brad.sherman Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 I have been happily backing up to DVD-R disks for some time and all of a sudden about two weeks ago I insert my backup set's DVD-R and I am told that the media is incompatible. The device configuration dialog shows my powerbook's superdrive as having a Panasonic DVD+RW driver. I can burn DVD-Rs without problem from the finder. I assume the problem has something to do with multi-session burning. I desperately need to access my existing backup files! I suspect the problem has evolved following a superdrive firmware update but I am not sure. Has anyone else experienced this problem and found a solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 What Version of Retrospect and Retrospect Driver Update ("RDU") do you have? Current versions are Retrospect 6.1.126 and RDU 6.1.6.100. Precisely what model Panasonic SuperDrive do you have (as listed in Apple System Profiler) ? Quote: I suspect the problem has evolved following a superdrive firmware update but I am not sure. The recent SuperDrive Firmware Update (2.0) was for the Matsushita UJ-835. russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad.sherman Posted July 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 Retrospect 6.1.126 Retrospect Driver Update 6.1.6.100 MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E: Firmware Revision: GAND Interconnect: ATAPI Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported) Cache: 2048 KB Reads DVD: Yes CD-Write: -R, -RW DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO Media: No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 6, 2006 Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 I'll have to admit that I am confused here. Your original post seemed to say that you had a Panasonic drive: Quote: The device configuration dialog shows my powerbook's superdrive as having a Panasonic DVD+RW driver. But now you seem to indicate that you've got a Matsushita UJ-835, which was the subject of the recent SuperDrive firmware update (which was unrelated to the Mac OS 10.4.6/7 update). Don't know if there is a way for you to roll back the SuperDrive firmware update, but that would seem to be the thing to try if it was working before you applied the update. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad.sherman Posted July 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 I was confused by this too until someone pointed out that Panasonic and Matsushita are the same company. The Retrospect 'Device Status' dialog shows ATAPI-A:0:0 MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E GAND Panasonic DVD+RW (5.12) Go figure. I agree that I probably need to remove the Superdrive Firmware update, but I wonder how that would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggoboy Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I just registered so that I could start a thread, but then I saw this post which is exactly what I was going to say. I also have a PBG4, saw Apple's SuperDrive Firmware Update v2.0 and applied it. After that, I believe, Retrospect (Desktop 6.1.126) started failing the nightly backup to DVD-R media which has worked for some time. I went through the process of using Retrospect's tool to reconfigure my device and it all seemed successful and sometimes appears to work. But then sometimes it returns the dreadful "Incompatible" problem. I've tried saying that the medium is "unavailable" so that Desktop will try to "recover" without forcing me to start a new backup set from scratch (I have 17 DVDs in the set). Sometimes that seems to work, but the Incompatible problem keeps coming back. I just checked the firmware from Apple, and it does NOT appear to have an uninstall option. Am I totally screwed now? Can anyone suggest anything? Is it an Apple problem or a Retrospect problem? Thanks, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad.sherman Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I conceded defeat on the DVD-R and just created a new backup using DVD+R media which works fine. Somewhere along the line I followed a link either to an Apple or a EMC post (can't remember which) that clearly stated DVD-R media was not supported. That's when I threw in the towel. Perhaps it is possible to use Disk Utility to create images of your backup set and then burn them to DVD+R? Sorry for the bad news, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggoboy Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Thanks for the info. But that's a major concession. And iDVD seems to burn fine to my DVD-Rs, suggesting that the problem lies with Retrospect. Also, below is what ASP shows, indicating that DVD-R is supported... Dave _______ MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E: Firmware Revision: GAND Interconnect: ATAPI Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported) Cache: 2048 KB Reads DVD: Yes CD-Write: -R, -RW DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO Media: No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad.sherman Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Yeah, I know. I went through exactly the same thought process as you're going through now. The Finder works so why not Retrospect. You have to bear in mind that Retrospect is using its own driver to perform multi-session writes to the DVD. The Finder doesn't support multi-session burns, so there is a significant difference between the two uses of the Superdrive. Cheers, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Hi Guys, Brad is right, Retrospect uses a packet writing method to increase the multisession capability of optical media. Most other applications will use track-at-once or disc-at-once writing methods. DVD-R/RW media is not supported for use with Retrospect and this drive. Here is a link to the device support page: http://emcinsignia.com/supportupdates/technical/retrospect/detail/?id=9435 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggoboy Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 Foster and Brad, Thanks for the informed feedback. I guess I'll just restart my backup set using DVD+R (and buy a whole new spindle of media) and I should be golden? The question still haunts me as to why it's worked for so long and then stopped, apparently with SD FW 2.0? And another question is, when I "auto configured" my drive by doing Retrospect's built-in read/write test, why did it say that it succeeded and was ready to use (with DVD-R)? If nothing else, that seems like inconsistency within Retrospect... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 Dave, When you switch back to the other media be sure to remove the custom driver files created with custom configuration. You can find these in /Library/Preferences/Retrospect/deviceXX.rdi. Delete any "deviceXX.rdi" files. I can't say why it stopped working without notice. But I do agree that succesful configuration can be misleading. While the tests performed by Retrospect in order to configure a drive may have completed, they may have only been marginally succesful so that extended operations with these drivers reveal their weakness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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