greenanr Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Hi all, I am using Retrospect 6.5 with an external USB travan tape drive. I have 5 backup tapes (one for each day) and have setup a recycle backup in retrospect. I just want it to effectively erase the tape each night/overwrite then to run daily backup. All was working fine until a couple of days ago when I noticed that the backup didn't run properly and the tape became "content unrecognized". Debugging a little, I've noticed that the tape is recognised fine when a backup completes and can restore, up until the point that the backup tries to to run. At this point the tape becomes "unrecognised" and the backup ceases to continue until the tape is erased. Restores become a problem at this point too. Once the tape has been erased, the backup runs 100% successfully and can be restored until it tries to start a new backup a week later. Making the backup operator erasing the tape each time he puts the tape in is not a very good option. The drive heads are clean, the tape drive is new and works for restores etc, the tapes are about 2 months old. Any ideas? Thanks in advance Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Hi This is a big problem. If the tapes are "content unrecognized" then you won't be able to restore from them either. During normal backups can you eject and reload the tape and have Retrospect recognize it properly? How old is your tape drive. It may be failing. Thanks nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenanr Posted September 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Hi there, Thanks for your response. The tape drive is about two months old and the tapes are the same and Certance branded. The tapes only seem to go to "content unrecognized" when it starts the backup. If I erase the tape, the backup is successful, I can put the tape back in and do a restore test. I am assuming that for a recycle backup, it fits each backup onto a tape until it gets to the end. At which time it rolls it back and starts again. I have about 2GB uncompressed to backup onto a 20/40 travan tape. I have 5 tapes. So Monday's tape should have 10 weeks worth of mondays on it until it ends and starts from the beginning. Am I right? This does not seem to be happening. If I erase Monday and start again then the backup will run fine for a while until a few weeks and then it starts giving me a "content unrecognized" status which stops it from running until the tape is erased again. I don't believe that the tape drive is faulty and the tapes are effectively brand new so I'm guessing some form of software bug. Any further ideas are greatly appreciated Cheers Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 Hi Recycle backup erases the tape then copies data. Normal backup appends data to the tape but does not erase it. If you want to keep a backup history you should be using normal backups with a recycle backup scheduled every few months or so. Please run the ASPIINST.exe file located in the Retrospect program folder. This will change the way Retrospect looks down the USB bus at your drive and may help with the content unrecognized messages. Thanks nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenanr Posted October 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 I'am happy with recycle backups, for such a small amount of data, there doesn't seem to be much point in keeping a backup history provided it is possible to retrieve the latest version should a disaster happen. I'll give that file a go. Thanks for your help Cheers Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenanr Posted October 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hi nate, Ran that file that you suggested but I am still having the same trouble. Although I can restore to my hearts content from any backup, as soon as I try to backup onto it, even with the correct day inserted, I still get "content unrecognised" and the backup hangs until I erase the tape. Furthermore this only seems to occur with three out of five tapes. I guess I'll have to change the tapes but they are really quite new and I'm sure that Certance won't take them back. :-( Cheers Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi Keep an eye on the drive. It may be failing. Thanks Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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