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8.2 Upgrade messed up retrospect


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Opened Retro on my mac tonight, and was told that a new version was available (8.2). Dutifully applied the update and then updated the engine as directed. Now retrospect is basically dead in the water. Opening the console shows emptiness, but after time, it sometimes populates with scripts, sources, etc., but not always. Periodically, I get a system popup asking me to allow/disallow incoming connections to mount.app(?). This dialog is very quick and I have yet to be able to click on allow or anything else before it closes. Help!

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Which console are you opening because the directory structure was changed due to change in companies? Have you tried launching the one located in the Roxio folder instead of the one in the old folder? Also if you are launching Retrospect from the dock it will open the old console unless you replace it.

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Just did the v8.2 update. Retrospect v8.2 launches with all toolbar icons greyed out. I have no idea where the update was installed as I don't see it in the Applications or Utilities folders.

 

No help file or explanation of what would happen existed.

 

No actual .dmg existed with a ReadMe which could be opened and examined before updating like most software companies use.

 

I've been using Retrospect since the early 90s and this is hands down the worst update ever, since I have no idea what happened or why I have no ability to run v8.2.

 

What gives?

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Then you did not install the console as well as the engine. Here is what you should do:

 

1. Open all Retrospect folders in the Applications folder and run the uninstaller if it exists. If not just delete the folder.

 

2. Mount the 8.2 disk image and run the Install Retrospect Engine package.

 

3. Once that is finished copy the Console into the Applications folder. This folder should be called Roxio Retrospect 8.

 

4. Open Retrospect and see if you can do anything.

 

If you want to save your media sets, rules, and scripts do not delete the following folder:

:Library:Application Support:Retrospect

 

If you follow these steps you should be able use Retrospect again.

 

I just checked the Disk Image and there is a readme on it.

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Retrospect v8.2 launches

 

Ok, then Right click on the dock icon, select "Options" and then "Show in Finder" to see where it is on your disk.

 

I don't see it in the Applications or Utilities folders

 

The Sparkle framework updater works on the package "in place," so your updated Retrospect application should be in the same location it was in before you allowed the update to proceed.

 

No help file or explanation of what would happen existed.

 

I didn't use the auto-updater this time, but I recall from previous updates that there is a large and prominent window that comes up where the "Update" button resides. There was text in that window; did you read it?

 

No actual .dmg existed with a ReadMe which could be opened and examined before updating like most software companies use.

 

Most companies?

 

Sparkle is a quite popular tool that some (many? probably not most...) developers use to update their software. It offers developers the ability to display a read-me for users to examine before updating.

 

http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

 

 

I have no idea what happened or why I have no ability to run v8.2.

 

Since you didn't appear to have read the pre-update alert information, and since you report not having the "Retrospect-820399.dmg" disk image file, I'm gonna guess you didn't download and install the Engine update.

 

I've been using Retrospect since the early 90s and this is hands down the worst update ever

 

I've commented before that Sparkle was probably not the best thing to use here, since users are required to also download the entire software suite (there is no Engine only download) before they can complete the download. Was a well intentioned idea, but should probably be abandoned or altered (at the very least provide an Engine only download link!).

 

Download links for the Application and the Client are in the KB article:

 

http://kb.dantz.com/article.asp?article=9719&p=2

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Have you tried stopping the Engine, moving the config file to the Desktop and restarting the Engine?

 

Have you tried turning off the OS X firewall?

 

Have you tried other things so Forum participants don't have to keep asking what you have tried?

 

Is the Engine on the same machine as the Console?

 

Do you have Media Set Members on remote share points?

Are those share points up/running/available?

 

 

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The bottom line is retrospect is now working as before (see firewall below).

 

Update: sadly, after a restart of the machine, retrospect is not working presumably due to firewall issues. With the firewall off, all is good. Turning the firewall back on, but not restarting, all is good. But after a restart with the firewall on, all is no good.

 

Update: Again, my mac keeps nagging me about mountApp requesting permission to accept incoming connections. Found the application inside the RetrospectEngine bundle here: /Library/Application Support/Retrospect/RetrospectEngine.bundle/Contents/MacOS. However, there is no way for me to allow the app to accept incoming connections as my ninja skills are too slow. The dialog disappears very quickly...

 

So, how does one go about configuring the firewall to allow retrospect to do it's work?

 

Have you tried stopping the Engine, moving the config file to the Desktop and restarting the Engine?

 

I stopped the engine, but did not move the config file.

 

Have you tried turning off the OS X firewall?

 

Yes, and then everything began working, but having the firewall off is really not an ideal option. FWIW, I turned the firewall back on, and things are working normally again (as least for now)

 

Have you tried other things so Forum participants don't have to keep asking what you have tried?

