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Request to increase size of disk backup set is being ignored


haggis999

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I'm using Retrospect Professional 12, running under Windows 10. One of the disk backup sets on my NAS needs to be given an allocation of more space. When I open the Properties box for the one and only member of this backup set, I am allowed to set a new size limit in either GB or a percentage of the available space. However, when I exit and then reopen that dialogue box, the size limits revert to the previous settings. The free space on this NAS is far more than the increase I am trying to make to the backup set.

How do I fix this?

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Is the "Skip this member" box checked (IIRC, RS will automatically check this when you hit the space limit)? Make sure you uncheck it when setting the new size limits.

How big is the current set member? There are limits, both in Retrospect and in the NAS's file system, and it may be that you are falling foul of one of those.

Regardless of the above -- why not just add another member in the same place, since it seems you have plenty of free space on the NAS? While most people think of "add member" as being a way to add another real-life disk or volume to a backup set, you can also use it to add another "virtual disk" to the same directory of a NAS-based set. (Useful if you want to off-site -- rather than repeatedly copying a single, ever-growing, multi-terabyte, file you can have multiple smaller files in the set and you only have to copy the most recently changed. Think of each file almost as "virtual tapes".)

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50 minutes ago, Nigel Smith said:

Is the "Skip this member" box checked (IIRC, RS will automatically check this when you hit the space limit)? Make sure you uncheck it when setting the new size limits.

How big is the current set member? There are limits, both in Retrospect and in the NAS's file system, and it may be that you are falling foul of one of those.

Regardless of the above -- why not just add another member in the same place, since it seems you have plenty of free space on the NAS? While most people think of "add member" as being a way to add another real-life disk or volume to a backup set, you can also use it to add another "virtual disk" to the same directory of a NAS-based set. (Useful if you want to off-site -- rather than repeatedly copying a single, ever-growing, multi-terabyte, file you can have multiple smaller files in the set and you only have to copy the most recently changed. Think of each file almost as "virtual tapes".)

Hi Nigel,
'Skip this member' is not checked. The current size of the existing member is 1,562 GB.

I can't add another member because the Add button is greyed out.

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I've not knowingly changed anything, but Retrospect is now letting me increase the size of the existing member of this backup set. However, when I try running the associated daily backup script that was created years ago, I now get a 'Catalog file is locked error'.

My Retrospect security preferences are set to run as the logged-in user. My normal user login has full control over the relevant catalogue file.

Retrospect can sometimes be a very frustrating program...

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11 hours ago, haggis999 said:

Retrospect can sometimes be a very frustrating program...

I probably should, at this point, mention that the minimum Retrospect version required for updated Windows 10 is v15.6

I'm always laughed at for making things work well past their sell-by date, so I'm not one to talk 😉 , but be aware that will be the first solution suggested by more official sources...

That said, "Catalog file is locked" can happen for a bunch of reasons. Start with standard troubleshooting (shut everything down, restart in sequence, verify volumes on both PC and NAS, make sure RS is "up to date" -- you say you have 12, I'd assume 12.1 is a free update, maybe 12.5 as well but I don't follow Windows versions). Make sure you don't have more than one version of RS on your HD (not even in the Trash).

Once everything is checked, use Task Manager to make sure RS *isn't* running, then launch the app manually. Doing all operations from within the app (no double-clicking catalogs or run files), try running the backup again, checking in Task Manager to make sure a second instance isn't being launched. If there's still a problem what are the *exact* errors recorded in the Operations Log?

And if there are still problems it would help to know what the NAS is (make, SW version, format and capacity of target volume, etc), what you are backing up (just the "host" PC, or are there other clients?), any other sets using the NAS as a target (including their capacity settings and actual size) -- more info is better.

Catalogs do get corrupted, so you could go back to a previously backed up version and "rebuild" any recent changes into it and carry on from there -- if you haven't a back up then you could do a complete rebuild from your NAS data, though that could take some time...

Plenty of things to try, so let's not give up yet!

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12 hours ago, Nigel Smith said:

I probably should, at this point, mention that the minimum Retrospect version required for updated Windows 10 is v15.6

I'm always laughed at for making things work well past their sell-by date, so I'm not one to talk 😉 , but be aware that will be the first solution suggested by more official sources...

That said, "Catalog file is locked" can happen for a bunch of reasons. Start with standard troubleshooting (shut everything down, restart in sequence, verify volumes on both PC and NAS, make sure RS is "up to date" -- you say you have 12, I'd assume 12.1 is a free update, maybe 12.5 as well but I don't follow Windows versions). Make sure you don't have more than one version of RS on your HD (not even in the Trash).

Once everything is checked, use Task Manager to make sure RS *isn't* running, then launch the app manually. Doing all operations from within the app (no double-clicking catalogs or run files), try running the backup again, checking in Task Manager to make sure a second instance isn't being launched. If there's still a problem what are the *exact* errors recorded in the Operations Log?

And if there are still problems it would help to know what the NAS is (make, SW version, format and capacity of target volume, etc), what you are backing up (just the "host" PC, or are there other clients?), any other sets using the NAS as a target (including their capacity settings and actual size) -- more info is better.

