USB drive disconnected when scheduled script tried to run

[randymcdermott]

Hi group,

 

I'm using Retrospect 6.5 in XP Pro SP 2. For some reason my USB harddrive became unrecognized by windows overnight. This morning when I logged in Retrospect was up and reported that the harddrive wasn't there and asked me to select a device for the backup.

 

I disconnected and reconnected the drive and windows saw it OK but when I went back to Retrospect I couldn't figure out how to get it to back up to the same volume (G:\Retrospect\Backup Set B\1-Backup Set . It wanted to create a new volume G:\Retrospect\Backup Set B\2-Backup Set B.

 

I just canceled the script and I'm sure that it will work OK tonight but I don't like missing a daily backup of our company files.

 

How should I have managed this situation?

 

Thanks in advance,

Randy

[nekr0phage]

Hi Randy,

 

It's possible that the member for that backup set has been marked as lost. Check the member properties by going to Configure>Backup Sets>(Backup set)Properties>Members (tab) and get the properties for the member. You will see two check boxes - 'This member is lost or damaged' and 'Skip this member.' Make sure neither is checked and when the backup attempts to run it should try to append to the first member.

[randymcdermott]

Hi Foster,

 

Thanks for the response. Thursdays I swap the USB drives so I've got "Backup Set A" in now and when I check the member properties for "Backup Set B" (which is now unconnected and off-site) both 'This member is lost or damaged' and 'Skip this member' check boxes are unchecked.

 

To me that looks good and it will work when I connect that drive next thursday.

 

Should I have done what you suggest when Retrospect first said it couldn't find the drive? This has happened periodically over the last 3 or 4 years mostly when I forget to swap the drive on thursday and Retrospect squacks friday morning.

[nekr0phage]

Hi Randy,

 

Typically these boxes shouldn't become checked unless you define an additional member in the backup set. If everything in Retrospect looks okay the problem may actually be with the drive itself - or perhaps there was a failure at some point between the drive and Retrospect. You should only be prompted to add a new member for one of three reasons:

 

1. The drive is full.

2. The drive is not available.

3. Retrospect was instructed to not use the drive because one of the aforementioned boxes is checked.

 

In order to get the backup running again you should ensure none of these criteria are met, then stop the execution and run the script immediately by using the Run menu at the top of Retrospect. That should allow you to run your delayed backup to completion.