cdrw problems

[redone]

Hello all, using retrospect express 4.3, imac sys 9.04, with a lacie CDRW 32x10x40x. Trying my first back up but unsucessful. When I get to the back up screen amd press Ok, I get the screen..

 

.sorry, no disc storage devices found...

 

.I then check the confure menu..

 

Available storage devices.

 

no back up devices found

 

 

 

I then go into the Device Status box and it shows:

 

currently visible devices

 

Lacie CDBP-321040A v2.40 .sdapstubdrvr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't figure out whats happening ???any help would be appreciated..

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

This drive has not yet been qualified for use with Retrospect or Retrospect Express, so for now you cannot use it for backup.

 

 

 

For a detailed list of supported drives, please see our hardware compatibility list.

 

 

 

As for this drive, it's not possible to say when it might be qualified, as it depends on how the drive performs and other factors. The drive is being tested, but there is no estimated date for support.

[Michael_Liapakis]

Hi,

 

 

 

Check that you DON'T have Apple's Authoring Support, Firewire Authoring Support and USB Authoring Support extensions enabled. These support Apple's built in CDRW's but not sure if they were part of OS 9.04. Definitely fixed my problem under OS 9.2.2 on Firewire DV iMac as these were a point of conflict. Also check that you have the appropriate LaCie USB or Firewire drivers enabled for your drive. You probably have these correct as your system recognises them so I'd check for the extensions I've mentioned.

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Michael

[mangababe]

I'm having the same problem....except that Retrospect 4.3 sees the drive, but gives me "error 209" when I get to the final step.

 

 

 

I'm running a PowerBook G3 Bronze 333mhz, OS 9.2.2, 256MB RAM, with an OrangeLink FireWire Cardbus PC Card and using (or trying to) a LaCie 24x10x40 2U&2I drive which has a TEAC CD-W524E mechanism (this is how both Toast and Retrospect see the drive).

 

 

 

So is my problem that my drive isn't supported? If so, I just wasted a lot of money buying software that won't work.

[Guest]

Your drive is not qualified for use with Retrospect at this time. For a list of currently qualified devices, please see:

 

 

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=compatibility_list

 

 

 

Dantz goes through a rigorous qualification process with every drive we test. This means that not every drive will be qualified and we can never guarantee that a particular device will be supported. Some drives do not get qualified ever, and some take 6 months to a year to get support. We have no way of telling if this drive will be supported or not at this moment.

 

 

 

Irena Solomon

 

Dantz Tech Support

 

 

[thraxisp]

I have the same problem, but contrary to your comment, the drive IS listed as compabible on your web site (ref ). Also you do have several other Teac based drives listed here. Further, the software RECOGNIZES the drive in the devices window and says it will work.

 

 

 

When can we expect the drive to be supported?

[thraxisp]

The URL in my last post was lost. It was http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=compatibility_list_detail&id=344

 

 

 

I'm running the latest Retrospect 5.0.205 on MacOS X.

[Guest]

The drive listed here is an 8x4x32 drive with a Panasonic/Matshita mechanism, which is supported.

 

 

 

The drive that the original poster inquired about was the 24x10x40 Lacie drive with a Teac mechanism, which is not supported.

 

 

 

Which drive do you have? What, exactly, shows up in the Device Status window?

[thraxisp]

The information from the Drive status page is:

 

ID: Firewire-A

 

Vendor: TEAC

 

Product: CD-W524E

 

Version: 1.0B

 

Driver: TEAC CD-RW(1.50)

 

 

 

My drive is also a LaCie 24x10x40 CD-RW. I did look through the compatibility list before buying it. Virtually none of the drives you listed are manufactured any more. Further, most of them are not compatible with the burning capability in MacOS X.

 

 

[Guest]

The LaCie 24x drive with a TEAC mechanism is not supported for use with Retrospect at this time.

 

 

 

The drive that is supported contains a Matshita mechanism.

 

 

 

We are working hard to qualify devices, and we do plan to add device support regularly.

[Not_PC]

I think I'm detecting a pattern in many of the messages about CD-RW drives here -- device not supported.

 

 

 

I just installed a Sony CD-RW CRX175A IDE on my Power Mac G3. I'm running OS 9.2.2 and just purchased the upgrade to Retrospect Express 5.0.205. I checked the "detailed list of supported drives" for support drives AFTER I installed everything to learn what I have been in reading other messages, that MY drive was a not supported.

 

 

 

In twenty years of computing, I have NEVER heard of software that requires you to check the vendor's web site to see if it will function on your computer BEFORE you purchase it. I hope that this is not a trend. If it is, it's a trend from inner bowels of computer hell where even Bill Gates hasn't thought to go. It does NOT speak well for Danz.

 

 

 

Even worse, I don't see CD-RW IDE drives supported at all. Am I SOL or am I going to have to fork over $39.95 for an "incident" of technical support bringing the total damages to $59.90 for software to find out that it just might never work?

