Error 205 Problems with LaCie AIT-1 Turbo Firewire Drive

[crosbygroup]

We have a file server (a blue & white G3) running Mac OS X Server 10.3.9, and have been backing up to an external Firewire hard drive using Retrospect 6.0 with no problems for well over a year.

 

Recently we added a LaCie AIT-1 Turbo drive (also Firewire), and I have yet to get a complete backup without the "Error 205" message showing up. When I also started to get an "Error -206" (dirty heads) message--for a drive that was less than three months old--I returned it to LaCie, and they replaced the drive with a new drive, new cables, etc. Unfotunately, I'm still receiving the "Error 205" message!

 

I've tested the configuration a variety of ways: switching cables & ports, turning off file sharing services, disconnecting the other firewire drive, switching the source drive from the Sonnet ATA-133 PCI card to the standard bus, all with the same result.

 

Retrospect's description of the Error 205 message refers to it as a SCSI problem, but why should that have anything to do with Firewire? The source drive is an internal ATA hard drive.

 

I've also tested the drive with Retrospect 6.0 on another computer (a mirror-drive G4), and it worked just fine, so it seems like an issue with the G3, I'm just running out of options. Any help would be appeciated.

 

Thanks.

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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I've also tested the drive with Retrospect 6.0 on another computer (a mirror-drive G4), and it worked just fine, so it seems like an issue with the G3

 

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The B&W G3s had marginal built-in FireWire hardware. Try an inexpensive PCI FireWire adapter and see if you have more success.

 

Dave

[crosbygroup]

Success! I put in a PCI FireWire card, ran the tape backup last night, and came in to work today to find that everything worked smoothly.

 

Thanks, Dave!