Waiting for Media

[nicelyc]

Due to a string of assertion failures and other unsavory errors, I recently rebuilt my backup server from the ground up (scripts, configurations, clients ... everything). But afraid that I would invest my efforts elsewhere if I had a reliable backup server, Retrospect has produced a fresh set of errors - never seen before - for my continued enjoyment ...

 

Here's one of my personal favorites that I would like to share with you.

 

I have about 80 laptops being backed up by a proactive script. When Retrospect starts backing up a client, it's status changes to "Execute" on the Proactive tab of the Activity Monitor. This is good.

 

But all of the other clients' status change to "Media". I understand that the media is unavailable due to execution of another client, but I did not notice this behavior before. No big deal, but this is leading up to a more annoying problem ...

 

For a brief moment, immediately after the backup begins execution, the media dialog is displayed. The target backup set member is indicated in the appropriate drive, but Retrospect is asking me where it is! Within three seconds, the dialog disappears, and the execution continues.

 

In the mean time, Retrospect sends an email notification with the message "Script Laptop (Daily): waiting for media". Maybe Retrospect feels that I'm just not getting enough spam, and would like to dispel my lonliness with a few personal emails.

 

Perhaps you could help me find a way to break the news gracefully that I would prefer a nice discussion over dinner, perhaps with some cocktails. Better yet, how about a long walk in the woods ... we could talk about the virtues of an early retirement (it's, not mine).

 

Yes, Windows drivers have been disabled, and I am using the newest Retrospect build (6.5.343) and driver update (4.9).