meliora Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Running Retro 8.0.736.1 on an Intel Mac Mini. I have two Disk backup sets, Disk Set A and Disk Set B. I have two external firewire drives, called DiskA and DiskB -- the former is the 1st member of my Disk Set A, and the latter is the 1st member of Disk Set B. I have configured the two disk sets with the same options (grooming, fast rebuild options, etc). However, if I run a script to backup to Set A, it works great. If I run the same script to Set B, then in the 'Running' section of the 'Activities' console pane, I see the Script with a flashing black question mark to the left, and below I see 'Needs Media' under the 'Status' section. So I click the 'Choose Media' button, and choose my Firewire disk, and the script still says 'Needs Media.' I've even tried choosing the disk with the 'Erase Volume' option checked, same result. I even deleted the Backup Set, re-initialized my firewire drive, and re-created the disk set and assigned the re-inited drive as the first member, same result. Anyone have any ideas? Many thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traels Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 I have a 12TB iSCSI attached disk, and any script I create, be it manually or by wizard will just stop and ask me for media when I run the script ... Looking for an answer to this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peguist Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 I second the above mentioned bug description. I use Retrospect 8.0.736.1 and sometimes a backup to a Disk media set completes without errors and sometimes - during the backup process - the backup instantly stops and asks for new media. The backup disk has always plenty of free space, so this can't be the problem. The following dialog asks for the location of the last media set, but afterwards nothing happens resp. the button for new media remains and the backuop process doesn't continue. It seems to me a severe bug that makes Retrospect 8 barely usable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasser Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 This has happened to me, too, and in the process some how I ended up with a folder called "2-Daily Set A" inside my folder called "1-Daily Set A". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infoalexjacobi.com Posted May 27, 2009 Report Share Posted May 27, 2009 i have the same problem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeHutch Posted May 30, 2009 Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 This may be way too simple a solution, but... have you tried just setting up a script for each backup set & associated source folders/disks, that way there can be no mistakes in the script as to the destination and source locations. If this doesn't alter anything, then it maybe there's a bug in the program. I only say this, because I've had no problems backing up to disk (DVD-RAM), and spanning them over 2 or more disks, so far! Just my 1p worth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impala Posted May 30, 2009 Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 Not sure what to tell you. I have two disk media sets and two proactive backup scripts and I have not seen this problem. Both disk media sets are on internal hard drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 1, 2009 Report Share Posted June 1, 2009 peguist, Morrie and evil al : What type of disk is this? Local disk, network disk? How is the disk connected? USB, Firewire, Network, eSATA? What is the size of the disk? How much free space on the disk? What is the disk file system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 HI, I'm having the same problem with Retrospect 8.0.736.1. Here's the info about my disk: Local disk (OWC) attached via FireWire 800 Capacity: 465.64 GB Free Space: 459.64 GB Filesystem Type: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Once I click on the "needs media" button and select the SAME media set as the script specifies, it resumes backing up. This issue is making Retrospect totally unusable for us. Best, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 (edited) This just happened again during a manual run of a script. This time, I just clicked on the "choose media" button and it resumed the backup. Edited June 5, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 I believe that I can replicate this issue reliably. While doing a backup, if I log out of the console of the machine running the Retrospect Engine - I will immediately get a "waiting for media" email. When I have a user log back into the console and click on "Choose Media" in the Retrospect GUI, the backups will resume without having to select a media set. Please fix this bug ASAP! This is a royal pain! Best, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 This symptom is different from what I have seen others report. Are you saying that in the middle of copying files, the copy process stops at the same time as closing the console and a media request is displayed when the console is opened again? When you choose media, does another member get added to the media set? I open and close the console often during backup and have not needed to reselect my media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 >> Are you saying that in the middle of copying files, the copy process stops at the same time as closing the console and a media request is displayed when the console is opened again? Sort of. In the middle of copying files, the copy process stops at the same time as logging out at the console. It is then that the media request is displayed in the GUI on a different machine. >> When you choose media, does another member get added to the media set? I don't have to choose any media. Just logging back into the console, then clicking on the "Choose Media" button (in the GUI on the other computer) and leaving the dialog box open seems to be enough. The backup will continue on with the original media set, and I can choose "Cancel" and it will continue to back up. >> I open and close the console often during backup and have not needed to reselect my media. I wish I had your luck! (Or that I didn't need to be lucky to complete a backup...) Best, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 If you have the console running on 2 computers, please close one of them. You should not have the console running on 2 systems at the same time. Do you see this when opening and closing the console on the same computer as the engine? What system version is running the console? What system version is running the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 >> If you have the console running on 2 computers, please close one of them. You should not have the console running on 2 systems at the same time. When I say "console" I am referring to the console of the operating system, not the management interface for Retrospect. So no, there are not two instances of the Retrospect management interface running at the same time. >> Do you see this when opening and closing the console on the same computer as the engine? I wouldn't expect to, since in order to run the management interface on the Retrospect Engine machine, you have to be logged into the