bxs Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 I'm running Panther 10.3 and I find that my scheduled Retrospect 5.1.175 backups are no longer being launched. Do other have this problem or is it my problem only I wonder ? I can launch all the backup scripts manually without problems. I have reinstalled Retrospect 5.1.175 but that made no difference -- still no scheduled backups. Any advice would be appreciated... Regards... Barry Sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Autolaunch does not work correctly with Panther, as noted in the offical Panther compatibility statement. Leave Retrospect open rather then have it autolaunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonkers Posted November 1, 2003 Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 I wish they would make this more clear in the Knowledgebase Article! --snip-- "Retrospect is not able to autolaunch at the Panther login screen. Computers left at the login screen can be successfully backed up with the Retrospect client software." --snip-- To me, this means that if your computer is at the Panther login screen ONLY THEN will Retrospect not autolaunch, but it WILL autolaunch under normal conditions. This is NOT TRUE! They should say the following... Autolaunch is COMPLETELY broken & you must have Retrospect open at all times for scheduled backups! I'm angry because I read this & upgraded from 5.0.x to 5.1 thinking it was fixed in the new version. Had I known this I would have waited to upgrade. Dantz, please make this point more clear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 I have found on my own G4 that Retrospect always autolaunches under Panther immediatly after a restart of the computer. 1) Computer turned off at time of scheduled backup 2) Bootup (computer set to automatically login 3) As the finder loads, Retrospect 5.1 autolaunches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drishmung Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 What I have done is have a special user which 'owns' Retrospect. This just sits and runs, and I use fast user switching to leave it in the background. Note to Dantz: make Retro detect that it's running in this mode and not 'beep' when it doesn't actually own the sound device. I'm finding this a useful way to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonkers Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Thanks for the tip. However, I would rather have Dantz fix this problem instead of having us work around it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edoates Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Sorry, the "official compatibility statement" discusses only autolaunch when no user is logged in. Many of us upgraded only to find that 5.1 offers nothing in addition to 5.0 yet. Apparently Dantz is depending on the fact that no one sues for fraudulent inducement over fifty bucks. Same story for Norton System Works 3.0, only worse: basically, nothing works except virus checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpkunst Posted November 8, 2003 Report Share Posted November 8, 2003 Quote: Leave Retrospect open rather then have it autolaunch. I did that when I found out that Retrospect 5.1 couldn't autolaunch, but then I noticed that what looked like a second instance of Retrospect launched itself in addition to the one that was already open. One of the instances then complained that the backup set was locked and it couldn't proceed. I quit the 'stalled' instance manually. The other one finished the backup normally. Very strange behaviour. Leaving Retrospect open seems to have its own problems. (This may have had something to do with leftover preferences from Retrospect Express, though.) Jan Pieter Kunst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted November 8, 2003 Report Share Posted November 8, 2003 I keep Retro open and home and I have never seen that happen to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpkunst Posted November 10, 2003 Report Share Posted November 10, 2003 I noticed it also happens when I launch Retrospect manually shortly after the time it should have run autmatically. After the manual start, a 'second instance' of Retrospect launches automatically, and complains about a locked catalog. I can then quit the second instance manually while the first keeps on doing its job. These are the relevant parts of the log file. The first 'launch' is the manual one that concludes successfully, the second one is the automatic one that fails (and is quit manually by me). (Note that the dates are in Dutch format, i.e. 10-11 is November 10 and not October 11.) Code: ? Retrospect version 5.1.175 launched at 10-11-2003 07:03 ? Retrospect version 5.1.175 automatically launched at 10-11-2003 07:03 + Retrospect Driver Update, version 4.0.103 + Retrospect Driver Update, version 4.0.103 + Normal backup using JP's dagelijkse backup at 10-11-2003 07:03 To backup set JP's dagelijkse backup… - 10-11-2003 07:03:58: Copying jpk on Aurelius… + Normal backup using JP's dagelijkse backup at 10-11-2003 07:03 Can't add to backup set JP's dagelijkse backup: The catalog is locked. 10-11-2003 07:03:59: Execution incomplete. 10-11-2003 07:05:47: Comparing jpk on Aurelius… Quit at 10-11-2003 07:06 10-11-2003 07:06:21: Execution completed successfully. Completed: 691 files, 154,0 MB, with 2% compression Performance: 212,3 MB/minute (174,2 copy, 271,6 compare) Duration: 00:02:23 (00:00:56 idle/loading/preparing) - 10-11-2003 07:06:21: Copying data on Aurelius… 10-11-2003 07:06:25: Comparing data on Aurelius… 10-11-2003 07:06:25: Execution completed successfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbizer Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 This is a serious problem. I'm finding that Retrospect (5.1.167) will autolaunch after logout and BEFORE I log in! How can I disable autolaunching completely? