Retrospect can no longer access catalog

[sciascia1]

Hi There,

I've been running this setup for many years but all of a sudden, Retrospect no longer has access to the catalog file. Because I have a laptop with limited space, the catalog lives on an external disk and the .rbc file is 64GB.

When I click 'Locate' I can only navigate to the enclosing folder, I can't go into the folder to select the catalog. I've tried running First Aid from Disk Utility and I can obviously access the disk in the Finder but Retrospect can't go into the directory for some reason.

Are there permissions I should check or is there some way to give Retrospect access?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers, Ben

• Retrospect 19.2
• MacOS 13.5

[sciascia1]

Retrospect seems to have access to the containing folder, as it can see it from the 'Repair' screen (attached) but if I click 'Next' no member gets added to the list, and nothing happens when I click the repair button. Unless I'm misunderstanding how that screen works.

I've also checked that Retrospect has 'Full Disk Access' which it does (see attached).

And if I right-click the catalogue and choose 'Open with' MacOS recognises the .rbc file as a Retrospect file. But If I try to open the .rbc file, Retrospect hangs every time (also attached).

Does anyone know how to fix? I'm happy to run some Terminal commands if that's easier?

Cheers, Ben

Edited December 13, 2023 by sciascia1
Added full disk access and force quit screenshots.

[sciascia1]

Have also tried turning-off permissions by ticking 'Ignore ownership' but still no joy.

I also tried just adding a new member but see a -1101 error, even with 'Ignore ownership' on.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or how to fix?

[MikeHutch]

Thanks for the extensive list of actions you've done, that helps rule out a few things.

The basic problem you have, is the catalog file, more over, its location could cause problems (see 1st screen shot). I don't think putting the catalog file in the Retrospect backup folder is a good idea, this an area where Retrospect app has full control over. I'd move the file out of that main folder, and create a new folder on the root of the drive, then move the catalog file into that folder.

Obviously you'll have to tell Retrospect its new location. This should solve that issue.

The other issue, is that the catalog file may be damaged, in which case you'll have to repair or rebuild it.

Also, question: Is the catalog file compressed - see; Media Sets / [catalog selected] / Options? This should reduce the size of it considerably.

[sciascia1]

@MikeHutch Awesome, thanks for that Mike - much appreciated.

Moving the .rbc file to the top-level of the drive and re-locating it in Retrospect has fixed the issue. Retrospect can see the catalog and a backup ran without issue.

Regarding compression, I've always avoided compression as it feels like it introduces a potential point of failure or corruption? Is that fair or is it incredibly rare in 2023?

One last thing I've noticed, Retrospect will never use the final 300GB or so of the backup disk. The member is set to use 100% for Retrospect (see attached) but I have to recycle the media set at around 6.6TB instead of 7TB (also attached).

Can you see what I'm doing wrong?

Cheers, Ben

[MikeHutch]

It's rare to have corruption with compressed catalogs - from my 10 years of experience with Retrospect. So I'd say you're pretty safe! Even if the file does go wrong, you can rebuild it no problem - it just takes a bit of time, depending on number of files you've backed up.

Regarding the max usage of the drive, just up the amount by 100-200GB in the 'Use at most' box, eg 7353, while leaving room for other files you may want to put on the drive. See if that makes a difference - I believe the app calculates disk space a little differently than straight forward Gigabytes.

[sciascia1]

Just a quick follow-up on this. Not sure if Apple or Retrospect have changed the way external disks are referenced, but each time I reconnect the external disk, I have to re-locate the .rbc file or the backup will fail.

If anyone knows how to fix this, I'm all ears!