Bizatanium Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Config - G4 Quicksilver, OS 9.2, Appleshare IP 6.1, Dantz Retrospect 4.2, Archive Python 04106-xxx ver 735B (Tape drive), Adaptec 2906 (SCSI card) Problem - A client is backing up approximately 4-4.5GB of data per storage set using the above. With hardware compression using DDS2 everything would fit onto one tape, no problem. However, all of a sudden we are only getting 4GB of data to a tape, instead of 8GB, therefore Retrospect requires a new tape. Why is Retrospect now only fitting 4GB onto the same tapes that it use to fit 8GB? I must repeat that everything used to work fine. There are 2 work folders that are being backed up locally so there should be no issues with network. Steps I have taken. 1. Upgraded OS to 9.2.2 2. Upgraded driver for Adaptec SCSI card to latest version 3. Run Diskwarrior 3.0.2 4. Deleted all storage sets and created new ones, erased tapes also 5. Called Dantz - not much help 6. Energy Saving - set Mac to never go to sleep and monitor to go to sleep after 5 hours We do actually have one storage set that is working correctly (we have a different one for each day of the week Mon-Fri). After doing all of the various upgrades above I ran a backup during the day to see if it all worked. I waited until it had written about 3GB of data and then stopped it, everything seemed to be fine. That night the backup worked fine and continues to do so. Every other night, which originally starts with a blank tape fails. I ask myself what could have been different that day when I ran the backup compared to when it is run on it's own at night? This is the reason why I tried point 6 above, I thought the sleep might be interrupting the backup somehow, perhaps I should set the monitor to never go to sleep? There are only 3 client iMacs which are all shut down at night so I see no interference coming from them. This problem has been dogging me for days so any help/suggestions greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmseiden Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Please do the obvious things first. Check the tapes! Someone may have swapped the tapes to a smaller size because they were cheaper (duh!). I seem to recall that DDS2 tapes sizes come in 8GB and 4GB compressed. Someone may have swapped boxes too. Look at the tape itself and note the manufacturer labelling/model number. Be sure to confirm that the model of the tape, not it's box, conforms to the data storage size needed. On more than one occasion I have come up against this phenomenon. It is clearly listed in Murphy's Rules! Next I would check to make sure that Hardware Compression is enabled in Retro. There is a check box and must be checked when using a new backup set (and check it before running a backup). Either of these possiblities explains the symptom you are getting. Good luck, Henry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizatanium Posted August 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Brand spanking new tape tried, all double double checked. Hardware compression is enabled. Any other ideas Henry? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmseiden Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Are they 8GB each? What model info is printed on the new boxes you just opened or underneath the physical tape? Is software compression turned off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmseiden Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Biz, Lot's of ideas left. You'll pardon me if I don't remember whether 4.2 even has some of these options because I'm using 5.1 for Mac OS X. It's been a long while for me since 4.3 and went there straight from 4.1. If my last message doesn't yield any good answers, then look at your scripts. How are your scripts organized? Separate script for each day? Using one script Mon-Fri? I don't think your version has settable limits in a script or setup of a backup set of its size, but you might want to check into this further, for instance see below. Look at your backup sets. Which set is good? Let's say it's Tuesday's (just guessing), as an example. Are you saying that Monday's set requires more than one tape and stores only 4GB on the first one, while Tuesday doesn't (require more tape), and stores more than 4GB on the first and only tape in the set? And then Wednesday onward does (require more tape) and stores only 4GB on the first one? The day of the week of the good backup set may point you in right direction...I won't speculate further, but you get the idea. Backup set compression. In Retro>Backup Sets>Configure>Members what does it say about the catalog compression? Did you set the catalog compression differently on the working set vs. non-working sets? I use no compression (major time savings). In Retro>Backup Sets>Configure>Members what does it say about the tapes? Used:xxxGB, Available: xxxGB, Storage: x members, xx sessions. Options: XXXX, Catalog: <location of the catalog>??? How about in the Members tab for each member? If you use one script are you exceeding the catalog size limitations in version 4.2? Have you considered upgrading to 4.3? Check each set and let us know. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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