RS 6.5 & Memorex DVD+RW Drive Problem

[alleiGator]

Actually we have 2 Memorex drives, a DVD+DLRW F16 drive and a True 8 drive. These are relatively new devices, so we used custom configuration and got successful completion with RW disks for our efforts.

 

The Retrospect product is Retrospect 6.5.35 with driver update 5.4.110.

The backup unit is Memorex DVD+/-DLRWL1 F16 Firmware update BWSE,

although this same problem occurred as often before the firmware update.

The Computer is Dell OptiPlex GX200, Pentium 3.

The system is Windoze 2000 (5.00.2195) service pack 4.

We had this identical problem on a Dell Pentium 4 with the XP system.

The error, always the same one, is

 

Trouble reading: "106-DVD_Imgs" (2), error -206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.)

Additional error information for device "Memorex DVD+RW - RDI" [1:0],

Sense > 70 00 03 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 00 11 05 00 00 00 00

(Memorex |DVD+/-DLRWL1 F16|BWSE)

 

We get Miscomparisons (great word BTW) continually, although 90% of the time RS completes successfully and only a few files need to be recopied. However many of these files are DVD images and therefore large, 3-8 GB, so a failure costs a lot of time and a lot of disks. The Memorex drives work flawlessly with everything else, so I've got to believe it's Retrospect that can't figure out how to talk with the DVD writer.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

[alleiGator]

I guess I should say that these drives show up in Retrospect

as Memorex DVD+RW - RDI ATAPI 1:0 under Devices

and

Memorex DVD+/-DLRWL1 F16 BWSE Memorex DVD+RW - RDI(1.56)

for the dual layer 16X drive and

Memorex DVD+/-RW True8XI UWS3 Memorex DVD+RW - RDI(1.56)

for the single layer 8X drive

 

Both are configured to use DVD+RW only since Retrospect

seemed to get confused if I tried to configure for more than 1 type

 

Also, the disks being backed up are defragmented

and the disk windows are closed as a nod towards superstition

and no other apps are running except the normal processes

 

Thanks again

[alleiGator]

Two weeks now on a clearly defined problem

and not a single response from Dantz.

 

Is this typical of these folks?

75 people have looked at the problem

so it's got to be fairly common

and these Memorex drives are really nice

and cheap too, so they'll be real popular.

 

Has anybody found a solution to this problem?

 

Nero's BackItUp works flawlessly by the way

but it doesn't have the ability to string

multiple backups into a single index file like RetroSpect does

 

But if RS just doesn't work ...

[natew]

Hi

 

Retrospect is _very_ picky about drive read and write errors. Much more so than other programs. What is the name brand, speed and type of discs you are using? You may want to try a better brand.

 

Thanks

Nate

[alleiGator]

I'm using both Memorex and TDK disks, DVD+RW, 4X speed,

and they work alright with the drive for everything else

 

Are there any brands that you folks recommend?

And thanks for responding.

[natew]

Hi

 

TDK or Taiyo Yuden (if you can find them) is what I normally recommend...

 

Have you tried installing ASPI using the ASPIINST.exe utility in the Retrospect folder? That might sort this out.

 

Thanks

Nate

[alleiGator]

I'll try ASPIINST, even though I'm wary of unknown acronyms.

 

In another thread someone suggested

that you folks consider licensing NERO's DVD handler

and I've got to say that's a good idea

 

I made a Nero BackItUp run and started with a DVD+RW,

then got a whim and followed that with a DVD+r for disk 2,

a DVD-R for disk 3, and then, just for the hell of it,

a CD-RW and then some CD-Rs to finish

and it worked without hesitation

 

It also writes to the disk and then checks the disk

before asking for the next one, something RS should do too

to avoid all that disk swapping

 

But you guys still have the best interface

since BackItUp essentially stores session files

without the overall directory that makes yours

so easy to use.

 

I did get some TDK and haven't had a failure since then

(knock on wood), so thanks again,

and hopefully this problem is solved

[natew]

Hi

 

Quote:

---

In another thread someone suggested

that you folks consider licensing NERO's DVD handler

and I've got to say that's a good idea

 

 

---

 

sigh, how I wish it were only that easy...

 

Comparing Retrospect with other burning software is comparing apples and oranges. They are different in some important areas. Specifically, Retrospect does a few things that very few (no?) other writing software does. The two biggies are:

-allow you to reliably write in multiple sessions to write once media.

-perform true multispeed burning to adjust write speeds according to the source speed.

-Use packet writing to stream data to the disc without first caching it on hard disk.

 

Most drives/computers can handle this well but some cannot. Thats when you run into trouble with Retrospect.

 

Hope that helps.

Nate