johnny19 Posted May 19, 2002 Report Share Posted May 19, 2002 Getting ready to buy new Powerbook, need to know if I'll be able to use Retrospect. Can't seem to find any info on the "device compatibility list". Can anyone tell me if the Apple CD-RW/DVD drives are supported? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek Posted May 20, 2002 Report Share Posted May 20, 2002 I have recently bought a new TiBook 667 (DVI version), which has the Panasonic CW-8121 combo drive. It is supported by Retrospect 5, however it writes very slowly -- about 13MB/minute (using 4x rated media.) According to the knowledge base, it doesn't support one of the CD write modes, which means it needs to continually check on the cache and re-synchronise. Also, Retrospect doesn't officially support using CD-RW media in this drive; what this appears to mean is that I need to manually erase a disc with Toast (another 15 or so minutes...) before I can use it in Retrospect. I'm going to try and source some faster CD-RW media, and hopefully this will fix things up a bit -- an hour and a half all-up for a 500MB backup is a little too long for my liking. It's a shame a simple Finder copy operation (or drag to Toast) doesn't work, due to OS X's file permissions not allowing access to certain Library files in the Users folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsmgs0 Posted May 20, 2002 Report Share Posted May 20, 2002 Speed may not be your only problem! See 'device rejected command' section of Mac Express forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek Posted May 20, 2002 Report Share Posted May 20, 2002 The plot thickens -- just when I thought it would be 'alright' to put up with slow backups. I have the "Desktop" version of Retrospect (not the "Express" which seems to have most of the problems -- or maybe it's just that it's a less popular version, so there are fewer complaints?) I can't remember if I had turned verification on in my last backup, so I'll try again now and see what happens. My data backup is often less than a full CD, so I might be a bit luckier than others. I can't say that this issue puts much faith in Dantz's "rigorous qualification process", if they can't find such a fundamental flaw in their drivers for Apple OEM hardware. Another worry is that this issue is known to them, but their compatibility list for this drive has not been updated with the information. I would have expected full disclosure when people's data backup strategies are on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsmgs0 Posted May 21, 2002 Report Share Posted May 21, 2002 What 'dopes' we are for putting up with slow backups, but the truth is that I would be 'happy' (not ready) to spent 8-10 hours doing a backup if I was sure the backup would verify and be good for a full restore. Being a very very longtime Retrospect user I have ,over the years, recovered both corporate and personal systems (saved my butt many times) but now...... My confidence level is almost nil. (Just read through the forums.) I suggested to Dantz four years ago, while I was waiting for them to update SCSI CDRW driver, to drop packet I/O and to get on the desktop because the CD/DVD technology was moving faster than their driver updating. In otherwords, let the manufacturers handle their drivers and concentrate on the backup software. P.S. 54 days and on good backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrenaS Posted May 22, 2002 Report Share Posted May 22, 2002 I understand that you're frustrated. This is a very high priority to us and we will post any information here as soon as it is available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msantos Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 > What 'dopes' we are for putting up with slow backups, but the > truth is that I would be 'happy' (not ready) to spent > 8-10 hours doing a backup if I was sure the backup would > verify and be good for a full restore. > Being a very very longtime Retrospect user I have ,over the > years, recovered both corporate and personal > systems (saved my butt many times) but now...... > My confidence level is almost nil. > (Just read through the forums.) I have to agree. I also have been using Retrospect for a long time, and I used to love it. Now even if I could get it to back-up successfully, I'm not sure how much I would trust it. I understand that MacOS X is quite different from OS 9, but it just seems like Retrospect 5.0 should never have been released. It _still_ isn't ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grigoriy Posted June 23, 2002 Report Share Posted June 23, 2002 It has been more than a month since you wrote that this issue is of highest priority for you, but there is nothing new happening. Most of the people that upgrade their Ti PB with this drive read on the MCE and Dantz pages that the drive is supported by Retrospect, but this is simply not true. I purchased the upgrade to avoid having to plug my Pocket CD drive for backing purposes and here I am, after spending $400 and back to using my external drive. The latest problem I encounterd (after first finding out that the drive can not verify closed backup CD that it created) was that it ruined the third CD in my backup set that was not full and it was able to verify it before I attempted incremental backup with it. Log: - 6/23/2002 13:30:49: Copying BackUp Ti… Device trouble: “3-G4 Ti PB”, error 105 (unexpected end of data). 