goeltz Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I hate subject lines that are not descriptive. But, my RE HD doesn't backup (more than once) and it doesn't restore. So, it is accurate to say, it doesn't work. As a mater of fact, this is the worst commercial software experience I've had in a long time. I rue the day I decided to by a Maxtor OneTouch II. What a waste of time. (My OneTouch (no II, no HD) works great.) Symptoms: After one backup, scheduled backup fails. Also, all other RE HD functions hang. The first, backup log looks good. Restore hangs; shows Scanning Local Disk...' Drive itself is fine and all othe drive functions work fine. Usually I can get another backup by rebooting. That doesn't help with restore. Too bad, I just damaged a file and I'm SOL. I've spent time in the forums but no joy. It seems there are a large number of reported problems with RE HD and not solutions. While trying to figure the product line, I found this post... ------- Re: Retrospect Versions, 11/10/04... [RE HD not in the product list...] It is the latter. This is brand spanking new. Its actually a new product all together so it doesn't fit on the current list. Dantz will release updates and patches as needed. ------- Yeah, it's brand spanking me! I'm open to suggestions but I'm reluctant at this time to send Dantz more money. Actually, I need to bail real soon, so suggestions on how to best bail out (e.g., buy this) would be welcome. BTW, frustrations aside, this *is* a nice forum. Thanks... Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videocheez Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 I think by now they know that Retrospect Express HD is a piece of garbage. They didn't even respond to my message from a few days ago. Fortunately, as I read through some of the previous posts that "If you cant get Retrospect Express HD to work then try Retropect 6.0 which happens to be on the Same CD that comes with the OneTouch 2. " I was able to sucessfully back-up last night using the older Restropect 6.0 software. Shame on Maxtor for shipping software that doesn't work. I would have been happier to simply buy the OneTouch2 disk, without the Dantz software and save a few bucks instead of wasting several hours trying to get it working. I even got disk errors on my main hardrive after installing Retrospect Express HD. If you're smart and you are reading these posts prior to installing the new software be smart and save your self some time and misery. Hopefully these guys at Dantz will take care of business and fix this problem soon before everyone out there in retail land hear about this problematic piece of software. I'm sure Maxtor is even more upset than I am. It's their reputation on the line. http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/images/icons/frown.gif frown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goeltz Posted February 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 > Retropect 6.0 which happens to be on the Same CD Well, a tip of the hat to videocheez. That was a well-kept secret. That also answers my first post: Backup Multiple Computers With Express HD? http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=Windows&Number=48551&fpart=&PHPSESSID= > Shame on Maxtor for shipping software that doesn't work. Yesterday, I also sent a note to Maxtor. I don't expert to hear back (oh, we're so sorry, your gift is in the mail XP Backup has more features than I've seen before. Next, I'll learn about that. Another tip to Dantz if they are reading. For Express HD, do not assume that every user is a DA that needs 100% automation and no information on what the software can and cannot do and how it works. When you dumb it down and don't document it, it becomes very time consuming and frustrating for experienced users (e.g., experienced as in other Dantz products). Thanks again videocheez -- goodbye RE HD. ... Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Hi Quote: Another tip to Dantz if they are reading. For Express HD, do not assume that every user is a DA that needs 100% automation and no information on what the software can and cannot do and how it works. When you dumb it down and don't document it, it becomes very time consuming and frustrating for experienced users (e.g., experienced as in other Dantz products). We don't make that assumption. Thats why 6.0 is on the install disk for advanced users like yourself. There are however many users who are very inexperienced and appreciate the ease of use that Retrospect HD provides. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herbtyson Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 I'm having the same problem, more or less. It gets stuck when trying to restore saying "Scanning local drive (c:)". Hence, it's useless for unattended daily backups. It worked great for three months, then stopped. I went through multiple rounds with Maxtor, who then told me to try Retrospect 6. Well... it works, but doesn't back up open files. This makes is useless for full disaster recovery. Given how bad Retrospect Express HD is, and how confusing Retrospect 6 is, I'm not exactly eager to "upgrade" to a version that *will* back up open files. After all, before I bought the OneTouch II, I read the specs, and it said the included software would do this. And... three months down the road, it arbitrarily stops working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Hi It sounds like the settings files may have become corrupt. Close the Retrospect taskbar icon and move (not copy) the following folder to another location on disk: C:\documents and settings\All users\application data (hidden)\Retrospect Then reboot the machine and launch Retrospect Express again. You will have to run the setup again but it will recognize your past backups and pick up from there. FWIW open file backup is not required for a full system recovery. Retrospect can get the critical system files without it. