Mac Client and Windows 2003 Server

[OddyOh]

Hi there. I'm running Retrospect 7 on my Windows 2003 Server, and I have one client license I want to use to backup my Mac 10.3.8. This works great if I run the backup manually. However, if I set up a "Proactive" backup schedule, it gets "deferred" everytime it is time to backup.

 

I currently have it set to backup two volumes on my Mac, every hour (just to test with, once I get it working, I'll set it to once a day, at night).

 

My simple question is: Do I need the client software open and running on my Mac, or is it enough to install it, set the preferences, and then close it again? I can't find documentation on this. Or does it even make a difference?

 

The harder question is: Why is it deferring everytime? The client works, like I said, I can run it manually no problem, but I would prefer it be automatic.

 

Thanks

[natew]

Hi

 

The client runs in the background. No need to keep the client control panel open.

 

What version of the mac client do you have installed? I suggest uninstalling, rebooting the machine and then reinstalling the latest version from the EMC Dantz website.

 

Thanks

Nate

[OddyOh]

Well, I've got it working now. For some reason the "defer all waiting executions" button was pushed. That'll stop everything.

 

Next problem is when I restore files backed up from my Mac, they're useless, as the creator/file type information has been screwed up. Files with a . and 3 character suffix are fine. I've got video files showing up as text files, etc. Not good.

 

Any ideas? I've restored two different sets of files to two different Macs (one Tiger, one Panther), and it's the same problem each time.

[natew]

Hi

 

Where are you restoring the files to? Were the files originally backed up using Retrospect client or via SMB file sharing?

 

Nate

[OddyOh]

The files were originally backed up via SMB sharing. I had not yet purchased client licenses, as I didn't know what they were for. Windows Server 2003 has "Services for Macintosh", but it doesn't seem to have helped at all either.

 

I've since bought a couple client licenses, and backed up new Mac files to my PC and restored them back to the Mac. The creator/file types seem to be fine with these new backups. Doesn't help me with all the files I backed up previously, but at least it shouldn't happen again.

 

I am restoring the files to the "work" drives in my Macs, not the system drives.

[natew]

Hi

 

SMB sharing broke the files.

You need to mount the volumes as AFP to preserve the mac resoruce forks.

 

Thanks

Nate

[OddyOh]

Ah. Any idea how to do that? Is that an option in Retrospect, or do you mean mount them in Windows Explorer somehow?

 

Thanks.

[natew]

Hi

 

Unfortunatley the resource forks are gone at this point.

 

For future reference:

 

If you use Retrospect for Windows:

Install Retrospect client on the Windows computer running services for Macintosh. Then back up the services for macintosh directory via Retrospect client. If you don't use the client to backup you will lose all the mac resource data.

 

If you use Retrospect for Mac:

Mount the AFP share on the Windows server via afp. Then do backups and restores as normal. Do not use Retrospect client.

 

Thanks

nate

[OddyOh]

Hi, I think it is working good here now. I've since bought client licenses for my Macs, and have installed the client software on them. Now Retrospect for Windows can see them and back them up, and most importantly, restore to them, with file types as they should be.

 

And as for my previous "resource fork"-less files, I seem to be able to get them working again with a handy utility called "TypeShuffler" on the Mac:

 

http://www.bubblepop.com/typeshuffler/

 

This should be bundled with Retrospect.

 

Thanks for all your help, nate. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes, and just follow our little tutorial here.