 

 

 

The reason that I bought the drive was to do backups, something that Retrospect Express 4.3 has been doing just fine for my very old, well-used and expensive-to-use Jaz drive (SCSI).

 

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like I just spent a couple of hundred dollars for a nice new retractable coffee cup holder and a lot of shiny blank coasters.

[Robbins]

"In twenty years of computing, I have NEVER heard of software that requires you to check the vendor's web site to see if it will function on your computer BEFORE you purchase it. I hope that this is not a trend. If it is, it's a trend from inner bowels of computer hell where even Bill Gates hasn't thought to go. It does NOT speak well for Danz."

 

 

 

I understand your frustration, and I have my own, similar frustrations using my CD-RW drive with Retrospect Express.

 

 

 

However, in Dantz' defense, you have to remember that we're talking about backup software, not just any software. We expect this software to back up all of our data reliably, every time. We depend on that, or we wouldn't be bothering to back up our data in the first place. Dantz takes our expectations seriously. They can't just assume that every one of the thousands of backup drives manufactured is going to be reliable. If they did, and your drive didn't backup your data, and you had a hard drive failure, wouldn't you be angry with Dantz for letting you rely on those backups? They know that, and therefore they can't support every drive out there.

 

 

 

If a software program must work with a given hardware device, the software developer can't oversee the development of every manufacturers' version of the hardware, to ensure it works as well as it should, can they? No, so they must test the software with various hardware and approve some, not approve others, just as Dantz does.

 

 

 

I'm hearing this kind of complaint a lot in these forums, and I think it's terribly unfair to Dantz. The company is strict in its testing of backup devices for a reason: to serve the customers properly. We would be angry with them if they didn't do this. Don't be angry with them for doing this.

 

 

 

I know there are other valid complaints about Retrospect. I'm here to try to find out why a supported drive is getting errors, myself. I'm not saying not to bring your questions, observations, and complaints to these forums; that's what the forums are for. But don't blame Dantz for doing exactly what we need them to do! Backup software has more stringent requirements than many other types of software.

[Not_PC]

You stated the problem accurately yourself: "I'm hearing this kind of complaint a lot in these forums …" I think that is a self-explanatory answer to the problem -- They are NOT doing their job. I am completely unable to use their software at all. Dantz is NOT doing what *I* want them to do. I want the software that I bought and paid for to work. Is that an unreasonable expectation?

 

 

 

Dantz's responses to situations similar to mine are:

 

 

 

"it's not possible to say when it might be qualified, as it depends on how the drive performs and other factors. The drive is being tested, but there is no estimated date for support,"

 

 

 

" … [the] mechanism is not supported for use with Retrospect at this time,"

 

 

 

"High speed CD-RW media not supported at this time,"

 

 

 

"CD-RW media not supported at this time," etc.

 

 

 

In other words, we MAY support your drive, but we're not saying when, IF we do.

 

 

 

I also have Toast Titanium 5.1.3. Guess what? It works. Roxio has stated that they will support ANY MMC (multi-media compliant) drive. That covers a lot of ground and they are willing to do what it takes to implement that policy. That's a lot different from what I'm hearing from Dantz's so-called "support." If Roxio can create drivers that allow my drive work, why can't Dantz?

 

 

 

Dantz's lack of support seems to be well-known. I saw one well-known Mac support website recently that stated, "Not a lot of CDRW drive mechanisms are supported by Retrospect." I only wish that I knew that before I purchase Retrospect Express.

 

 

 

I think that there is an excellent opportunity for some other company to usurp Dantz's position in the marketplace. The computer field is littered with software companies who took their position for granted and started ignoring consumer complaints -- WordStar, WordPerfect, dBase, VisiCalc and so on. Dantz might want to take note that this thread has had over 300 views, so far.

 

 

 

LaCie has already developed a [free] backup program - SilverKeeper 1.0.

 

 

 

 

[Not_PC]

FOLLOW UP

 

 

 

Having exhausted what few options there are to obtain support for my CD-RW drive (Is that your final answer?), there appear to be three options left.

 

 

 

1. Buy another CD burner that is supported by Dantz. Not too surprisingly, this option was actually suggested by "tech support."

 

 

 

2. Buy another computer that has a CD burner supported by Dantz.

 

 

 

3. Inform as many people as possible about my situation, Dantz's unwillingness to resolve the problem and to recommend that they not purchase Retrospect. This includes not just acquaintances, but trade magazines and Mac organizations such as MacWorld, MacAddict, Machome and xlr8yourmac.

 

 

 

I'm opting for solution #3. If you are in a similar situation as mine (see two previous messages), I would suggest the same for you. Either that or start up your own backup software company.

 

 

 

CD-RW and IDE drives CAN be supported for the Mac, Roxio's Toast Titanium has proved that. CD-RW IDE drives CAN be supported, Dantz does it, but only for Windoze.

 

 

 

RW Lewis

 

 

 

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[thraxisp]

From what I can see, option 1 is a non starter. I checked about a third of the drives listed against the manufacturer's web pages. Guess what, they are no longer manufactured. Option 2 is worse as I would not spend $3000 to use a $79 piece of software.