Catalogs do get corrupted, so you could go back to a previously backed up version and "rebuild" any recent changes into it and carry on from there -- if you haven't a back up then you could do a complete rebuild from your NAS data, though that could take some time...

Plenty of things to try, so let's not give up yet!

I'm still using version 12.6.1.101, as the new features provided by later updates are not of any interest to me. I have previously paid for an update in the hope that long standing bugs would have been fixed, but that assumption proved to be wrong, so I'm not rushing to get 15.6.

I have not yet had time to attempt your troubleshooting recommendations (for which I am very grateful), as I have been busy sorting out a new router. However, I do remember fixing problems in the past by rebuilding a catalogue, so that might be my first port of call.

 

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My attempt to repair the catalogue failed with a -1017 error, so I did my best to follow the above-mentioned troubleshooting process.

  • Both my PC and the relevant Synology NAS have been rebooted
  • Retrospect has been started manually after stopping a couple of RS processes in Task Manager
  • As an initial test, I ran a restore of a single file from the affected Backup Set (called 'Backup Set NAS1'). This restore was successful. Backup Set NAS1 is only used to back up files stored on my PC.
  • The Synology DSM interface tells me that the NAS has 143.5GB of free space. This NAS is used for one other Backup Set (for Outlook emails) and a daily digital image duplication task.
  • The PC hard disk that holds all my RS catalogue files has 30GB of free space
  • RS itself is stored on my C drive, which has 62.1GB of free space
  • The Members tab of the Properties box for Backup Set NAS1 shows that it is currently using 1,562.0GB with 8.7GB free space. I opened the Properties box for that member and increased the max size of the member to 1,580GB and clicked OK. This then showed that there was now 26.7GB free space.
  • After closing and reopening the Properties box for Backup Set NAS1, the sizes had reverted to the previous settings and once again there was only 8.7GB free space
  •  As mentioned in a previous post, the Add button on the Members tab for Backup Set NAS1 is greyed out
  • I initiated the MyDocsBackupToNAS job that has been failing (after limiting the scope of the backup, in light of the limited free space), but it failed almost immediately with the Operations Log listing the error "Can't add to Backup Set Backup Set NAS1, the Catalog File is locked. Execution incomplete." 
  • I then tried once again to run a Repair Catalog process, using the Recreate from disks option. The selected disk source folder was 1-Backup Set NAS1 and I took the option to recreate the catalogue file under the original name. This instantly failed with the error "Couldn't create Backup Set Backup Set NAS1, error -1017 (insufficient permissions)."
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On 6/25/2019 at 11:41 PM, haggis999 said:

I can't add another member because the Add button is greyed out.

33 minutes ago, haggis999 said:

Catalog File is locked

 

33 minutes ago, haggis999 said:

insufficient permissions

I think the cause of all your problems is what the last error says: "insufficient permissions" (or maybe incorrect permissions).

Where is the catalog file stored?

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10 minutes ago, Lennart_T said:

 

I think the cause of all your problems is what the last error says: "insufficient permissions" (or maybe incorrect permissions).

Where is the catalog file stored?

I have a folder called 'Retrospect Catalog Files' under My Documents, which is stored on the G drive of my PC.

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5 hours ago, haggis999 said:

The G drive is simply one of the three internal disks installed in my PC.

I still think something has gone wrong with the permissions.

Does Retrospect run as the logged in user, or as another user (set up in Retrospect's Preferences)?

If you run (for instance) Notepad or MS Word as the same user as Retrospect is running, can you create and edit a document in the same folder as where the catalog file is?

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2 hours ago, Lennart_T said:

I still think something has gone wrong with the permissions.

Does Retrospect run as the logged in user, or as another user (set up in Retrospect's Preferences)?

If you run (for instance) Notepad or MS Word as the same user as Retrospect is running, can you create and edit a document in the same folder as where the catalog file is?

Earlier in this thread, I stated that "My Retrospect security preferences are set to run as the logged-in user. My normal user login has full control over the relevant catalogue file."

I have just saved a Wordpad document in the Retrospect catalogue folder, closed and reopened Wordpad and was able to successfully save changes to that document, so normal access to that folder on my G drive does not seem to be a problem. However, a couple of very old apps (AutoCAD 2000i and Quicken XG 2004) recently started to have problems writing to my G drive. I've run the normal Windows disk checks, but no faults were found. 

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10 hours ago, haggis999 said:

However, a couple of very old apps (AutoCAD 2000i and Quicken XG 2004) recently started to have problems writing to my G drive.

Did that coincide with a Windows Update? ...and with the Retrospect problems starting?

 

10 hours ago, haggis999 said:

I've run the normal Windows disk checks, but no faults were found. 

Did you do a surface scan also? If not, please do.

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10 minutes ago, Lennart_T said:

Did that coincide with a Windows Update? ...and with the Retrospect problems starting?

Did you do a surface scan also? If not, please do.

Both problems occurred at about the same time and I had already speculated that a Windows update might have been the cause, but my PC is still running version 1809 of Windows 10 Pro, which I think has been the case for some time. 

