Inaccessible Conner CTT8000-S on Adaptec 2930

[markwmsn]

Retrospect 5 can't see my Conner (now Seagate) CTT8000-S Travan-4 tape drive (attached to an Adaptec PowerDomain 2930 SCSI card) when run under Mac OS X on a Quicksilver G4 at 733 MHz. The card is listed on the Dantz web site as supported under Mac OS X. The drive is listed as supported under Mac OS in general and not listed as incompatible with X. Does that make it supported or untested?

 

 

 

For whatever it's worth, the drive and card work fine on 9.2 (but of course cannot back up X adequately). The Adaptec card can run a Zip 250 on Mac OS X just fine, alone or chained with the tape drive in either order (with the last drive terminated appropriately). Apple System Profiler can see the card (and the Zip if it's connected), but not the tape drive. The output of ioreg also fails to show any reference to the tape drive.

 

 

 

The Adaptec web site indicates that the 2930 is supported under Mac OS X (as does Dantz') but indicates that the drive manufacturer must supply a driver if no Apple-supplied driver work with the drive. Conner is now part of Seagate; the Seagate web site says little or nothing about using this drive on Mac OS X, just that it works with Retrospect on some version of Mac OS.

 

 

 

Seagate Technical Support says "Dantz is working closely with manufacturers of these storage devices to gain Retrospect support on Mac OS X. I would check www.dantz.com for a solution." Of course, I had already done that with no success.

 

 

 

So, is this a supported combination, or am I going to have to reboot into 9.2 to restore files from my collection of backups on Travan-4 cartridges? If it supported, where can I find a driver?

 

 

 

Here's the information usually requested:

 

Retrospect Version and build -- Workgroup 5.0.205 ("upsold" from Desktop 4.2 to get IP addressing)

 

Computer Model and speed -- G4 Quicksilver, 733 MHz

 

OS X version and build -- 10.1.4 and 10.1.5

 

Device (from Retrospect's Configure > Devices > Storage Devices window) -- Storage device doesn't show up (that's the problem!), but it's a Conner CTT8000-S

 

Device firmware (in the version column of the Device Status window)

 

Device interface -- SCSI, Sony SDT-S9000 Tape Drive

 

Media brand and size -- never gets that far, would use iMation Travan 8GB next

 

Other Devices -- same results alone and with a Zip 250

 

SCSI Adapter Card -- Adaptec PowerDomain 2930

 

Adapter Card firmware -- 4.3

 

Adapter Card driver for OS X -- Adaptec290X-2930 v. 1.1.0

 

 

 

Does anybody out there have any clever suggestions for a next step?

[markwmsn]

Further word from Seagate Tech Support:

 

"Seagate Technology does not write drivers for the MAC OS. We depend on our software vendors to handle the drivers. The drivers load with the backup software. Hopefully, your contact with Dantz has resolved this issue."

[IrenaS]

I'm sorry that you have not had success speaking with Seagate. If Retrospect can see the device, it will load a driver for it. In this case, it seems that the computer is not seeing the drive at all, thus there isn't actually anything that Retrospect can do.

 

 

 

If the drive is not visible to the computer, through Apple System Profiler, Retrospect can't load a driver to write to it.

 

 

 

This drive is supported under OS X, with the Desktop or better edition of Retrospect.

 

 

 

Some general troubleshooting suggestions for SCSI devices under OS X can be found at:

 

 

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=knowledgebase_article&id=840

[markwmsn]

Thanks for your response, Irene.

 

 

 

You wrote:

 

"If the drive is not visible to the computer, through Apple System Profiler, Retrospect can't load a driver to write to it. "

 

 

 

Can you tell me, in general, what piece(s) of soft-/firm-/hardware might be responsible for noticing the tape drive and making it visible to Retrospect under Mac OS X? (Is that the same as adding it to the iokit registry??) I would have called that a driver, but my terminology is probably out of date.

 

 

 

You also wrote:

 

"This drive is supported under OS X, with the Desktop or better edition of Retrospect."

 

 

 

Does that mean Dantz has had success using this model drive on OS X? With what SCSI card?

 

 

 

Regards the general troubleshooting suggestions for devices not showing up, the only one left is "1) Confirm that your backup device [...is...] supported by [...] Mac OS X." You have confirmed the second part of #1 (supported by Retrospect). The device does not show up when connected alone or with another device in either order (with different cables). It is a narrow device connected to a narrow card. It shows up on OS 9 Apple System Profiler but not on OS X ASP. The device manufacturer says to see you (Dantz) for software.

 

 

 

Should I be pestering Adaptec instead? I'm already on their latest OS X drivers for the 2930 (1.1, according to their website).

 

 

 

Again, thanks for past and future assistance.

[IrenaS]

You'll need to contact the vendor of the drive for the best steps to take to get the drive to show up to the OS. I can offer you some basic suggestions, but the drive manufacturer is likely going to have more detail. Adaptec may be able to help as well. Remember, the issue is not (yet) that Retrospect can't see the drive, but that the computer can't see the drive.

 

 

 

I'm afraid I don't have any information on the configuration that we've tested this drive with.

 

 

 

We do write the software to OPERATE the drive, but not for the drive to show up.

 

 

 

Good luck!

[markwmsn]

Thanks for the response, Irena.

 

 

 

You said "You'll need to contact the vendor of the drive for the best steps to take to get the drive to show up to the OS."

 

Seagate said "Seagate Technology does not write drivers for the MAC OS. We depend on our software vendors to handle the drivers. The drivers load with the backup software. Hopefully, your contact with Dantz has resolved this issue." Of course, it hasn't.

 

 

 

You said "I can offer you some basic suggestions, but the drive manufacturer is likely going to have more detail."

 

I followed the link to the basic suggestions. The first half has to do with fixing "a SCSI communication error (Bad backup set header, -100 or ­200 errors)", but I can't get that far yet; besides, I think I've already tried pretty much everything but cleaning the heads.. The second half concerns devices not appearing, but I've already followed that all the way down to "contact the drive vendor", and they sent me back to you.

 

 

 

You said "Adaptec may be able to help as well."

 

They are trying, but they seem sure that their software is doing its part.

 

 

 

You said "Remember, the issue is not (yet) that Retrospect can't see the drive, but that the computer can't see the drive."

 

Actually, the computer CAN see the drive (since it can back up to it with different software); Mac OS X and associated drivers and software can't see the drive.

 

 

 

Finally, you said "I'm afraid I don't have any information on the configuration that we've tested this drive with. We do write the software to OPERATE the drive, but not for the drive to show up."

 

It's really a pity you can't find out how you were able to test the drive. That might explain the missing link for me and john_bykowski (the other user with the HyperQIC drive on a 2930, in his own thread).

 

 

 

If you hadn't told me that Dantz actually did test the drive and get it to work, I would already have concluded that NOBODY has written software to make the drive show up. Certainly, none of the obvious suspects admits it.

 

 

 

Are there any other users out there who have this old tape drive working with this new card? Anybody else care to chime in?

[markwmsn]

Thank you for your assistance. This problem has been resolved.

 

 

 

Seagate Technical Support finally provided a firmware upgrade (1.22, up from 1.17 for me) that corrected the problem. They did not explain what the new version changed, other than the firmware level number returned in the ID string.

[IrenaS]

Thanks very much for the update. Hopefully this will be helpful to others as well.