 

 

 

Can Dantz provide a schedule for the next batch of drives to be supported? If they can't, I think that the best approach is to call customer service and ask for my money back. They have consistently removed support for all of the backup drives I have used over the past six months since I bought it.

[Robbins]

"You stated the problem accurately yourself: 'I'm hearing this kind of complaint a lot in these forums …'"

 

 

 

As you know, I was talking about a specific complaint, ie: that Dantz doesn't support use of Retrospect with every CD burner made.

 

 

 

Keeping that in mind, I think the fact that a lot of people complain doesn't make them right.

 

 

 

Yes, other software companies support the use of any old CD burner. Usually those software programs aren't quite as demanding of the CD burner as Retrospect. They don't usually need to support unattended backups and automated incremental backups.

 

 

 

Having said that, to some extent I share your frustration. But what I am saying is simply that your statement that it is unreasonable for a software company to expect you to use certain hardware with their program is unreasonable in itself. That's all.

 

 

 

I agree that Dantz needs to do more testing, that it's likely more backup drives could be supported. I agree that Retrospect has some major problems at this stage in its development. I agree that we can expect a certain level of support and service from Dantz, and we're not getting that, fully. I simply don't agree with that one statement that I've already talked about.

 

 

 

Now, let's move on and get to the real issues at hand. And let's not turn these forums into a place to bash the software developers, but rather into a place to give them information and get information from them.

[Lois]

I too never checked the compatability list of CD-RW devices and was not advised to do so by Dantz when I checked about upgrading 4.3 to 5.0 for the Mac OS X. I think I now know why I never used 4.3 on my old system. I am so frustrated with this that I am about to give up and trust fate.

 

 

 

Here is my question.

 

 

 

Can I backup with Retrospect Express to a LaCie hard drive and then copy from the external HD to CD-

 

RWs.? How do I do that since the backup will take up more than one CD-RW. Retrospect shows that I have 4.4 GB and 53115 folders to backup. I figure that this will take about seven CDs. But will the backup be broken into files that I can move to CDs and if so, is there a particular order or method of grouping when I move them to CDs?

 

 

 

I'd also be interested in knowing when my CD burner will be supported by Dantz.

 

 

 

Product: CDBP-241040A; Version: 6.34; Driver: LaCie CD-RW (1.50)

 

 

 

 

[Not_PC]

I'D ALSO BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHEN MY CD BURNER WILL BE SUPPORTED BY DANTZ.

 

 

 

 

 

Lois,

 

 

 

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a response. If you do get a response, please let us know. From what I have seen so far, it doesn't appear that they are very excited about supporting CDRW drives.

 

 

 

Since it appears as though you have a LaCie CDRW, you might try SilverKeeper. It is a backup program by LaCie. It's also free and available at: http://www.silverkeeper.com

 

 

 

You might also try FWB BackUp ToolKit™ 3.0.6

1. You will need to use it in conjunction with DiscBurner from Apple to get it to work. They have a 30-day demo version so you can see if it will work for you.

 

 

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

Not PC

 

 

 

 

[AmyJ]

Regarding support for the Lacie drive, it is on the list for testing. Unfortunately, it's not posisble to say when or even if a drive can be qualified, so I don't have any further information at this time. This drive is based on a Sanyo mechanism. Retrospect is not currently compatible with Sanyo CD-RW mechanisms. We are working with Sanyo to resolve the problems, but there is no timeframe for a solution.

 

 

 

That said, more recent drives have shown much better performance, and we are working hard to expand our support for CD-RW drives in general. Due to the nature of drive testing, it is not possible to predict when a particular drive may be supported.

 

 

 

There is not a way in Retrospect to transfer a file backup set (on a hard drive) to an unsupported CD Burner. Using a third party utility to break up a file may affect the integrity of your backup set, and is not recommended by Dantz.

[AmyJ]

Dantz makes every effort to qualify drives as quickly as possible. Testing is dependent on many factors. If we encouter a problem in the testing process that requires us to rewrite a driver, that can increase the time it takes to support a drive.

 

 

 

If we run into a problem and we need to work with the vendor of the drive to help them implement standard packet-writing commands better and/or to write and release drivers or firmware, that can increase the time it takes to support a drive.

 

 

 

Dantz will always err on the side of caution and will not support a drive until it has passed our rigourous qualification tests. A backup is worthless if you can't reliably restore. We understand the frustrations of our customers and are working to qualify more drives.

[peter09]

Hallo!

 

I also have problem with Retrospect express 4.3

 

and LaCie Pocket CDRW 88-EUR Matshita UJDA340 ver 1.50 .sdapStubDrvr

 

please can someone tell me if it will be compatible or??????

 

Peter af Petersens

[AmyJ]

The drive is not currently supported for use with Retrospect. For a current list of supported drives, please see:

 

 

 

www.dantz.com/hardware