I'm not quite sure what disk checking utility you mean by 'surface scan'. Are you referring to chkdsk /scan?

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I think running chkdsk via a command prompt is just the same as running Properties > Tools >Error checking for the relevant drive (which is what I did originally).

The results were the same:

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

 976759807 KB total disk space.
 945051668 KB in 323994 files.
    173624 KB in 30000 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
    639471 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  30895044 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
 244189951 total allocation units on disk.
   7723761 allocation units available on disk.

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I have now downloaded a free tool called CrystalDiskInfo, which provides S.M.A.R.T. analysis of internal drives. This gives a health rating of 'BAD' for my G drive, mainly due to a Reallocated Sector Count of 3 (it also places a warning flag on the figures for Current Pending Sector Count and Uncorrectable Sector Count). It therefore seems odd that chkdsk claims there are zero bad sectors.

Since I am also getting low on space, that has prompted me to order a new and larger disk.

 

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On 6/28/2019 at 1:22 PM, haggis999 said:

It therefore seems odd that chkdsk claims there are zero bad sectors.

Totally normal. chkdsk reports on "current usable disk", and doesn't include those previously found bad sectors -- they've already been re-allocated (note that it doesn't say that there are no bad sectors but that you have "0 kb in bad sectors" -- not quite the same thing). S.M.A.R.T. works at the hardware level and so also reports those sectors which have previously found to be bad and thus re-allocated.

Hopefully, the new disk will sort things out. Otherwise the steps you took above indicate that you have read access to the catalog file (could do a restore) but not write access (the repair options you chose require the original catalog to be deleted). You could always try copying the catalog over to your C drive and using it from there. Or you could do a complete rebuild to a new file in a different location.

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9 hours ago, Nigel Smith said:

Totally normal. chkdsk reports on "current usable disk", and doesn't include those previously found bad sectors -- they've already been re-allocated (note that it doesn't say that there are no bad sectors but that you have "0 kb in bad sectors" -- not quite the same thing). S.M.A.R.T. works at the hardware level and so also reports those sectors which have previously found to be bad and thus re-allocated.

Hopefully, the new disk will sort things out. Otherwise the steps you took above indicate that you have read access to the catalog file (could do a restore) but not write access (the repair options you chose require the original catalog to be deleted). You could always try copying the catalog over to your C drive and using it from there. Or you could do a complete rebuild to a new file in a different location.

Hi Nigel,
Thanks for the useful explanation of how chkdsk differs from S.M.A.R.T.

I copied all the files from the G disk that displayed S.M.A.R.T. errors in CrystalDiskInfo to my new disk and modified the drive letters so that this new disk is now the G drive. Sadly, this made no difference to my problematic Backup Set NAS1. Retrospect still told me that the catalogue was locked.

However, your suggestion to copy the catalogue file to my C drive (and redefining the Backup Set accordingly) eliminated that problem and the associated backup job completed without error. I then recopied the modified catalogue file back to the G drive and ran my backup again from there (after ensuring that at least one file had changed). This also worked without error, so it looks like my problem may have been resolved.

I'm very grateful for your assistance on this, though I'm not quite sure how copying the catalogue was enough to unlock it.

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6 hours ago, haggis999 said:

I'm not quite sure how copying the catalogue was enough to unlock it.

Here is my theory, for what it is worth: :) 

When copying from the old G to the new G, you got some incorrect permissions copied as well.

Copying to C and back corrected these permissions, by forcing the default C-drive permissions onto the folder (or file).

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10 hours ago, haggis999 said:

I'm very grateful for your assistance on this, though I'm not quite sure how copying the catalogue was enough to unlock it.

Meh -- computers!

I'm afraid my stock answer in these situations is "Don't know why, don't care why -- it worked, and that's enough for me!".

Any chance you can increase the capacity on your Synology next? Looks like you're below 10% free space so, depending on how it's formatted, you might be taking a hit to write speeds. Of course, if performance is still OK for your workflow, carry on as you are 😉

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12 hours ago, Nigel Smith said:

Meh -- computers!

I'm afraid my stock answer in these situations is "Don't know why, don't care why -- it worked, and that's enough for me!".

Any chance you can increase the capacity on your Synology next? Looks like you're below 10% free space so, depending on how it's formatted, you might be taking a hit to write speeds. Of course, if performance is still OK for your workflow, carry on as you are 😉

I share your pragmatic attitude to such situations. While it would be nice to know why that fixed the problem, my only real concern is that it stays fixed!

The space on my primary NAS is indeed getting a bit tight and I plan to add a fourth disk to my Synology Hybrid RAID array in the near future. If there has been a drop in performance it hasn't been obvious.

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Sadly, the problem did not stay fixed for very long. Once again, I am getting the following emailed warning from Retrospect. This backup job worked fine the previous day and I had made no changes of any kind.

  • From Retrospect: Script "MyDocsBackupToNAS" failed during automatic execution, error -1017 (insufficient permissions). Please launch Retrospect and check the log for details.

The log doesn't repeat that reference to error -1017. It simply reads as follows.

  • Can't add to Backup Set Backup Set NAS1, the Catalog File is locked    07/07/2019 13:00:02: Execution incomplete.

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