Guest Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Hi all. I am using Retrospect version 6.5. About a week ago, the program backed up and working properly...it's been a week now and my Retrospect is having a hard time backing up. Meaning, It knows how many files to back up, but it stalls for 11 hours. I thought that the first day it happens, that it was just a something and that it will work again. It's been working for a long time. I notice that a week ago 9/29/06 (today's date is 10/5/06) that my tape was ejected when I observed the following morning. I placed the tape back into the drive and it shows that there were 30 minutes left for it to back up...but it never started off...so i waited for the next supplemental backup and it never backed anything up...it shows the amount of files that it see. like 1 of 23, but that's about it...on the lower left corner of Retrospect, the status shows that "one execution is running"...what i did so far, was ejected the tape to see if there are errors on it by observing the tape itself. Then I restarted the computer that the tape backup is on...this morining when I came in....it didn't backup anything and on the computer that it is backing up (servers)...the message reads "You have not been backed up since 9/28/06, Please contact system administrator" can someone help me???????????? i know i wrote an essay, but it's the best that I can do to explain this matter. I would love to talk to someone about this. I'm the new IT guy here for my company. and no one here knows anything about everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Hi, Could you describe your setup more clearly? I'm not really sure I understand what is going on. What operating system is Retrospect running on what OS are the clients what client is it failing on what errors are showing up in the operations log what kind of tape drive and how is it connected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 What operating system is Retrospect running on Windows NT what OS are the clients the client are using windows XP, but they are saving data to the server that is running Windows NT what client is it failing on 3 windows NT server one Windows XP client....it worked like a week ago...this shouldn't matter. i think. what errors are showing up in the operations log As of right now...it's "Waiting for Media" but the tape is in the drive??? or does it respond to "Waiting for Media" as in waiting for the data.... what kind of tape drive and how is it connected It's a Compaq Exabyte VXA DC Product BD018635C4. Internal tape drive..connected...i'll have to open the computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Quote: As of right now...it's "Waiting for Media" but the tape is in the drive??? So this is a general Retrospect issue, not a networking issue. Retrospect will require a very specific tape to be in the drive, and it will tell you what tape it needs if you look at the Activity Monitor. You probably have the wrong tape in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I know I got the right tape. I made sure that it did...I don't know what else can go wrong with it. I guess like i'll have to wait til tomorrow morning to see if it backed up okay... can Retrospect back up a file if it's in used by another user? I might think that some of the users work late and by the time Retrospect starts to update, it can't because it's waiting for the media to be closed...i don't know...just guessing. so yes, the tape is the right tape...The schedule tape is "Blue C" and my Storage Device Status shows "Blue C" and it's Ready. don't understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 It's the right number "Blue C" also? For example, "3-Blue C"? If files are open and Retrospect cannot back them up for some reason or another it will skip that file and report an error -1020 (sharing violation) for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 on my Configure "Storage Devices" Status Tab, it shows 1-Blue C On my Activity Monitor Scheduled tab, Destination is Blue C but it has work before...why not now...after this friday, it's asking for Blue D, so i'm gonna put in Blue D and see if that gives me an issue, if it doesn't, then i know Blue C is not working.... i don't know what to do, i'm new to this backup scheme of thing. if i buy a new tape, i don't want to call it anything but 1-Blue C or whatever the current one is called...i don't know the process at all. do i format it first...don't know how to name it. I sure hope Blue C work tonight for the Supplemental backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 6, 2006 Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 If you've already filled up 1-Blue C then Retrospect is going to be looking for 2-Blue C. You can check exactly which tape from Blue C Retrospect will be looking for by validating the script. Automate>Validate Scripts (That's the button in 7.5, should be similar in 6.5). The last line reports that Retrospect will be writing to any tape named X-Blue C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2006 Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 foster, i know what you mean by the tape name not being uniform with what the system is asking for, but this isn't a new thing that they have been doing...it's been backing up in my sense way before i got here. this is my first 2 months here and the last time "blue c" work was around that time when i first got with the company. I don't know much about tape in general, but doesn't it rewind itself so that it makes room to store? when i'm looking at the tape itself seeing the "VXA" front title, my left side of the tape is Full, does that mean it's rewind already? i don't have a 2-Blue-C...all i have is. Blue A, Blue B, Blue C, BlueD, Red A, Red B, Red C I went to the Validate Scripts and right now it's going to be BlueD ...everything seems to be okay. i'll check back on monday when i come in to see if it works...i'll keep u posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 7, 2006 Report Share Posted October 7, 2006 Alright, hoping for good news on Monday. Just FYI: if you go to Configure> Devices when you have a tape in the drive, it will list the tape as "1-Blue C" or whichever member of the backup set it is. "Blue C" is the backup set, not the tape. Each tape will have a number indicating which member it is in the backup set. You can also see how many members you have in the backup set by going to Configure> Backup Sets> Properties> Members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 thanks for the tip, really appreciated know all of this. Today, It backed up everything, but one hugh file that is on another server, a NAS Server to be more specific, of which the tape now "Blue D" has been ejected from the drive. What does this mean? It did the same with "Blue C" on the Full Backup too. I went to the NAS Server to make sure that the Retrospect Client is installed and it's On. I wonder why that file is not saving it....should I reboot my NAS Server?