dvaughen Posted August 15, 2006 Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 I have spent two days trying to use Retrospect 6.1 to back up to DVDs. I am running 17 inch MBPro with 10.4.7, and latest firmware update. Profiler says I have a Matshita DVD-R UJ-846. It says it supports -R and -RW for both CD and DVD. When I ask Retrospect to configure the drive, however, it does nothing. Because the window says it can take from 2-200 minutes, I left it to configure all night, with no completion or change - only the message to insert the disc "if necessary." I have installed the latest Retrospect upgrade and driver. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvaughen Posted August 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 I forgot to mention that I also tried it with DVD+RW, with the same result - although on one occasion with the DVD+RW, it prepared a test DVD and said that the drive was configured to run with DVD+RW. When I tried it again, though, it did nothing for over two hours. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmseiden Posted August 16, 2006 Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 What version of Retro and RDU are installed? It would be great help to troubleshooting if you reported all the info about your installation of Retro as well as the machine and OS. Please check the EMC/Dantz web site for the latest updates. If it's of any help to you, my version of Retro is 6.1.126, and the RDU 6.1.5.102 (as listed in the info). I run a MBP 2.0 as a client, but have not used DVD as backup before. Have you checked for updates? If you are asking what an RDU is, then it's real likely that's the problem (Retrospect Driver Update). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvaughen Posted August 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 Thanks for the reply. The RDU is 6.1.6.100. The Retrospect version is 6.1.126. I managed to complete the backup by deleting the storage set and starting over. The program could not configure the internal disk drive for DVD-R. (I let it try for hours - even all night). After starting with a new back up set, using an external LaCie firewire drive, Retrospect started to back up to DVD-R, but it quit half way through the second disk. Then it reported that the drive(disk) was "incompatible." Retrospect liked the DVD+RW disk it found in the internal Matshita DVD-R UJ846 drive, however, and I was able to complete the back up on the DVD+RW disks. The only remaining problem was that Retrospect would not release the final disk while the execution report was pending. I also could not get the final disk to eject prior to beginning the verification process. I let it sleep all night, and in the morning, it released its grip on that final disk, and let the verification complete. I ran a followup back up to pick up (I hope) the data on the first disk and a half of DVD-R. I will probably do a new backup set all on DVD+RW when I have time. The speeds were anomalous, as well. On the firewire external LaCie drive, with the DVD-Rs, speeds were around 70-80 MB/s. They started at about the same speed when I switched to the internal drive with the DVD+RW, but by the time it was finishing the backup, the speeds had increased to 150 MB/s. I have no explanation for that. In sum, it seems like some further updating for use on the MB Pro is indicated. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmseiden Posted August 18, 2006 Report Share Posted August 18, 2006 If you search these forums, you may find recommendations on the type of DVD and brands that have worked for others (maybe on the same brand of drive?). I have heard of these issues between brands and formats of media. The downside of backups to DVD media is that drives're so finnicky and performance varies greatly between drives. I won't use something that's not universal between drives. So I shied away from DVD a long time ago because of this. Brands of disk make a difference too, besides the -R, the +RW, I'd recommend you try to configure and run a subset of your full backup (like a documents folder or partition) on each type (+R, -RW) as well as different brands of media within the type if can get them easily. So for instance try Sony and Matsushita, Verbatim brand media, ±R, ±RW (I know it's four discs or more to buy, but maybe you can beg some if needs be). I don't know the reason for the 'finnickyness'. And slow? Your backup speeds are not unusual from what I've heard. And check the restore speed.... So sorry I'm not a big fan of DVD nor much help to you. Just a couple ideas anyway, and my 2¢. Good luck, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanQ Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 I have not found any way to make my MacBook write to DVD-R or DVD-RW, but it writes just fine to Verbatim DVD+R. Try that next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekr0phage Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Daniel, Retrospect does not support the use of DVD- media with this drive, here is a link to the device support page: http://emcinsignia.com/supportupdates/technical/retrospect/detail/?id=9540 What you need to do is remove the custom configuration files so that Retrospect can use the supported driver for this device, then use DVD+ media with a new backup set. The custom configuration files can be found in /Library/Preferences/Retrospect and will be called device00, device01, etc. Once you begin a backup set with optical media you should always use the exact same media. Same brand, speed, and R/RW designation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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