Completely Baffled How to use a DVD-RW to Back-up

[jasper502]

I have Retrospect 6 on a Powerbook with a SuperDrive (DVD-RW compatible only).

 

I tried the 'custom' device configuration but the process seems to hang. I also tried simply creating a back-up set to the Finder mounted blank disc. Burning subsequently failed.

 

I have burned a RW disc on this machine before with iMovie so I am sure that it's not a drive issue.

 

Do I let the finder mount the blank disc or do I let it ignore the disc?

 

I am missing something obvious here.

 

Dan

[CallMeDave]

The most obvious thing you're missing is the fact that different make/models of optical drives work better/worse/not-at-all with Retrospect.

 

So the first thing you should do when using a one-way-at-a-time communication channel such as this is to provide the specific information on your hardware.

 

The best way is to use the information as Retrospect reports it:

Configure->Devices->Drive Status

will show you Retrospect's take on the drive.

 

Then compare that information with the list of supported drives on the Dantz website.

Understand that for drives that are not supported directly by Retrospect (and its most current RDU) there is no guarantee that the custom configuration routines will work.

 

You'll also find that RW disks are usually less reliable (and always slower to configure) then R disks. You suggest that you're using DVD-RW disks; you should try with DVD-R media.

 

Dave

[RonaldL]

Right, the device status information would be the first thing to check.

 

You also want to make sure that you're running the latest build of Retrospect (6.0.204) and the latest Driver Update (6.2.102). Support for a lot of the built-in drives were added with one of the more recent driver updates.

 

If you were not at the most recent versions, install them and also go into /Library/Preferences/Retrospect and remove any device##.rdi files you may have in there.