R8 Asks For License Code And All Catalogues Are Missing

[Guest bigworldsound]

So I started R8 up again after not having used it for 3 weeks and it had lost track of my catalogues and license code. I have never had this happen before and I find it a little scary. Upon start-up R8 needed my license code again. When I entered my code it worked again but it was a Desktop Limited Time License (expiring 11/06/13) I don't recall my license being time limited before. I had to manually find the catalogues and re-install them. I had lost all the activities and scripts but everything else seemed normal. Anyone else had this happen?

Doug

Edited May 2, 2011 by bigworldsound

[Guest Steve Maser]

It depends what you mean by "started R8 up" and "not having used it for 3 weeks" (do you mean you started the engine after it was off for 3 weeks? Or opened the console, but you assumed the engine was running?) but...

 

In older versions (and beta releases), I've had this happen.

 

What usually happens is that the engine crashes too many times in a short period of time, so the "config80.dat" file -- and the config80.bak file -- gets so corrupt, the program resets them to zero.

 

If you've been backing up the "config80.dat" file (which is recommended), then you can stop the engine, replace the file from the backup and restart the engine and you should be back to where you were when you backed up that file.

 

 

Then, you might want to keep a close eye on your backups to find out what might be causing the crashes and report things as a bug report if it's something you can reproduce.

[abb668b8-e67d-45d2-8fe4-b2a87dc2831e]

I had the same thing happen.

 

This happened after installing a security update on the xserve and restarting. I had some problems getting the server to boot again, but finally got it to log in. Retrospect asked for my license key, and started without any of my script settings, source settings, catalogs, etc.

 

We had another raid in our site go down, so I had wiped out the Raid that retrospect uses for backups to restore the raid to our retrospect raid. I didn't loose any backup data because I had already wiped it out. Now I'm getting Retrospect set up again.

 

I'm pondering backing up my retrospect settings as this can take some time to set up.

[Guest bigworldsound]

By started up I mean I opened the console. I assumed the engine was running, that's correct. I am using R 8.2.0 (399) which appears to be the latest. I didn't receive any crash or error messages....

[abb668b8-e67d-45d2-8fe4-b2a87dc2831e]

What usually happens is that the engine crashes too many times in a short period of time, so the "config80.dat" file -- and the config80.bak file -- gets so corrupt, the program resets them to zero.

 

If you've been backing up the "config80.dat" file (which is recommended), then you can stop the engine, replace the file from the backup and restart the engine and you should be back to where you were when you backed up that file.

 

I also had paused Retrospect's backups by selecting the Pause All button at the top of the console.

 

It's been paused for about 4 weeks for me, since April 1st.

 

Thanks for the information about the config80.dat file.

 

If anyone from Roxio is watching the forums, it may be a good idea for the .bak file to be backed up every day in the same folder for a certain amount of time. If the backup goes bad, then the day before may be good.

Edited May 2, 2011 by backup zen

[Guest Steve Maser]

I back up my config80.dat file to it's own media set daily. It's fairly trivial to restore that if necessary. (And I make a finder backup every time I make a major change to the file...)

[8a078463-2ece-40f8-80d9-239553a2f8c1]

 

 

If anyone from Roxio is watching the forums, it may be a good idea for the .bak file to be backed up every day in the same folder for a certain amount of time. If the backup goes bad, then the day before may be good.

 

I highly doubt they care, there has not been an update to retospect 8 since it came out.

[f30e6e60-a263-4d69-8f60-c92703669308]

there has not been an update to retospect 8 since it came out.

 

Not true.

[GMRMacBackup]

This problem is more than just 'coincidental', my system dumped it's serial number and catalogs recently as well. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening with my system, one day last week it worked, the next morning it did not.

 

In response to Andrew415, the last update was released on July 27, 2010 from the prior owners. It really depends on when you purchased the software as to whether you have had an update to install. Other than a new forum, an update to the iPhone app and a few new logos in the software I haven't seen much in the way of improvement with the actual software since the last release. I would much rather have a series of minor patches instead of a huge revision release. Even a beta release to show that something is happening and there is a reason to stick out the hoary mess we have at the moment.

 

 

System specifics:

 

• Intel Xserve (10.6.7 Server, 2 x 2.66Ghz Quad, Apple Raid card, 3 x 750GB Raid 5, 12GB RAM)
• Roxio Retrospect Single Server Unlimited 8.2.0 (399)
• Advanced Tape Support enabled
• Apple 4Ghz 4 Port FC Card (driver 2.02)
• Qlogic 5600 Fibre Channel switch x 2
• Promise 610f 32TB (Raid 5, 4GB FC controller) x 2
• HP StorageWorks 4048 LTO4 dual drive w/4GB FC controller

Edited May 17, 2011 by GMR Mac Backup