 

Touche! But please bear in mind that, prior to the upgrade, everything was working fine. No connectivity issues, no errors, etc... I followed the upgrade instructions to the letter and expected a successful result, so forgive me for being disturbed when everything went to h$ll. The only difference between pre-upgrade and post-upgrade was the actually upgrade itself, so something in the upgrade process is wonking out my setup. And, to answer your question, no, I had not tried anything else other than restarting my machine and stopping/starting the engine. Neither of which helped the issue at all.

 

Is the Engine on the same machine as the Console?

 

Yes

 

Do you have Media Set Members on remote share points?

 

I have members on a NAS connected to my router.

 

Are those share points up/running/available?

 

Yes

Edited by Guest
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Found the application inside the RetrospectEngine bundle here: /Library/Application Support/Retrospect/RetrospectEngine.bundle/Contents/MacOS.

 

I don't see this binary in an older Engine bundle, so it's probably new to 8.2, likely to address some of the issues we've seen with handling mounted volumes.

 

Now that you've found the actual process that needs access through your firewall, you can add it by dragging-and-dropping into the Firewall preference pane and setting it to Allow.

 

Let us know if that works; perhaps a new KB entry can be provided.

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I am happy to say that by adding mountApp to the firewall settings that, so far, things are back to normal.

 

To be clear, I have the Snow Leopard firewall on and simply added mountApp to allow incoming connections and my backups appear to be running properly.

 

thanks for the help...

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Dave, I appreciate the reply, but the level of detail that is now required to know and run Retrospect has exceeded my desire to run it anymore. Any backup program run on a single machine as I do should just launch and run.

 

My time constraints means Retrospect has become unmanageable for me.

 

I don't even know the names of some of the items you mentioned, nor do I recall ever seeing or hearing of them before. I am NOT an IT guy, nor do I have the time or inclination to be one.

 

For a simple backup of daily work so I have covered my hind end with changed files, Retrospect has always worked. Now, it looks like I virtually have to understand a whole raft of things I shouldn't even have to know for simple archiving. Archiving IS NOT MY JOB. Engineering is my job and I can tolerate a 1000 page aftermarket manual on how to use my 3D CAD, but I literally do not have time to do complex things with backup.

 

On the Mac, Carbon Copy Cloner, and Super Duper are virtual plug & play for partition duplicates. Modified to backup changed files, a similar application ought to do for archiving only changed files. Retrospect is obviously now being designed and programmed for people who run IT departments by people who live in IT type departments.

 

I use a 3D CAD program which installs hundreds of files and it is simply plug and play (SolidWorks). I abandoned a prior 3D CAD, Artisan, because it took days to read and experiment and install and uninstall and reinstall & multiple calls to tech. support just to get damnable "daemons" (whatever they were) installed and the whole package running. Nightmare. (That program eventually failed by the way, and that is a lesson for EMC)

 

I'll gladly go back to what Retrospect was, but I will be damned if I will go back to the "Artisan" mode of yesteryear.

 

Right now, I don't even know how to reinstall what I had before in Retrospect. This is simply bad user interface design, because I know from more than a decade of use that Retrospect can do it.

 

When users are frustrated and disappointed in this era of the 21st century, the software design team has become too inbred.

 

Yes I am pissed.

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Dave, just for the record. The events that transpired were as follows:

 

1. I launch to do a backup and Retrospect dialog informs me of v8.2 updater.

2. I click Install/OK or whatever

3. Download and Install proceeds without my intervention

4. No dmg is visible anywhere, nor is any ReadMe, which I thought would be with a dmg in my downloads folder like every other installer: Not.

5. Retrospect Application in its EMC Retrospect 8 folder is the same v8.1.126, but its file size ballooned up 10 megs (giving me bad feelings about a botched install).

 

Whoever designed this form of installer didn't consider consistency and ease of use on the Mac.

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As a Restrospect user for over a decade who has never called for tech. support, I find EMC's efforts lacking, shall we say.

 

I went to the Support & Training button, as I figured I am not the only user with the current issue, and a stock reply would come back via email, but...

 

"Access Online Support" doesn't work, nor does Global Customer support.

 

Things are not looking up for EMC.

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Due to the company change there is no real updater so you will need to manually download the files and install Retrospect from that dmg file. This dmg does contain a readme and the installation is pretty straightforward. These files can be found on the Retrospect web-site.

 

EMC no longer owns Retrospect. It is now owned by Roxio/Sonic Solutions and I can tell they have put a great deal of effort into recitifying the mistakes EMC made with Retrospect 8.0 and 8.1

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The events that transpired were as follows:

 

1. I launch to do a backup and Retrospect dialog informs me of v8.2 updater.

2. I click Install/OK or whatever

 

Seems as if you have missed a critical step between 1 and 2, which would be to read the information and follow the directions presented along with the "OK or whatever" dialog box.

