecting the option to "groom to remove backups older than 2 backups". As I mentioned, manually selecting restore points to remove in Express HD did not reclaim space. I have one further question. The subtext for the groom option in 7.0 says "Retrospect will make sure that at least the last 2 backups for each source are available for restore." So does this mean that every file that has ever been on my hard drive during a backup will remain in the backup set? What happens to large files that have long since been deleted - will they always remain in the backup set? I could see the external drive running out of space if this is the case, since I have a lot of data files in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Hi This is a bit complex. Every time you run a backup Retrospect takes an image or "snapshot" of what the drive looked like on that day. The snapshot includes a list of folders, a list of files and a map of the locations of all files and folders on the disk. It also contains a copy of the Registry. Grooming works based on the principle that if a file is listed in a snapshot then that file is required and should not be groomed out. Files that are not referenced by a snapshot are not needed and should be deleted. During a groom, Retrospect deletes the oldest snapshots according to the policy you have defined and then keeps any files that are required by the remaining snapshots. Everything else is deleted. In Express HD "snapshots" are referred to as "restore points". Make sense? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for your support. It is unfortunate that I had to use 7.0 in order to get my backups working again, since Express HD was not reclaiming HD space, even after deleting Restore Points. It feels like Express HD is a bit too simplified - especially when something goes wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Just to throw in my two cents, I'm having the exact same problem with Retrospect Express HD on Windows XP with a Maxtor One-Touch hard drive. It's a 100 gig drive, and when it got to 96 gigs full, I started getting the same error messages the other guy got. I see no restore points either. I don't know what to do to fix this problem, since Express has so few options. Help! Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 13, 2005 Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 Hi Delete the Restorepoints.rbc file (not folder) and restart Express HD. That should bring your restore points back. You can then manually delete restore points to free up space. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Nate, Thanks for your reply. I got rid of the Restorepoints.rbc file and restarted Express HD and it did rebuild my backup points. It initially saide there were over 100 backup points, but when I came in this morning it said there were only 72, but I still had no free space on my backup hard drive. It also said when I came in this morning that there wasn't enough space to perform the backup. Now I thought the program is supposed to automatically delete old restore points to make way for new ones. You, however, are saying that I need to manually delete restore points to free up disk space. Which is true? Do I now need to regularly manually delete old restore points? Thanks again for your help. Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Just an update: even after manually deleting restore points within Retrospect HD Express, my backup hard drive is still completely full. Why doesn't Retrospect clear up the hard drive? I deleted all restore points in July, but I still see files with July modification dates in the hard drive. Thanks again for any help. Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Hi Is the drive _completely full_ or was some space freed up? The modification dates on the files is normal and as it should be. Retrospect doesn't delete files just because they are old. It only deletes the files that are no longer needed by a restore point. Many of the files in your current restore points were actually backed up a long time ago and have not changed since. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gronke Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Sorry, I am new to this forum but I have the same problem. I am using a MaxTor One-Touch with 120 GB free. I have been backing up using Retrospect 6.5 professional for about a year, but about a month ago, reached the capacity fo the hard disk. I can't figure out any way to delete the oldest backups, nor can my tech support people figure this out. I am at a point where I am going to reformat the whole bloody thing and start over, but that is extremely silly solution. i have seen no reference in the software to restore points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 Hi With Retrospect Express 6.5 your only option is to do a Recycle Backup. This will delete all of your backups and start you from scratch. Go to the Run menu at the top of the screen, select your script, select recycle backup and run the backup. Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Nate, My hard drive has 309 mb free out of 93.3 gb. And now I come in in the morning and no longer find the error message, but I do find when I open Retrospect HD that it says I only have 13 backup points remaining and when I click on Restore none are visible. So it looks like I have to have it rebuild that database again. Anyway, my questions remain, and they are as follows: 1) Does Retrospect Express HD automatically delete old restore points to make way for new ones, as advertised, or do I have to manually go in and delete restore points myself? 2) If I have to manually delete restore points myself, how do I know which to delete in order to free up enough room? 3) When I manually delete a restore point, does that screw up subsequent restore points? That is, say I created a file called "MyFile.doc" on Oct 1, and it was backed up on that day and never modified again. If I delete the Oct 1 backup, is that file lost forever, or will Retrospect Express HD be aware that the backup was deleted and create a new backup tonight for it? Thanks again for your help. Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roosh88 Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 I started having a similar problem with my Maxtor one touch with Retrospect Express HD. I would love to just be able to "start over" That is, delete or format the backup hard drive and start with a new backup setup and go from there. Is there an easy way to do this? Can I just "Format" the maxtor external drive through Windows, reinstall the RE HD software and take it from there? I realize that is a risky proposition, but there MUST be some way to free up the space on the external hard drive and start fresh. I should add that RE HD states that I have 27 restore points available (these are what is taking up all that disk space). However, if I go into Restore, then click on the calendar, none of the restore points show up! I wanted to do this to manually delete some, and I can't. This is especially concerning because if I had to restore from backup -- I don't think I could in the current state. All the more reason I would love to format that external hard drive to start over. Someone, please help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 More info: I came in this morning to a message from Retrospect saying that the backup had failed, but this time it gave me a more info dialog, that contained the following text: Normal backup using DirectBackup at 10/21/2005 12:32 PM Grooming Backup Set RestorePoint... Grooming Backup Set RestorePoint failed, error -2242 (Catalog File duplicated or ambiguous) Grooming Backup Set RestorePoint... Grooming Backup Set RestorePoint failed, error -2242 (Catalog File duplicated or ambiguous) Can't access Backup Set RestorePoint, error -2242 (Catalog File duplicated or ambiguous) 10/21/2005 12:34:14 PM: Execution incomplete Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Hi Retrospect should be deleting the restore points automatically. If that is not happening run the setup wizard again. There is no way to know which restore points are big or small. You just have to guess. Each restore point is a complete list of all the files on disk on the date of the restore point. When you delete a restore point the list is removed and any files that are not needed by other restore points are also removed. As long as a file is listed in at least one restore point it will not be removed from the backup. Make sense? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Hi Roosh88 You can format the drive and just run the backup setup wizard again. No need to reinstall. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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