4.3 doesn´t recognize media

[jocke_bohlin]

Hello

 

 

 

My Retrospect Workgroup 4.3 doesn´t recognize my media. I use an HP Surestore Ultrium 215. When I push the tape in Retrospect thinks the last tape is still in. I hit Eject and then push the tape back in for the second time. Now retrospect recognizes the tape and the backup works just fine. Why is this?

 

 

 

I have the file "Retrospect 4.3 Driver Update" (version 2.5.101) and "Advanced Driver Kit" (version 2.0.104) in my Retrospect folder.

 

 

 

I run Mac OS 9.2.2 on a B&W G3 400.

 

 

 

Any ideas???

 

/Jocke

[Guest]

The RDU and the ADK con conflict, so if your drive needs the ADK, remove the RDU.

 

 

 

Retrospect gets the name of the tape from the drive, so if the drive is not updating this information to Retrospect, Retrospect can't report it properly.

[clutch]

Hi Irena,

 

I have the same problem on my G4 400 OS9.2.2 with Retrospect 4.3 and using AIT2 tapes.

 

I have the ADK in my retrospect folder but no RDU.

 

Yesterday I did a backup to what the configure->devices window said was a tape from one storage set but was actually a tape from another.

 

Now I can't access any of the data on the tape - neither the data that was originally on the tape or the data which was meant to go to another set.

 

When I put the tape in now it says content unrecognised and I'm unable to do anything with it.

 

The data which should be on there is vital and does not exist anywhere else.

 

Is there any way I can retrieve any of this information?

 

I really need to be able to separate the information into their correct sets again.

 

Help please!!!

[AmyJ]

I understand you are experiencing a problem with content unrecognized error messages.

 

 

 

This error message is basically a hardware error being reported by your tape drive. When you go to Configure>Devices and insert a tape, Retrospect waits of the tape drive to report the name of the tape.

 

 

 

When content unrecognized is reported, this means that your tape drive has read the header of the tape and is now reporting to you that the header does not contain readable data. Although your tape contains data, it is not readable Retrospect data.

 

 

 

This could be caused by several things.

 

 

 

1) Dirty tape heads

 

2) Bad or damaged tape

 

3) Tape created in a compression drive trying to be read by an incompatible non-compression tape drive

 

4) Tape written on a tape drive with heads out of alignment.

 

5) Failing read heads or failing tape drive.

 

 

 

If a tape is created in an older or failing tape drive, then the tapes are often not readable by a new tape drive. This is usually caused by head alignment problem or by drive compatibility between the old and new drives.

 

 

 

If a tape was recently created in a tape drive and now that same tape drive is unable to read the tape, then this could have a few causes:

 

 

 

1) Dirty tape heads

 

2) Flaky tape heads that are not reading data correctly

 

3) Tape damage during storage (Electromagnetic fields of some kind), environmental conditions.

 

4) Physical damage to the tape

 

 

 

Troubleshooting:

 

 

 

1) At the time of the backup was verification turned on? If yes and no errors took place, then this means at the time of the backup your tape was readable and something has changed to make the tape unreadable.

 

 

 

Try the following test:

 

 

 

Do a backup of 200 or more megs of data with verification turned on. Eject the tape. Turn off the computer and tape drive. Turn it all back on. Launch Retrospect. Go to onfigure>Devices and insert the tape. If the tape reports content unrecognized, then you have a major hardware problem and should have your tape drive serviced.

 

 

 

2) Clean the tape heads

 

 

 

3) Try the tape in an additional tape drive. If the tape is readable by other tape drives then this indicates your original tape drive has heads that are currently out of alignment or failing. The hardware would need to be serviced

 

 

 

4) If the tape is only readable by the original tape drive and no other tape drives, then this indicates that the tape was written when the heads were aligned in a very specific and non-standard position. In this cause the tape drive would need to be serviced. Before having the drive serviced you may want to copy the data from a tape in the old drive to a new tape in a new tape drive.

 

 

 

5) If no tape drives can read the tapes, then this means you would need to contact a Data recovery service.

 

 

 

It is not possible for Retrospect to put two backup sets on a tape. If you overwrite an existing backup set tape with a new backup, the original data is unrecoverable, as the tape would have been erased prior to use.

[clutch]

Thanks, I'll try that.