Waiting for media timed out?!

[sjmills]

Every 2 months, my backups switch to a new backup set as part of the schedule. I use file backup sets. Since "upgrading" to 15.0.0, the wait for media step now times out and fails instead of letting the user choose a new backup set when they get around to it. That's really lame.

Also, look how long it took to find the files; over 5.5 hours. It never took that long before.

+  Normal backup using Tube Script at 2018/05/06, 20:00:00 (Activity Thread 1)
    2018/05/06 20:00:02: Finished scanning backup set data files
    To Backup Set Tube [009]...
    2018/05/06 20:00:00: Use new Backup Set: Replaced with Tube [010]
    -  2018/05/06 20:00:00: Copying TubeDrive
    2018/05/07 03:35:07: Found: 3436579 files, 770796 folders, 759 GB
    2018/05/07 03:35:21: Finished matching
    2018/05/07 03:41:23: Copying: 3280991 files (694.9 GB) and 10324 hard links
    Media request for "1-Tube [010]" timed out after waiting .
    [*] ArcDisk::arcExportSessionFile: unexpected value of ArcCatalog::m_lastvol 0; can not write session file
    2018/05/07 04:01:30: Execution incomplete
    Remaining: 3,280,991 files, 694.9 GB
    Completed: 0 files, 0 B
    Performance: 0 MB/minute
    Duration: 08:01:29 (08:01:15 idle/loading/preparing)

Here's the previous full new-media backup from the previous version of Retrospect:

+  Normal backup using Tube Script at 2018/03/04, 22:00:01
    2018/03/04 22:00:01: Finished scanning backup set data files
    To Backup Set Tube [008]...
    2018/03/04 22:00:01: Use new Backup Set: Replaced with Tube [009]
    -  2018/03/04 22:00:01: Copying TubeDrive
    2018/03/05 00:38:24: Found: 3383778 files, 750859 folders, 733.6 GB
    2018/03/05 00:38:37: Finished matching

Only just over 2.5 hours. With version 15, a 2nd backup started at 23:00, but it only lasted a few minutes, so that wasn't what caused 15 to be more than twice as slow.

[DavidHertzberg]

sjmills,

Here is why and how to file a Support Case for a bug.  You don't say what your "previous version" of Retrospect was; you definitely will have to say in the Support Case, and IMHO you should get in the habit of naming all versions of Retrospect you are referring to in Forums posts.

I was wondering why you are still using File Media Sets (if you are still referring to them as Backup Sets, your "previous version" must be Retrospect Mac 6—unless you are converting yourself or your installation from Retrospect Windows). Trying to figure out what your "previous version" was from your past posts, I found this post you made in October 2016. Someone should have responded to that post by telling you that members of Disk Media Sets must be created within a folder with the name of the Media Set, and that folder must be within a folder named "Retrospect" (without the quotes).  Now that you know, you can at last switch to using Disk Media Sets, and avoid trouble from using the long-obsolete File Media Sets.

 

[sjmills]

I always have the latest version, so the last version was whatever came before 15.0.0.

And I was wrong about using file media sets. I'd used them for so many years that I forgot that disk media sets are now the way to go, and that's what I've been using since, I dunno, whenever they appeared and replaced files.

After Retrospect tried to backup again, I noticed that there was a new media set "Tube [010]" for this backup in the Media Sets, but it had an empty circle instead of the normal green checkmarked icon, and there was no trace of it on the disk. It's like Retrospect tried to create the set, but failed to add a member to it or even create any part of the file/folder structure.

[DavidHertzberg]

Page 30 of the Retrospect Mac 15 User's Guide says:"Start new Media Set tells Retrospect to create a new destination Media Set (with a name similar to the old one) of the chosen type. Depending on the type of Media Set, Retrospect will use a new or erased disk or tape. For Disk Media Sets, Retrospect will create a new folder on the disk, and backed-up data will be written as a series of 600 MB backup files inside that folder."

I've never used the Start New Media Set media action.  However my understanding of the above passage means that you need to have had an erased disk mounted for the member to be stored on.  Am I wrong in my understanding, or did you fail to do that?

I have no idea why it took over 7 hours to get from "Copying TubeDrive" to "Found ...", as opposed to 2.5 hours in your previous run.

 

[sjmills]

No, it doesn't have to be erased. Like I said, the previous version properly prompted the user via email when it was to start a new media set. The user would then come to Retrospect, select the current task in the Activities pane, and click the Choose Media (I believe it's called) button down in the Summary pane. Now with 15 it seems like Retrospect is trying to do that on its own, but failing.

[DavidHertzberg]

sjmills,

The cumulative Release Notes for Retrospect Mac 15 say "Fixed issue with media request timeout setting not taking effect (#7070)".

Pages 155-156 of the Retrospect Mac 15 User's Guide say "Media request timeout: n minutes sets the amount of time that Retrospect will wait for media to become available during execution. For example, if you’re using a tape autoloader, it may take several minutes for the device to find and load a particular tape in the Media Set. This preference is off by default, so media requests never time out."

[DavidHertzberg]

sjmills,

How about Send e-mail for failure and media requests, an e-mail preference on page 159 of the Retrospect Mc 15 User's Guide?  Is that checked, with valid addresses in the From address and To address(es) fields?

[sjmills]

It was the media request timeout pref. My guess is that it was always on (not sure when or how it got turned on) and set to 20 minutes, but it never worked before 15, so it wasn't causing a problem.

All the email prefs are on and working, except it did not send a waiting for media email.

I've been in contact with tech support and have reported that problem.