Any update to driver for Matshita UJ-815?

[DonQuixote]

peterfh's problem sounds similar to mine.

 

I also have a 12 inch Powerbook with MacOS X 10.2.6 and a Matshita UJ-815 SuperDrive. I have Retrospect Express version 5.0.238.

 

I also attempted to do my first full backup with compression turned on.

 

I also was prompted to insert a large number of DVD-R disks into my machine. My 60GB disk contained about 25 GB of data and I eventually ran out of DVDs after Retrospect wrote on the 12th one. (All my disks were from Memorex.)

 

It seems that my disks (after the first few) also were only partially filled.

 

In my case, Retrospect Express consumed seven or 8 disks while trying to write a single file of 1.9 GB. I'm guessing that it wrote the first 1GB, asked for the next disk, then rewrote the same 1GB, then asked for the next disk, etc ad nauseum.

 

Retrospect Express complained about each disk having errors. For the first several disks, I ejected them, and cleaned them with "Clean 'n Safe Pre-Moistened Lens Cleaning Towelette" which is a packet of tissue paper impregnated with alcohol. For the last two or three disks, I simply re-inserted the same disk, without cleaning it at all. It didn't seem to matter whether I cleaned the disk or not. Simply re-inserting it seemed to give as good results.

 

The last disk (disk 12) failed repeatedly after re-inserting it about 5 times and cleaning-then-re-inserting two or three times. At this point I aborted the backup.

 

Bad media and/or bad drive???? To test this, I exited Retrospect Express and re-inserted the disk. Using the Finder I attempted to copy the 1.9GB file to the disk (and then actually burn the disk). The attempt was successful, with no hiccups at all. Since this was successful, I find it hard to conclude that the media or drive were bad.

 

However, it's relatively inexpensive to try a different brand of DVD....

 

 

Yesterday I bought a 4-pack of TDK disks to try again, and configured Retrospect to not attempt to back up the directory tree containing the 1.9 GB file. (The files to be backed up totaled about 17GB...)

 

This backup attempt with TDK disks failed with different symptoms: Retrospect filled disk 1, then wrote about 1GB (part of another large file), then ejected the disk .....

 

.... and then asked that the SAME disk 2 be inserted again!!

 

(I didn't notice this at first, so I mistakenly inserted a blank disk to be disk 3 at first.)

 

When I inserted disk 2 again, Retrospect Express complained that it was "incompatible" and refused to write to it. (Speculation: Perhaps it won't write multi session disks and it had already closed the session ???)

 

 

I did an Internet search for discussions of similar problems (that's how I found this site). The discussions mention three possible culprits:

 

- The DVD-R media (Several people recommended TDK....)

- The Matshita drive hardware (several people reported that Apple replaced their SuperDrives)

- The software ... the Dantz-supplied driver

 

My experiences rule out the DVD-R media (failed with two brands, including a recommended brand), and the drive (same file succeeded with same disk and same drive with Finder's driver).

 

By elimination that makes the Dantz driver suspect.

 

Any comments, hints, information, or recommendations?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Don

 

 

 

[DonQuixote]

Hello Amy,

 

Thanks for the quick response. Here's the additional information you asked for:

 

This is the error message that I got repeatedly for several disks, and which seemed to be cleared by ejecting and reinserting (whether I cleaned the disk or not):

Device Trouble: "12-Sancho Backup", error 206

(drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad

media, etc.).

 

 

Drive info from Retrospect Express's Device Status window:

 

ID: ATAPI-A

Vendor: Matshita

Product: DVD-R UJ-815

Version: D0CB

Driver: Panasonic DVD-R (5.01)

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

Don