Malcolm McLeary Posted February 7, 2002 Report Share Posted February 7, 2002 Does Retrospect 4.3 support Firewire VXA drives via a PCI card in a machine which did not come with Firewire? I have a faithful 8500, it's running MacOS 9.1, has an internal DDS2 drive, and the original SCSI disk has been replaced with an IDE PCI card and a 20GB disk. It also has a USB card supporting a scanner. I did have an external SCSI Yamaha CD400, but I've been working towards a La Cie Firewire/USB CDRW (8x4x32). Connecting the La Cie CDRW via USB failed dismally, but thats another story as I've now added a Firewire card and all is well wrt the CDRW. The problem is my Firewire VXA. It works fine on my W2K machine, but its not happening on my Firewire enhanced 8500. My initial problem was that Retrospect couldn't see the drive ... I was running Retrospect 4.3 ... I then discovered I needed 4.3A and now that I've installed 4.3C (from a Retrospect 5.6 for Windows CD) I can "see" my VXA. But there's more ... Retrospect appears to do a backup to the VXA, but then the compare fails and so do subsequent verifies. Connecting the same drive to my PC and reusing the same tape causes no problems at all. I have now connected a Firewire HD to the card and I'm doing a backup of it to my internal DDS. It seems to be going well so I don't believe there is a hardware problem. Is there a problem with Retrospect accessing a Firewire VXA drive via a PCI card in a machine which did not come with Firewire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm McLeary Posted February 15, 2002 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2002 I'm still having some problems with a Firewire VXA drive. The drive appeared to be working with W2K, but I have not been able to get it to work with Retrospect for MacOS. The Mac (an old 8500) has a new Firewire PCI card which works fine with a La Cie CDRW and a Firewire hard disk. Retrospect for MacOS can see the drive and appears to do a backup, but the compare fails completely. ? Retrospect version 4.3C launch at 7/2/2002 9:05 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 2.5.101 ! 7/2/2002 9:06 AM: Manual Reset of backup set VXA - 8500 + Normal Backup using Full Backup at 7/2/2002 9:07 AM To backup set VXA - 8500… - 7/2/2002 9:07:09 AM: Copying System Disk 7/2/2002 9:51:10 AM: Comparing System Disk Bad backup set header found (0xffffffff at 139). Miscompare at data offset 17,840 for file “System Disk:•T+•System Disk”. Bad backup set header found (0xc0480008 at 10,945). Bad backup set header found (0xe8909061 at 10,945). Bad backup set header found (0xffc04bfe at 10,947). Bad backup set header found (0x7090c500 at 11,056). Bad backup set header found (0x05804100 at 11,924). Bad backup set header found (0x4bfe6f55 at 12,033). Bad backup set header found (0xfffc4e80 at 13,500). Bad backup set header found (0x01000400 at 13,618). Bad backup set header found (0x4100147c at 13,685). [snip] Bad backup set header found (0x0f000094 at 929,057). Bad backup set header found (0xce93a56e at 929,069). Bad backup set header found (0xe22a534d at 1,206,168). 7/2/2002 10:02:48 AM: Execution stopped by operator Remaining: 20997 files, 4.6 GB Completed: 1203 files, 221.9 MB Performance: 103.2 MB/minute (116.8 copy, 29.2 compare) Duration: 00:55:39 (00:06:34 idle/loading/preparing) Quit at 7/2/2002 10:37 AM Backups to a Firewire disk work fine. Backups of a Firewire disk work fine. Backups to a Firewire CDRW work fine. Backups to an internal SCSI DDS2 drive work fine. Roxio Toast is able to burn CDs in the Firewire CDRW without problems. I can read CDs in the Firewire CDRW without problems. The VXA tape was brand new. A cleaning tape has been used. Taking the VXA drive back to a W2K machine I ran a Retrospect Backup to the same tape which failed in the Mac. + Retrospect version 5.6.127 Launched at 7/02/2002 11:21 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 2.6.106 ! 7/02/2002 11:22 AM: Manual erase of tape "" + Executing Immediate Backup at 7/02/2002 11:30 AM To backup set Gateway - W2K [001]... - 7/02/2002 11:30:16 AM: Copying Drive C (C:) 7/02/2002 11:42:51 AM: Snapshot stored, 18.0 MB 7/02/2002 11:42:58 AM: Comparing Drive C (C:) 7/02/2002 11:56:31 AM: Execution completed successfully Completed: 13713 files, 2.0 GB Performance: 166.6 MB/minute (175.7 copy, 158.4 compare) Duration: 00:26:15 (00:02:26 idle/loading/preparing) + Executing Verify at 7/02/2002 11:57 AM To backup set Gateway - W2K [001]... 7/02/2002 12:09:04 PM: Execution completed successfully Completed: 13713 files, 2.0 GB Performance: 175.7 MB/minute Duration: 00:11:59 (00:00:35 idle/loading/preparing) Quit at 7/02/2002 5:06 PM Worked fine. It was suggested that I check the firmware version. This morning I connected the VXA drive to the 8500 (without any other Firewire devices) and started VXATool ... it reported the following; These SCSI Devices Found DEVICE B.T.L VENDOR PRODUCT Revision -------------------------------------------------------- 1 0.2.0 ARCHIVE Python 02830-XXX5.76 2 0.3.0 MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-8005A 4.0i 3 1.5.0 IOMEGA ZIP 100 E.08 4 2.0.0 IBM-DPTA -372050 5 4.0.0 ECRIX VXA-1 2A6A Using asynchronous SCSI Manager Please Select From The Following firmware [ device] [firmware] [inputFileName.hex] logfile [ device] [logfile] [OutputFileName.hex] capacity [ device] [capacity] [y or n] set_compression [ device] [set_compression] [y or n] inquiry [ device] [inquiry] reset_inquiry [ device] [reset_inquiry] display_firmware [ device] [display_firmware] version [ device] [version] help [ device] [help] exit [ device] [exit] For Example: 1 firmware v2112.hex 5 display_firmware Firmware Revision, Date: V22A6A 051601 000 Vendor Identification : ECRIX Product Identification : VXA-1 Product Revision Level : 2A6A Unit Serial Number : 000005D3119F