 

No dmg is visible anywhere, nor is any ReadMe, which I thought would be with a dmg in my downloads folder like every other installer: Not.

 

See above; you clicked "OK or whatever" in a dialog box without reading the text displayed.

 

I can tolerate a 1000 page aftermarket manual on how to use my 3D CAD

 

The directions to update Retrospect are much, much shorter then that.

 

Things are not looking up for EMC

 

Although I'm not a stock/finance guy, it appears that EMC is doing just fine:

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=EMC

 

Of course, EMC is no longer the developer of Retrospect, a fact easily noted in that update information you did not read.

 

I appreciate your frustration; in their efforts to make the update process transparent for the user (by taking advantage of the Sparkle software used by many great Mac programs) they have actually made the process worse.

 

But if you read the directions and download and run the Engine update installer _after_ you have allowed Console update to run, you should be fine. Or, since the Console can simply be dragged and dropped, you can trash the old folder in /Applications and drag in the new one from the DISK IMAGE you download from the link I provided up-thread.

 

Retrospect Application in its EMC Retrospect 8 folder is the same v8.1.126

 

Retrospect 8.2 (and beyond) lives in

/Applications/Roxio Retrospect 8/

 

 

When users are frustrated and disappointed in this era of the 21st century, the software design team has become too inbred.

 

While again I agree that the update process is flawed, I'm not sure how else the developers could have prompted you to read the message displayed; heck, they even used some red text to get your attention!

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Due to the company change there is no real updater...

 

Huh? The whole confusion is with the auto-update process, which I have not heard broke with the ownership change; EMC appears to be quite neighborly in hosting the necessary files.

 

Actually, I don't know if I have seen the 8.1 -> 8.2 (release) auto-update process run. I assume it still works as previous versions have (having not heard otherwise here on the Forum) but without firsthand knowledge I should not be so certain.

 

/humble

 

 

Dave

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Dave I appreciate the reply again.

 

I did not do a screen shot of the Auto-update dialog box as I assumed a dmg would be put in my downloads folder. I assumed wrongly.

 

I do not recall any "Read Me" in that box, and rarely do I ever trust Dialog Box text, as it is in a narrow format that is often tough to read, hence my desire to go to the dmg updater and read the files in normal format.

 

I am looking at reverting to 8.1.126, since I have it safely duplicated to other partitions and hard drives using CCC & SD. All I have to do is figure out how to revert without losing "stuff".

 

If I can't do it, then Roxio Retrospect is well...Toast.

 

Thanks - Bo

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An attempt to simply copy correct older "Retrospect.app" back to the "EMC Retrospect 8 folder" (no Roxio ... folder seen) and run it results in a greyed out Retrospect v8 screen with no active buttons and two words in the center "Not Connected".

 

Sorry Dave, but I can't let you do that to me...to paraphrase a well worn line. ;-)

 

Working on tight deadlines is a real bitch when this stuff happens to what should be a transparent update. No meaningful work done yet today. Have to leave it for the weekend.

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Have you tried not using the auto-updater and downloading the files from the Retrospect web-site? If it still does not work after doing this then if you really want to go back to 8.1 use the uninstaller that is included with the console and re-install from 8.1 download from the web-site.

 

BTW, I have not seen the auto-updater work once since going to 8.1

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I do not recall any "Read Me" in that box, and rarely do I ever trust Dialog Box text, as it is in a narrow format that is often tough to read, hence my desire to go to the dmg updater and read the files in normal format.

If you want to skip the information provided by the developers on the _assumption_ that more helpful information will be provided in another format and/or in another place, that's fine. But you can't (try and) put the blame somewhere else for your own faulty assumption(s).

 

 

I am looking at reverting to 8.1.126

 

I'm not sure what other assumptions have led you to the conclusion that this would be your best course of action; unless you have an Apple Hardware RAID (where there is possible a device interaction of some sort) I can't see any reason to do so.

 

As I wrote just earlier today in another thread, the Retrospect install is pretty straightforward, even though there are two parts. The Engine has a standard Apple Installer package (which can be remotely pushed via ARD) and the Console is just drag and drop. Both can be completely removed using the AppleScript included in the Console application's folder.

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BTW, I have not seen the auto-updater work once since going to 8.1

I just mounted the Retrospect-81622.dmg disk image, dragged the application folder to my Desktop and launched. I was immediately presented with the attached dialog, providing quite clear and concise directions for updating.

 

I don't know if the process changes the name of the folder in /Applications from EMC to Roxio (it probably does) since I was only testing that the auto-update process is still live for the update to 8.2. It is.

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