console of the operating system. This problem happens when you log out of the console of the operating system on the Retrospect Engine machine. >> What system version is running the console? What system version is running the engine? The Retrospect management interface is being run under Mac OS 10.5.7. The Retrospect Engine is being run under Mac OS 10.5.7. Since we're talking about consoles, I should add that I connect to the console (of the OS running the Retrospect Engine) via Apple Remote Desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 If you log off of your computer (logout) then the finder will dismount all external hard disks from the desktop, preventing access by Retrospect and all other processes. Do not logout of your computer during a backup when using an external hard disk. This is an OS limit and not a Retrospect limit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Ok, thanks for your help! Best, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maser Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 There's some way to keep a disk mounted if you log out of the Finder. I think this site: http://knowledgebase.tolisgroup.com/?View=entry&EntryID=103 has an example of what you can do for this. I set up my home machine to do this with Retrospect 6 ages ago, but haven't tried it with Retrospect 8. If you try it and it works, let us know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 If you log off of your computer (logout) then the finder will dismount all external hard disks from the desktop, preventing access by Retrospect and all other processes. Do not logout of your computer during a backup when using an external hard disk. This is an OS limit and not a Retrospect limit. Woa here. The fact that the Retrospect Engine runs as a unix daemon was advertised as allowing your Retrospect engine machine to run reliably without any user logged in to the Finder. The same way OS X Server serves web pages and wikis and mail and authentication and VPN etc. without anyone logged in. I have to assume that a Scheduled backup with a Disk Media Set using a Member that's a remote share will work when no user is logged into the Finder of the engine machine, no? If so, then are you saying that if a Script is run (either manually or by a Schedule) while a user _is_ logged into the Finder (still talking about the machine running the Engine here), that user must not log out again without causing the backup to "stall?" Until what, the same user logs back in again? I realize that since 10.2 the (then Aqua) Finder will unmount user-mounted disks; but I thought the whole idea of how Retrospect mounted volumes got around that. If this is a true limitation, then it's truly awful. The ability to log into and out of my OS X Server machine without concern for the services it provides is critical; for Retrospect to force me to stay logged in for fear of mucking up a backup (that I might not even know has started, since I might not be running the Retrospect console application) would be a usage (and Security) nightmare. "Classic" Retrospect had a maddening issue where if a backup started behind the Login Window, and then any user logged into the machine, logging off again would require the Retrospect application to quit along with every other running GUI program. I was sure we'd left that behind. Hopefully I'm misunderstanding the behavior. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 "Classic" Retrospect had a maddening issue where if a backup started behind the Login Window, and then any user logged into the machine, logging off again would require the Retrospect application to quit along with every other running GUI program. "Maddening" is a big understatement because this same behavior was also triggered when Retrospect classic was in it's "failure to autolaunch mode" caused by a corrupt retrorunfile, such that when you went in to fix the problem with the rubber chicken dance, Retrospect would launch with the admin user logged in, leaving you vulnerable overnight. Surely (hopefully?) we are past this. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 (edited) but I thought the whole idea of how Retrospect mounted volumes got around that. Retrospect does not mount local USB/Firewire disks. The finder does. It has always been this way. When you turn on the computer the disk mounts. When you logoff, the finder unmounts the disk. Edited June 8, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 (edited) Retrospect does not mount local USB/Firewire disks. The finder does. It has always been this way. When you turn on the computer the disk mounts. When you logoff, the finder unmounts the disk. Robin, But this does not answer the question (which begins above with "... then are you saying...") of how the program is designed to work. - Will Retrospect be able to run Disk Media Sets to network mount points when there is no user logged into the engine machine? - Will logging into and/or out of an engine machine that is busy running a backup to a network share point Member of a Disk Media Set in any way effect the running of that backup? I know that we're all waiting for documentation, but the understanding of this behavior seems pretty important... Dave DOH! Re-reading the thread (sadly _after_ my two posts) makes clear that the original poster and all of Robin's replies were in relation to attached external volumes, not network shares. Given that, I wonder if eSATA behaves the same way as FW and USB ? Edited June 8, 2009 by Guest to not be too much of an idiot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Retrospect does not mount local USB/Firewire disks. True. The finder does. It has always been this way. When you turn on the computer the disk mounts. When you logoff, the finder unmounts the disk. Um, perhaps for MacOS X non-server, but not for server. I realize that the original poster never said that he/she had MacOS X Server, and I hesitate to pick nits that take threads off in a tangential direction. But Dave and I, I think, were talking about MacOS X Server. Test: boot MacOS X server with external drives attached, marked for mount as shares. connect to server via ssh (so no Finder login). Look at mounted volumes (mount). Firewire works this way too (I've had an existence proof for about four years, now, on our Xserve G5, with a firewire drive). Never used a USB drive (except for camera memory cards into a USB reader/writer on Mac OS X non-server, and iPods mounted as a USB drive on Mac OS X non-server), so I can't speak to that. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbeauchamp Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 @Maser: I checked out the link and it worked! Thank you. I used the autodiskmount.plist method described on that page and now Mac OS X no longer unmounts my Firewire drives upon logout. This is tweak is definitely something that Retrospect 8 should set automatically upon installation. Its almost laughable to need to have a user logged in to the console for Retrospect to work properly. Best, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 I have asked engineering to look into this, but I don't know if we are going to go around changing plist files for the user Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.