FuzzyJohn Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 OS: Windows XP Professional SP-1 with all updates. Tape Drive: Ecrix VXA-1a (ATAPI) with latest firmware loaded. Brand new. Media: Exabyte V17 tape cartridges. Software: Retrospect Professional v6.0 with RDU v3.7. Retrospect is using NT Passthru. After the first drive is backed up I get the "Catalog out of sync with backup set" message when Retrospect wants to backup the second drive. If I only backup one drive I get the message again when I run Retrospect a second time. No matter what method I use to repair the catalog next time I want to append to the backup set I get the message again. I restored the contents of one drive and I compared several restored files with the original using the FC /b command. No differences were found. I also ZIP several files at random from the source folders and the same files from the restored folders. The checksums in both ZIP files were identical leading me to believe that the files are identical. This also leads me to believe that Retrospect does not really have a problem witing to the tape and reading. The problem seems to be isolated to the catalog. As a last test I ran the backup of one non-system drive again (about 3.6 GB) with the verify feature turned on. After the backup operation finished the verify step verified all the files. I did a search in the forums for this problem and I found only a handful of people having the problem. Unfortunately I was not able to find any resolution. If anybody had this problem in the past and solved it I would like to hear your story. I also welcome any suggestions from anybody else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 Hi Try running the ASPIINST.exe utility located in the Retrospect program folder. What other IDE devices are in this machine? Have you tried saving the catalog file on a different disk? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 Hi Nate, I just ran ASPIINST.exe and this did not solve the problem. I have tried saving the catalog file on a another drive (different partition on the same HD unit). Again nothing solved. Primary IDE: Maxtor Hard Drive Secondary IDE: Acer CD-ROM (master) and Ecrix VXA-1a Tape Drive (slave). The VXA-1 Drive in Windows XP Pro device manager shows up in the "Other" category. There are no drivers loaded for it. Here is the saved output from ASPICHK.exe: LOG0166: ***************************************************************** LOG0167: Starting ASPICHK installer on Wed Aug 14 07:30:44 2004 ASPICHK0492: OS = Windows NT (5.01.2600) ASPICHK0499: Platform = INTEL UPGRADE0626: c:\windows\system32\wnaspi32.dll dated 09/10/1999 11:06:00, 45056 bytes. UPGRADE0687: c:\windows\system32\wnaspi32.dll version 4.6.0.1021 UPGRADE0626: c:\windows\system\winaspi.dll dated 09/10/1999 11:06:00, 5600 bytes. UPGRADE0687: c:\windows\system\winaspi.dll version 4.6.0.1021 UPGRADE0626: c:\windows\system32\drivers\aspi32.sys dated 09/10/1999 11:06:00, 25244 bytes. UPGRADE0687: c:\windows\system32\drivers\aspi32.sys version 4.6.0.1021 UPGRADE0626: c:\windows\system\wowpost.exe dated 09/10/1999 11:06:00, 4672 bytes. UPGRADE0687: c:\windows\system\wowpost.exe version 4.6.0.1021 ASPICHK0639: ASPI is properly installed and is fully operational. However, no host adapters have been detected (0xE8). ASPICHK0649: ASPI installation has problems LOG0249: Closing installer log on Wed Aug 14 07:30:44 2004 LOG0250: ***************************************************************** ======= Here is the Retrospect Log: + Retrospect version 6.0.206 Launched at 07/14/2004 07:49 AM + Retrospect Driver Update, version 3.7.105 + Executing Immediate Backup at 07/14/2004 07:49 AM To Backup Set Test... - 07/14/2004 07:49:53 AM: Copying Programs_2 (D:) 07/14/2004 07:51:31 AM: Snapshot stored, 205 KB 07/14/2004 07:51:40 AM: Execution completed successfully Completed: 1312 files, 113.5 MB Performance: 87.2 MB/minute Duration: 00:01:39 (00:00:20 idle/loading/preparing) + Executing Immediate Backup at 07/14/2004 07:52 AM To Backup Set Test... - 07/14/2004 07:52:16 AM: Copying Programs_2 (D:) 07/14/2004 07:52:16 AM: No files need to be copied Catalog File out of sync with Backup Set "Test". To repair it, use Tools>Repair Catalog>Update existing Catalog File. 07/14/2004 07:52:20 AM: Execution incomplete Duration: 00:00:03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 I just wanna add the fact that I have been using the OnStream DI-30 IDE tape drive without any problems for years. Recently though the drive started failing so I decided for the Ecrix VXA-1 ATAPI drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Hi Can you post the information about this device as shown in the configure->devices->environment window? Post the entire line please. Can you try switching the tape to master and the CD to slave? As a test you may even want to try a backup with the CD disconnected. It may be that you had ASPI installed all along. Type CTRL + ALT + P + P at any screen in Retrospect to display the hidden preferences window. Under Execution click use NT SCSI passtrhough and relaunch Retrospect. Run a backup this way to see if you have any better luck. This should be working with no trouble at all so keep an eye out for potential driver/software/hardware problems outside of Retrospect too. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Hi Nate, I already tried forcing the use of NT SCSI Passthrough. No luck. As for ASPI, I don't think it was already installed because before I ran ASPIINST.exe I ran ASPICHK.exe and it shown N/A for every component. It will take a few days to try the other things you suggested as that computer is at work and I am not <<drumroll here>>. I also plan to change the drive cable from the 40 wire to the 80 wire type to improve the data transfer (according to Exabyte). Like I mentioned in my first post I seem to have no problem with the first backup. The files compare. It is only the catalog that has problems. I also installed the latest version of Tapeware and had no problem with that, but I miss the simplicity of Retrospect <<another drumroll here>>. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Hi Nate... sorry for the delay. Here is how the drive appears in the Environment window: Devices visible using NT Passthrough... ID: 1:1 Vendor: ECRIX Product: VXA-1 Version: T101 Driver: Ecrix VXA DC (1.11) I also replaced the IDE cable to one using 80 wires which improved the data transfer in Tapeware 3-4 times when writing and up to 6-8 times when reading. Using Retrospect nothing changed. I can do one backup and verify it. The second backup fails at the very beginning with the catalog out of sync message. This, and my tests using actually restored files and comparing them, tell me that the drive is operating properly. I have done a full backup of my system drive (about 3.5 GB) and it verified without a problem. Something must happen while the catalog is written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Hi The Exabyte site shows a firmware version v11100-v1T101. I suspect that is what you have? If the Intel Application Accelerator is installed try uninstalling it and running a backup. This may not be a problem with communication to the tape. What is the make/model of your ATAPI controller? Can you try storing the catalog file on another disk? Thanks Nate BTW- Did ASPI affect the tape write speed at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 That is the firmware version I have in the drive v11100-v1T101). The Intel Application Accelerator is not installed. The ATAPI controller is on the motherboard (Asus A7VE, AMD 1.2 GHz CPU). Via drivers are not loaded. I have tried storing the catalog on another disk (another partition since there is only one hard drive unit in the machine). Retrospect had no problem with the catalog files with the drive I used previously (OnStream DI-30 FAST) connected to the same ATAPI controller. I used this drive for years starting with Retrospect v5.15 without problems except for occasional bad tapes. The OnStream drive failed (rejected all tapes) and that prompted the change to a new drive. There are no tape drivers loaded on the machine. The tape drive is disabled in Device Manager. If I remember right ASPI did not make a difference in the tape write speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I may have found the solution to this problem. I managed to make several incremental backups without the "Catalog file out of sync with backup set" message. What I did was to use the VXATool utility to change the ID String of the drive to Ecrix VXA-1a instead of Ecrix VXA-1. The drive is actually an Exabyte VXA-1a drive. I will do a full backup tomorrow and report back here with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyJohn Posted July 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Did a full backup of the My Computer container which contains 4 drives. No more "Catalog file out of sync with backup set" messages. It surely feels good to be back to using Retrospect. Tapeware gave me a good headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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