6/23/2002 13:32:40: Execution stopped by operator. Remaining: 345 files, 73.2 MB Completed: 0 files, zero KB Performance: 0.0 MB/minute Duration: 00:01:51 (00:01:37 idle/loading/preparing) + Executing Immediate Backup at 6/23/2002 13:34 To backup set G4 Ti PB… - 6/23/2002 13:34:21: Copying BackUp Ti… Internal consistency check failed: Assertion check at "module.c-654" 6/23/2002 13:35:32: Execution incomplete. Remaining: 346 files, 73.4 MB Completed: 0 files, zero KB Performance: 0.0 MB/minute The attempt to use or verify this third CD on my external drive resulted in this log: ? Retrospect Express version 5.0.205 launch at 6/23/2002 13:37 + Retrospect Driver Update, version 2.7.102 + Executing Verify at 6/23/2002 13:37 To backup set G4 Ti PB… Reported missing by user: “1-G4 Ti PB” Reported missing by user: “2-G4 Ti PB” Couldn't verify 42,289 files due to missing or incomplete media. 6/23/2002 13:37:46: 3 execution errors. Remaining: 42289 files, 66.3 MB Completed: 0 files, 1.3 GB Performance: 79,035.0 MB/minute Duration: 00:00:22 (00:00:21 idle/loading/preparing) Duration: 00:01:11 (00:01:10 idle/loading/preparing) Grigoriy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msantos Posted June 24, 2002 Report Share Posted June 24, 2002 I have very similar problems including the same assertion failure. Unfortunately, I don't have an alternate backup mechanism, so I'm just dead in the water until (if?) Dantz fixes this problem. When I first couldn't backup to CD-RW, they told me that CD-RW was not supported on the drive. I pointed out to them that their Apple Optical Support page indicated the drive was supported without qualification. A day or two later, all the devices on the page were listed as incompatible with CD-RW. When the latest RDU came out, I noticed that the CD-RW restriction had been lifted. Much to my dismay, however, the only thing the RDU seems to have done for me is to add an assertion failure (module.c) to my list of problems. I can't believe that such a wonderful product has been reduced to this disgrace in this version.... And it's a shame to see how much faith has been destroyed in Dantz. Anyway, months later, and I'm still waiting for this "highest priority for us" problem to get addressed. -- Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted November 19, 2002 Report Share Posted November 19, 2002 Panasonic CW-8121 (Apple) drive Due to potential dataloss issues with this drive, the minimum supported drive firmware revision is AA21. This firmware revision (or later) is on drives included with the currently shipping PowerBook G4 computers new as of 11/2002. Firmware revision AA21 addresses a serious dataloss defect where used discs will have an "erased" status and drastically improved performance when used with Retrospect. Dantz is working closely with Apple in regards to availability of the AA21 updater for earlier PowerBook G4 computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted April 14, 2003 Report Share Posted April 14, 2003 To be notified if the compatibility for the 8121 is improved or if a firmware update becomes available, please sign up for this notify mailing list: http://list.dantz.com/mailman/listinfo/8121_firmware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted July 17, 2003 Report Share Posted July 17, 2003 Dantz has worked very closely with Apple to improve Retrospect support for optical storage devices that ship with your Macintosh hardware. Now available on the Dantz website are Apple firmware updates for the MATSHITA CW-8121 Combo Drive and MATSHITA UJ-815 SuperDrive. The Apple CW-8121 firmware updater is for customers with earlier versions of the PowerBook G4. It updates the CW-8121 pre -AA21 firmware to AA21. The Apple CW-8121 firmware update requires Mac OS 9 to update. The Apple UF-815 firmware updater is for customers with earlier versions of the PowerBook G4 with pre-D0CB firmware. It updates the UJ-815 firmware to D0CB. The Apple UJ-815 firmware update requires Mac OS X to update. THE APPLE FIRMWARE UPDATES ONLY PROVIDE CHANGES NECESSARY FOR RETROSPECT SUPPORT AND ARE NOT NEEDED BY NON-RETROSPECT CUSTOMERS WITH OLDER DRIVE FIRMWARE. Download info and critical upgrade directions are found at the following URL: http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=28020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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