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PowerBook G4 CD-RW support


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I've just bought an Apple PowerBook G4 667 (DVI) and was looking at backup software for it. I notice that Retrospect supports its CD-RW/DVD drive (Matshita CW-8121), but not with CD-RW media. So if I use Retrospect for my backups, I'm going to end up with a huge pile of used CD-Rs!

 

 

 

Can a Dantz support person give me some idea as to when CD-RW media will be supported with the PowerBook CD-RW/DVD drive? Also, if I bought Restrospect now, would a future update to support CD-RW media with this drive be free?

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Dantz is working closely with Apple on these issues. Because of the nature of drive testing, we cannot provide a time frame as to when information will be available.

 

 

 

Testing is dependent of many factors. If we encouter a problem in the testing process that requires us to rewrite a driver, that can increase the time it takes to fix an issue.

 

 

 

If we run into a problem and we need to work with the vendor of the drive to help them implement standard packet-writing commands better and/or to write and release drivers or firmware, that can increase the time it takes to fix an issue.

 

 

 

Yes, it is frustrating, but we are working hard towards resolution.

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I agree with you completely re: the problems using Retrospect Exp. with the CW-8121 drive. I have the same problem being unable to use CD-RW media -- and I wish Dantz would at least have the courtesy to tell its customers approximately WHEN (or IF!) it will ever support CD-RW MEDIA !!

 

 

 

Since the CW-8121 drive comes standard with all G4 Powerbooks, it seems crucial that Dantz find a solution to the CD-RW media problem!!

 

 

 

Dantz, please respond with better information (and hopefully, a solution) !!

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Dantz is working closely with Apple and the drive vendors to provide a solution to this issue. As previously posted, the nature of drive testing does not allow us to provide a time frame. Currently, we don't know when or if these drives will ever reliably backup and restore using CD-RW media.

 

 

 

This issue is a priority, and we will provide information as it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi - I too am a new G4 user, and upgraded to Retrospect 5.0 (Desktop). The Matshita drive is recognized by Retrospect, but when Retrospect tries to write to the disc (not a RW, just a plane old R) I get an error message: device trouble: error 102 (trouble communicating)....

 

 

 

Chris, you wrote: I've just bought an Apple PowerBook G4 667 (DVI) and was looking at backup software for it. I notice that Retrospect supports its CD-RW/DVD drive (Matshita CW-8121), but not with CD-RW media.

 

 

 

Where did you find the info that this drive IS supported? I wasn't able to find that. Are you able to write to CD-R discs with your configuration?

 

 

 

Many thanks for help from anyone who can!!!

 

 

 

Mindy

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PS - The G4 I'm on is a new Titanium - I did find a post about using the Matshita 8121 on the older G4's:

 

 

 

here's from this knowledge base article - which I don't think applies to me:

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=knowledgebase_article&id=264

 

 

 

We are very pleased to announce that it is now possible to use the CD-RW

 

drives included with all computers introduced before the July 2001 MacWorld

 

show.

 

Support for the CD-RW drives included with QuickSilver G4's released in July

 

and the SuperDrive will be included in a future Retrospect update.

 

 

 

 

 

PS - what's the difference to Retrospect for backup between a Music CD-R and a data CD-R?

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AmyC: Thanks for the information - I look forward to the PowerBook G4 CD-RW/DVD drive being fully supported by Retrospect soon. Will there be some kind of announcement in these forums when it is?

 

 

 

Mindy: This page shows that the CD-RW/DVD combo drive in the December 2001 PowerBooks (Matshita CW-8121) is compatible with Retrospect:

 

 

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=osx_apple_opt_compat_dev

 

 

 

The same drive is used in the new (April 2002) PowerBook G4s too - I've checked in Apple System Profiler.

 

 

 

I'm not a Restrospect user, but I'd imagine the data CD-R format would be the obvious choice for backups, not music CD-R. The difference is in the formatting of the disc contents as far as I know.

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I just did a double-take when I looked at the hardware compatability page - it no longer says that CD-RW media is not supported for the PowerBook G4 CD-RW drive (Matshita CW-8121)!

 

 

 

Does this mean that Restrospect fully supports CD-R and CD-RW media with this drive now?

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Yes, this drive now supports the use of CD-RW media with Retrospect. Certain Apple internal drives currently do not support CD-RW, but the Matshita CW-8121 is no longer one of them. We recently updated our device listings with this information.

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Even with the latest driver update (2.7.102), I _still_ can't use my PB G4 internal drive (8121) to backup to CD-RW media (CompUSA or TDK). Do I need to do anything else to get it to work?

 

 

 

With the RDU update, I'm now also treated to "Assertion check at module.c-654" failures. Such joy. I've had

 

the Retrospect upgrade for months and haven't been able to use it yet!

 

 

 

-- Mike

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I just got the drive installed and I have exactly the same problem. I can back up OK, but when I try to rebuild the back up set, verify or restore upon insertion of the back up CD I get a message:

 

Trouble in Retrospect Express:

 

Internal consistency check failed:

 

Assertion check at "module.c-654"

 

 

 

Latest Retrospect (5.0.205) and RDU 2.7, Mac OS 10.1.5.

 

 

 

My desktop G4 can rebuild the catalog from the back up CD just fine with the same versions of Retrospect, RDU and Mac OS on HP CD-Writer+ 9600 (unsupported by Dantz and supported by me ;-).

 

 

 

Grigoriy

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The latest RDU is not required for use with this drive and should be removed from the Retrospect program folder. Removing the RDU will resolve the Assert errors.

 

 

 

We fully tested and qualified the MATSHITA CW-8121 in house with Retrospect and then returned it to Apple (as is customary). However, in researching the customers experiencing this issue, it was determined that everyone having this issue was using this drive with a newer version of firmware then what we tested with. We are currently working with Apple to determine if firmware changes are affecting proper use of these drives with Retrospect. Please keep in mind that not all customers using this drive are having this problem. The majority are not. Enough people had the problem for us to look deeper and retest.

 

 

 

We will let you know when there is any further information on this issue. I do not have a time frame as to when that might be.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Some users have reported problems with backing up to the internal CD-RW drive in some Apple Powerbooks. The particular drive, the Panasonic (Matshita) 8121 would produce an error 100 when backing up.

 

 

 

We are pleased to announce that this has been fixed with the release of the Retrospect Driver Update (RDU) 2.8.

 

 

 

This free RDU, for use with Retrospect and Retrospect Express 5.0 for Mac only, may be downloaded at:

 

 

 

ftp://ftp.dantz.com/pub/updates/rdu28.sit

 

 

 

There is also a link to the updates page from the Dantz homepage, at www.dantz.com.

 

 

 

If you have any further questions, please visit our web support page at:

 

 

 

www.dantz.com/support

 

 

 

Newly supported devices in RDU 2.8 for MACINTOSH Retrospect 5.0:

 

 

 

Seagate USB 2.0 Travan 40 (TR-7)

 

Seagate USB 2.0 Travan (TR-5)

 

Sony LIB-152E

 

Sony LIB-302

 

Sony CRXP-90-MU

 

Support for WORM media added for Sony SDX-500C (firmware update required)

 

 

 

Download: ftp://ftp.dantz.com/pub/updates/rdu28.sit

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

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.

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  • 7 months later...

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

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