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsupple Posted April 5, 2005 Report Share Posted April 5, 2005 I would like to add my frustration to this thread: Having just purchased a Maxtor One Touch II drive a week ago, I set it up without a problem. It was humming along backing up normally according to my schedule until today, when it exceeded the drive's storage space for the first time. The software did not delete the oldest restore point, as promised. Instead it left me with an error stating that the drive was out of space. This minor annoyance is far outweighed by a problem that came along with it however: despite saying on the main page that there are 26 restore points available, when I attempt to do a restore, the restore point list is completely blank. I tried removing the settings folder as described above, with no effect. The drive still functions fine, and all of the RE files are present and apparently intact, but RE HD can not read them. This is very concerning. I'll be switching to RE v. 6.0, and hoping that that works better for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimhannon Posted April 9, 2005 Report Share Posted April 9, 2005 I also just purchased a Maxtor OneTouch II. I was wondering if I could use any version (RE v7) for this backup drive instead of the Express version that came with it? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pclough Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 I had exactly the same experience as qsupple (4/05/05). HD did not delete old restore points and recover space when disk ran out of space. Furthermore, when I tried deleting restore points following documentation, it would delete on screen but not on disk and recovered no space. After a number of actions and calls to Maxtor, who were responsive but not helpful, I wound up reformatting the Maxtor drive and starting over. That didn't do the trick either, so I removed all sw related to HD and Maxtor drive, reformatted again, and this time everything seemed fine. Except backups were happening sometimes and not others. The hangs would occur, and I would often have to kill the program through task manager. A couple of nights ago I tried procedure in Nate's post of 3/31/05. That seems to have done the trick. Everything is now operating normally and some other strange behaviours (system would not go into standby or hibernate) have stopped and things back to normal. THAT LEAVES ONE MAJOR CONCERN: what happens when disk runs out of space again? Is the automatic recycling of space going to work? Is there a fix for the problem we're experiencing? It is troubling to buy a backup device which has SW problems; you wonder whether those problems will be manifest when recovery is needed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hookey Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 Hi! You are al lucky fellows - I do not even get the thing to install.... When I have installed it all according to the book, it just say: Welcome to Retrospective....... Updating status.... 0 restore points available.... And there it sits! I have installed three times now.. and the result is the same.... Any suggestions? From what I read in the forum, one can imagine this product is not sort of... very stabile.... /Hakan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewA Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 Hi, Hakan If your are getting the updating status message more than likely if you have a firewall installed its blocking retrospect. Go to this link and type in 7927 in the search field and select the option Specified Article ID Number and this should help you out with that problem http://kb.dantz.com/display/2n/index.asp?tab=browse&r=0.0510174 Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyb Posted May 27, 2005 Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 I too have struggled with Retrospect Express HD. It worked great for a long time and then stopped working. When I tried to restore, I would get "scanning C: drive" and it never showed the contents of the C: drive. However...... this software saved my life when it was working. My hard drive crashed. I installed XP SP2 to a new drive, installed Express HD and then restored my C: drive. It completely rebuilt the hard drive files, registry and all to its original state before the crash. Now I have it working normal again. NateW's post advising "It sounds like the settings files may have become corrupt. Close the Retrospect taskbar icon and move (not copy) the following folder to another location on disk: C:\documents and settings\All users\application data (hidden)\Retrospect" is right on. I did this and everything is working again. The software may be frustrating to use but it is effective if you can get it working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David777 Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Hello Hookey. A solution to your problem as well as many other is to update to the newest version of Exp HD which can be downloaded from this link. http://kb.dantz.com/article.asp?article=8153&p=2 Make sure that you completely exit retrospect by right clicking on the red square in the systray and selecting exit before installing the exp HD 1.1 update. Thanks, RetroRespect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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