m2cupcar Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 I have backup tapes made with Retrospect 5 and earlier using DDS1. I want to restore from these using a usb HP Storageworks DAT 24. Drive has tested good using HP's utility on a Windows 7 PC reading and writing to a DDS3 tape. From what I've read I thought I would be able to rebuild catalogs from these DDS1 tapes using Retrospect 11.x. Though the drive ejects the tapes about 5-10 seconds after inserting. I've tried several different tapes with equal results. I've tried the same using Retrospect on Windows with the same results. I've invested the tapes physical and movement/function appears to be identical to the new DDS3 tape. Drive firmware is also current. Any thoughts on what I'm missing here? thanks, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Retrospect 5 data is not readable in version 11. You must use version 5 or 6 for Macintosh to read those backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Do those versions support/recognize the HP DAT 24 drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 You can view the list of supported hardware and minimum versions at http://www.retrospect.com/devices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Got everything set up running Retrospect 6.1 on OS X 10.5. Both DAT24 drives passed HPs check utility in Win7. Both back up and restore using the DDS3 tape via Retrospect 6.1. But will not restore from any of the DDS1 tapes I have. I've tried 8 different tapes from the 80 or so I have. Insert the tape and in 5-10 seconds it is ejected. Retrospect just shows "busy" while this happening. Same result using both DAT24 drives. Thoughts? thanks, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 What happens if you insert a totally new DDS-3 tape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 The DDS3 tape I successfully tested the backup and restore with was new- should've mentioned that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Data_Storage "Backward compatibility between newer drives and older tapes is not assured; for examples, see HP's DDS Media Compatibility Matrix" I'm afraid your drive will not read or write DDS-1 tapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I thought that was the case back in 2009. But then I revisited that thread and found a follow up post that linked an HP page showing the DAT24 USB was in fact backward compatible with DDS1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I think I've come to the conclusion that there is no way to retrieve Mac DDS1 Retrospect data via a usb port. The other two retrospect-compatible usb dat drive manufacturers (Tandberg and Quantum) will not read/write DDS1. That leaves two options I can think of- 1. Legacy Mac with a scsi port and scsi DDS dat drive and newer mac running early OS X which is still appletalk capable for restoring files to via share or 2. usb/firewire equipped Mac with scsi-to-usb/firewire adapter. Of course that latter likely introduce new obstacles. I was originally using #1 until the scsi dat drive died, but my pal has one to donate so it's a renewed possibility. I'm open to other ideas if anybody has any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Interesting to see that two HP web pages contradict each other regarding the DDS-1 compatibility. I would go for option #1. But I would probably restore to a network volume (NAS). I had (and still have somewhere) a Firewire to SCSI converter. It tents to stop working after half an hour or so. I guess it's overheated. I tried to remove the case, but it didn't help. Maybe a fan would help? Anyway, it's yours if you want it. Send a PM with your address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 >usb/firewire equipped Mac with scsi-to-usb/firewire adapter This is probably not going to work. SCSI to USB adapters do not work well with tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I have two ppc legacy macs with scsi ports that still work and a scsi DDS1 DAT drive on the way, so that's my next move. That will restore to a share from a Powerbook G4 running OS X 10.-whatever-still-supported-appletalk. A little more cumbersome than I hoped for. A shame the HP DAT24 didn't like the DDS1 tapes, as I managed to get a fully functioning DAT setup working in a 10.5 VM on my MacPro read/write to DDS3- just choked on the old tapes. If this doesn't work out I will take up Lennart on his offer and see how much pain I can self inflict. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Accessing a tape drive from within a VM is not usually very stable. Tape devices, especially SCSI really need physical machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 This is with the HP Storageworks DAT24 USB- the drive that choked on the DDS1. This drive also choked the same on a Powerbook G4 running an appletalk-capable version OS X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2cupcar Posted September 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2014 For the record, here's how I have recovered (*nearly) all my backed up data from Restrospect 5 Mac backups to DDS1 tapes. I used a Mac 7600 running OS 9.x and Retrospect 5 with an external scsi DAT drive and 32gb internal HD. Files are restored to an Appletalk shared folder on the internal drive. A OS X 10.5 (last version of OS X to include AppleTalk) Parallels VM on an OS X 10.9.x MacPro mounts the shared folder from the 7600 to copy the files over and back them up to multiple large HDs. I tried mounting a 10.5 VM shared folder on the 7600 and never could get that to work. May be other ways but this is working for me w00t! *Out of ~150 tapes I had two "bad media" errors across redundant sets which cost me the loss of ~10 jobs. Not too bad considering the backups are 15 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted September 4, 2014 Report Share Posted September 4, 2014 Thanks for the report. I'm glad it worked out so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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