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 No, you shouldn't need to reboot anything. Retrospect should tell you why the tape was ejected. Go to the Activity Monitor and look at the History tab. Assuming this script has already been stopped you should find it here and not under Executing. Highlight the line for the backup to Blue D and hit the Log button near the bottom of the Activity Monitor. This should give you a more detailed log for what occured during that backup. Read through and see what sources completed, what didn't complete, and what errors were listed. Errors should be indicated with a red 'greater than' symbol (>). Post any errors or anything that looks relevant to the backup being stopped or the tape being ejected. If there are no errors at all, remember that in 6.5 there is also an option to have Retrospect eject a tape when a backup is complete. The option is located at: Configure> Preferences> Media Handling> "Eject tapes and discs when quitting" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 my backup Blue D is still executing. I want to stop it and read the log...but I don't know if I should....I'm in the Executing Tab right now and i clicked on "Log".... "didn't compare at offset 32,512 in stream "Data" and tons of other "didn't compare at offset "X" in stream Data" Where X is 12,032 24,320 16,128 20,224 32,512 44,800 122,124 48,908 36,620 0 What if the execution of the Retrospect keeps on running and never backup anything...what's up with that...it's been execution since this morning at it's still on: Source: file on Server, 5 of 23 (looking at the Executing Tab) man.... my Configure> Preferences> Media Handling>Stop Removable Storage Manager that's checked... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Foster, I didn't stop the execution in the Executing tab, but when I click on the tab...it shows a list of Executing file. in this case, it's the only one...anyways, i click on it and this screen came on. The Title is Blue D. It has two tabs: Status and Environment. The status tab status states that it's Read, but on the top near the title bar, it reads...Please select a new tape....It will be named "2-Blue-D". (All data will probably fit on one new 18. G tape) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 The status tab status states that it's Read, should be The status tab states that it's Ready, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Quote: but on the top near the title bar, it reads...Please select a new tape....It will be named "2-Blue-D". (All data will probably fit on one new 18. G tape) So, Retrospect wants another tape to write to. The first tape (1-Blue-D) is full. Apparently the sources selected for backup exceed the capacity of a single tape by about 18 gigs. You can choose to have a second tape for your backup sets, or you can change the sources so that you're backing up less data. As for the errors - are thoes occuring on media files like images? They could be caused by a variety of issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Foster, the media files are mostly images... but some have the extension .hlp .dll .idx .cal I just stopped the backup execution because it was lagging the system down. I tried to lookup where I can backup where I left off...Can we do that? If I stop the execution, can I resume it in the histroy tab under Activity Monitor?? Can I check my Blue D to see how much more GB it has? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 one more thing, everytime when I put in a new tape, should I... 1)rewind the tape so that it starts at the beginning...because i'm thinking that Retrospect doesn't dertermine the size of the data and compares that to the tape...some thing like, IF data save > tape media THEN don't execute ELSE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 No, don't manually do anything to the tape, Retrospect will take care of all the actions necessary. The only exception to this rule is if you are not using a blank tape - or a tape from the correct backup set that has been recycled. In which case Retrospect will tell you it cannot write to the tape and you must erase it. You might want to take a look through Chapter 2 of the user's guide - Fundamentals. It's only about 6 pages, but it will help you understand the in's and out's of Retrospect quite a bit. If you don't have a hardcopy, you can find a pdf version in the Documentation folder of Retrospect's program directory, or you can download it here: http://kb.dantz.com/article.asp?article=1117&p=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 Foster, I read the chapter 2. It helped me to understand. Thanks. My situation hasn't changed yet...On my execution Tab within Activity Monitor, Near buttom center half of the screen it says this: MultSrv Blue D Supplemental: Waiting for media... Source data(D:), 1 of 23 Desintination Blue D Remaining 7 files 2.2 GB Completed 0 files zero KB 00:00:57 sec 0.0 MB/min It was backed up yesterday at 10 PM daily.... Also, in the Events tab of Activity Monitor: Type Date Time Event Operator 10/10/2006 10:03:39 PM Script MultSrv Blue D Supplemental: waiting for media What do you think is going on.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 The execution says 'Waiting for Media' so it wants a new tape. This is probably because either the tape is full, or the schedule for the backup is set to 'new media' which means the backup will want a new tape every time it runs. Go to the Scheduled tab of the Activity Monitor and check whether the Action column lists 'Normal backup' or 'New Member backup'. If it says Normal, then the first tape is probably full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 Sorry to bother u with the issues...i'm ejecting the tape and inserting it back it....the tape shows that it hasn't even been used...all of the tape is in the left side ready to be written to. The action column lists "Normal Backup" this is what is going on with the tape light. On my drive it shows << o >> << = left 0 = pause/stop? >> = forward when the tape is placed in the 0 lights up solid, then the >> lights up solid (been that way for 4 minutes now). I gotta leave the server room now. When the tape is full, common sense says to place in a blank tape. but it has worked in the past where data stored can fit into one tape. it's only been 2 weeks that this is happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Foster, I don't know what I did but Retrospect Lost Everything...scripts to backup. is like a clean installation...I just stop the execution, and manual backup to see where it didn't backup...it stalled for awhile and I terminated Retrospect...restarted it and everything is gone!!! so sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 The catalogs must have become damaged in some way. Retrospect probably overwrote them with new catalogs. You know we don't seem to be making a lot of progress here. Have you considered calling tech support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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