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpkunst Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 An uninstall/reinstall of Retrospect seems to have fixed the problem. Retrospect now performs its scheduled backups normally if I leave the program open. JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Autolaunch can be turned off under Special>Preferences Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpkunst Posted November 14, 2003 Report Share Posted November 14, 2003 Quote: Autolaunch can be turned off under Special>Preferences Thank you. I did get a 'double launch' again this morning (not sure why it didn't happen the first time after reinstalling) and I now turned off the Preferences->Notification->Autolaunch setting. JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bxs Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Can Dantz say they are in fact working on a soln for the Panther OS at this time ? Can Dantz provide some form of time frame when a fix will be available ? There are times I forget to launch Retro after a startup and several days may go by before I notice. Thanks and regards... Barry Sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarylF2 Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Do what I do: disable Retrospect's autolaunch and have cron launch it just before the scheduled backup instead. This seems to work fairly well. I wish more developers would stop using their own timed launch daemons and just use cron! That's what it is there for, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 Can anyone list some cron code to autolaunch Retrospect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bchern Posted December 10, 2003 Report Share Posted December 10, 2003 We seem to be having the problem (at work) even with Retrospect left running. We have repeatedly found scripts had not run, claiming to have been halted by the user and left deferred until quit. Well, since we are not quitting, scripts were never running, days at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpkunst Posted December 11, 2003 Report Share Posted December 11, 2003 Quote: There are times I forget to launch Retro after a startup and several days may go by before I notice. Just add it to your Startup Items (System Preferences -> Accounts -> your account -> Startup Items) to have it launch automatically at login. JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbeckman Posted December 15, 2003 Report Share Posted December 15, 2003 I've tried leaving Retrospect open to make scheduled scripts run, but it doesn't work. The scripts simply fail to run. However, if I quit Retrospect and relaunch it _after_ the scheduled runtime, the scripts run. This is a very serious problem, and I would have expected Dantz to have fixed it by now. Retrospect's unpredictable (and completely undocumented -- despite Retrospects claim that the Panterh bulletin addresses this) behavior is undoubtedly leaving many R users unprotected, with backups not running when users in fact think they are running. Retrospect has not replied to any of my phone calls or email about this. -mel beckman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted December 15, 2003 Report Share Posted December 15, 2003 Known Issues When Using Retrospect With Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) Article ID: 28093 Date Created: 2003-10-24 Date Modified: 2003-11-11 http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=28093 • Retrospect may inconsistently autolaunch. Leaving Retrospect running will allow for script execution. This is a high priority for us, and the issue is being worked on by our engineeers. Retrospect 5.1 and earlier are not fully Panther compatible. To be notified when Dantz has announced support for Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) and/or PowerMac G5 Support with Retrospect, join this mailing list. http://list.dantz.com/mailman/listinfo/panther_and_g5_support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbeckman Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 But Amy, leaving Retrospect open DOES NOT allow for automatic script execution, contrary to the technote's statement. At least it doesn't for me. The only way I can get scripts to execute is by manual intervention AFTER the time of the scheduled execution. This makes Retrospect pretty inconvenient, as my machines get tied up in the middle of the day rather than late at night when I'm out of the office. I've head other users talk about a cron solution. Can't Dantz document that as a workaround rather than the unreliable solution you're currently proposing (leaving R open)? I'd like to see a step-by-step tested procedue using cron, or perhaps a Dantz-supplied utility that configures cron graphically. -mel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayvee Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 I highly recommend Cronnix if you're afraid of cron. It's just a simple front-end. You can find it versiontracker . But of course, the point of spending all this money for Retrospect instead of an inexpensive shareware product, is that Retrospect takes care of everything for you! hmmm. kv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarylF2 Posted December 30, 2003 Report Share Posted December 30, 2003 I use Cronnix as well (see <http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7486>). For the Command line, use something like: /usr/bin/open "/Applications/Retrospect 5.1/Retrospect" using the path to your Retrospect executable. I also agree that we shouldn't need this kludge... How hard is writing a simple timer, after all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbeckman Posted January 5, 2004 Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 Amy and Retrospect Management, You've said this is a high priority problem for Dantz. It's been more than two months since this thread started. Are you going to fix the problem soon? For me, at this time, Retrospect is virtually useless. The only way I can get Retrospect scripts to run is to MANUALLY launch Retrospect sometime AFTER the script is scheduled to run. Obviously, since the scheduled time is usually the wee hours of the morning, this is pretty inconvenient. I'm reduced to running backups manually, much less frequently than I'd like, and thus losing much of the value of Retrospect as a protective mechanism. I think two months is plenty of time for fixing a straightforward problem like this one. I suspect you're withholding a fix until you have more changes to package into a release. I can appreciate the cost of distributing an update, but in this case the flaw is profound and severe, and I think you owe it to your customers to deliver the fix post haste. In the past I've experienced long delays in fixes to known problems, and I've gotten action from Retrospect by finally taking the problem to a media entity, such as Macworld. Is it time for that now? -mel beckman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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