Please Select From The Following firmware [ device] [firmware] [inputFileName.hex] logfile [ device] [logfile] [OutputFileName.hex] capacity [ device] [capacity] [y or n] set_compression [ device] [set_compression] [y or n] inquiry [ device] [inquiry] reset_inquiry [ device] [reset_inquiry] display_firmware [ device] [display_firmware] version [ device] [version] help [ device] [help] exit [ device] [exit] For Example: 1 firmware v2112.hex 5 logfile log.hex Loading drive memory contents into log file log.hex. Send Diagnostic Unit Attention Send diagnostics failure. Check device, and power. Please Select From The Following firmware [ device] [firmware] [inputFileName.hex] logfile [ device] [logfile] [OutputFileName.hex] capacity [ device] [capacity] [y or n] set_compression [ device] [set_compression] [y or n] inquiry [ device] [inquiry] reset_inquiry [ device] [reset_inquiry] display_firmware [ device] [display_firmware] version [ device] [version] help [ device] [help] exit [ device] [exit] For Example: 1 firmware v2112.hex This last bit does not look good to me ... Apart from the failure to produce a log file, the firmware is not current, but looking at the release notes for VXA firmware the latest version doesn't seem to fix anything which would be significant to my situation. I have taken the drive back to the W2K machine to run a test restore. The W2K machine no longer "sees" the drive. The Fireware card is working as I can mount my Firewire hard disk and CDRW. Taking the drive back to the 8500 it no longer "sees" the drive either. I have rebooted both machines and now neither acknowledge the existence of my VXA drive, although other Firewire devices work fine. Just to be absolutely sure I have just reconnected the VXA drive to the W2K machine again and now it "sees" it (bizzare!) and Retrospect is doing a test restore. + Retrospect version 5.6.127 Launched at 9/02/2002 10:23 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 2.7.117 + Executing Restore from Backup at 9/02/2002 10:24 AM To volume Restore on Drive D (D:)... - 9/02/2002 10:24:50 AM: Restoring from Gateway - W2K [001] 9/02/2002 10:40:44 AM: Execution completed successfully Completed: 13713 files, 2.0 GB Performance: 126.3 MB/minute Duration: 00:15:54 (00:00:11 idle/loading/preparing) Quit at 9/02/2002 10:41 AM The restored data looks good. Back to the 8500 ... It is not visible on the Firewire bus. Back to the W2K machine ... It is not visible on the Firewire bus. Now it appears to have died completely! Surely this isn't normal behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm McLeary Posted February 15, 2002 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2002 on 15/2/02 10:15 AM, support@exabyte.com at support@exabyte.com wrote: > Hi Malcolm, > > Three things: > 1.Thanks for sending the original response....I apologize again for the > mix up and problems we have had with our websites and email servers (I > guess Mergers are never smooth transitions). After looking over your > initial problem, I have a few questions as we have seen this error > before....If you can reproduce this error on a Mac, and take a logfile > using the VXA tool for MAC (if possible)we could take a look at it. From > my understanding, it is a software error and Dantz has seen it as well. > > 2. Our shipping department has not sent the codeload tape out yet, > because they informed me today they need a street address, not a PO > Box...sorry > > Please email me your complete shipping address as we can get the codeload > tape out tomorrow so perhaps you will receive the tape sometime next > week. > > 3. As far as the startup process/method....yes, the it can be finicky... > As long as the drive is recognized on startup and not just > intermittently.....then you should be fine. > Also, having a Firewire card should not make a difference..... > > Thanks, > Kelly Macias > Exabyte Technical Support Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm McLeary Posted March 22, 2002 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2002 on 12/3/02 9:23 AM, support@exabyte.com wrote: > Just wanted to check up and see how things were going with your firewire tape > drive. As far as third party Firewire controller cards, I can tell you that so > far we have successfully tested with the following cards: Keyspan, Maxtor, > Adaptec, IO Gear and Belkin. on 13/3/02 4:52 AM, support@exabyte.com wrote: > Yes, I would tend to agree that all Firewire cases are not > equal .... What we have seen is that Firewire seems to be more touchy than > most users think. > > Anyways, please let me know how your testing goes with a new card. After a bit of hunting around I found a supplier with a Maxtor card. Its not sold as being MacOS compatible but the FAQ on the Maxtor site says that it does work with Apple drivers. The Maxtor card was the only one I could find (out of the recommended manufacturers) which was reasonably priced. All the others came with software bundles I didn't need ... Windows Video Editing software ... I needed the card for a Mac and I just needed to support VXA, CDRW, and hard disks. Anyway ... I installed the card and ran the same 300 MB test I've been doing ... success at last! I'll run some more tests but its looking really good. :-) Maxtor uses a Lucent chip set ... not sure what the Wiretek card uses. Previously errors started after < 100M of compare ... its now 5.5GB into a 14GB compare and the Retrospect log contains no errors. I've not experienced any other problems with the Wiretek card but it obviously has problems with a Firewire VXA drive. The Firewire VXA drive is a scsi mechanism with their own firewire <-> scsi bridge board. The Maxtor card only has 2 ports vs 3 and it cost more, but it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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