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Puzzling ”Catalog is locked” error


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Dantz Retrospect 6.1.126 has worked well for about 10 backups, saving my primary internal hard drive to an external firewire drive. For the past week, however, when I try to run the same backup routine, I get a ”Catalog is locked” error. What makes this puzzling is that neither my catalog nor my data file are locked.

 

I’ve run Disk Utility several times on the Maxtor external hard drive and it says everything is AOK without errors. There is plenty of space left on this external drive (~95G, and each b/u takes only about 2 GB). Disk Utility and DiskWarrior say that my primary internal hard drive is fine. I’m running OS 10.4.3 on a G4 867 MHz. I don’t think anything major has changed on my system in terms of new software or hardware (I do run Version Tracker so have updated several programs in the interval, but no new major system software). It’s a bit hard to troubleshoot this, since Retrospect always takes about an hour or 90 minutes to “decide” that the catalog file is locked.

 

I rebuilt my catalog from scratch (over 15 hours) and got one good backup accomplished but the “catalog is locked” error came back after that one success. I used Retrospect (an earlier version) on the same computer, but with an older Mac OS X system and a different external drive several years ago until I got these same errors that no one could help me with. I decided to try again now with the new software and was hopeful with the 10 successes, but now it looks like we’re back in the same old pickle.

 

Can anyone suggest how I can get this error to go away and stay away? Any suggestions as to how to get Retrospect back up running again would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

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Quote:

when I try to run the same backup routine, I get a ”Catalog is locked” error

 


 

Although you provide minimal specific information on exactly what you're doing, I see from this thread from about a year ago that you were _not_ auto-launching the program, but were doing immediate backups.

 

But you stopped participating in that thread, and left unanswered some of the questions posed to you by NateW from Dantz tech support.

 

- Does your Operations Log show anything unusual during the time that you get the error?

- How are you launching Retrospect? (double click on Dock icon of Application, double clicking on Catalog document, etc)

- Can you perform any other operations (such as a backup of a small data set to a File Backup Set, or a small data set to another Tape Backup Set) during the same launch of the program?

 

And, as NateW asked:

- Doe it behave any differently if you log into the Aqua finder as root?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for checking in. It takes a while to sort this out since it is, at a minimum, over an hour to run a trial backup (it takes that long to go through the harddrive before beginning to write to the backup). I finally got a full weekend where no one else at home needed the computer and could attempt some systematic trials.

 

Regarding your questions above:

Nothing unusual in the Operations Log

I've tried launching Retrospect three ways:

1) Launching the application by double clicking, then navigating to immediate backup

2) Double clicking the large File Backup Set Data and navigating to immediate backup from there

3) Double clicking the catalog file; this latter seems to cause the most "locked" errors, but it will still occasionally work (vide infra)

 

The tough and frustrating thing about this process is that it is not consistent, and I can't figure what is changing. This weekend for two days I did nothing else on the computer other than try and find the Retrospect bug, so I can't blame the problem on some "corruption" by another program being used at the same time.

 

So sorry, but I'm not sure how to answer the question posed by Nate about logging into the Aqua finder as root since I don't understand what this means.

 

Here are the results of two days trials trying to find a pattern to the issue. Also, since I thot that some process on the external HD might be interefering, also included in some of these trials are the results of the "sudo lsof | grep " command.

 

Again, thanks for any advice or suggestions.

 

***

 

Trial #1 Started via Retrospect directly ~0900

1:18 to scan

1:49 to copy

0:32 to verify

 

**********

 

Trial #2 Started via database (not catalog) at 8:12:46 PM

1:08 to scan

0:16 copy

0:02 verify

 

**********

 

Trial #3 Started via catalog at 9:50:40 PM

1:08 to scan

Locked!

 

**********

 

Trial #4 Started via Retrospect directly 6:50:44 AM

1:09 to scan

 

Locked!

 

**********

 

Trial #5 Started via Retrospect directly after a restart at 10:56:21 AM

sudo lsof | grep

coreservi 82 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 82 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 178 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 178 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 178 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 217 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12885 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

 

0:54 to scan

0:27 to copy

0:01 to verify

 

**********

 

Trial #6 Started via database (not catalog) at 1:53:03 PM

1:11 to scan

 

Locked!

sudo lsof | grep

coreservi 82 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 82 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 178 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 178 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 178 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 217 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12885 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

RetroRun 2412 root 25u VREG 14,22 221922652 11347 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Main Backup/Maxtor_BU09.cat

 

 

**********

 

Trial #7 Started via database (not catalog) at 4:33:26 PM

Restarted first from previous locked run

sudo lsof | grep

coreservi 79 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 79 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 175 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 175 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 175 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 214 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12886 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

 

1:20 to scan

0:14 to copy

0:01 to compare

 

sudo lsof | grep at end

coreservi 79 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 79 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 175 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 175 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 175 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 214 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12886 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

 

 

**********

 

Trial #8 Started via catalog (without restart) at 6:47:11 PM

sudo lsof | grep at start

coreservi 79 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 79 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 175 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 175 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 175 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 214 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12886 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

 

0:58 to scan

0:16 to copy

0:01 to verify

 

sudo lsof | grep at end

coreservi 79 root 10u VREG 14,22 5632 54 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DB

coreservi 79 root 11u VREG 14,22 38082 55 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Desktop DF

mds 175 root 16u VREG 14,22 151552 12860 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/store.db

mds 175 root 17u VREG 14,22 151552 12861 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.store.db

mds 175 root 18u VREG 14,22 0 12862 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Spotlight-V100/.journalHistoryLog

Finder 214 username 14r VDIR 14,22 68 12886 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/.Trashes/501

RetroRun 2128 root 25r VREG 14,22 222018516 11347 /Volumes/Maxtor_BU09/Main Backup/Maxtor_BU09.cat

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  • 4 months later...

I'm having a similar problem.

OS 10.3.9

Back-up to external Firewire Drive

Initial back-up no problem

Incremental back-up I get the following message:

Can't add to backup set Backup Set AA: The catalog is locked.

 

Launched by double clicking catalog set.

 

Driver Version: 6.0.204 (PS: tried to install latest 6.1 drive, but a get a too new message)

 

Thanks.

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  • 2 months later...

I ran into this also on certain catalog sets on a given volume, but not all. External volumes are by default created with 'Ignore permissions on volume' set - no ownership permissions are enforced. I unchecked that (i.e. enforce permissions on the volume - which is what you should want anyway), and reset the correct owner:group on the catalog sets and all is working now. You'd think that 'Ignore permissions on volume' would be the least restrictive permissions, but apparently Retrospect looks at the specific ownership/permissions even if the OS doesn't care about permissions on that volume.

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Quote:

apparently Retrospect looks at the specific ownership/permissions even if the OS doesn't care about permissions on that volume

 


 

I don't think so.

 

But if you could come up with steps to reproduce the issue, it would be very interesting to read and try.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm having the same problem. I created a backup set in Dec. '05, which I added to monthly. Then in July, I opened the application by double clicking on the app icon, which brought up my main screen. I selected "immediate backup", which brought up the last backup set. I clicked 'backup' and received the "Catalog is Locked" error.

 

After some research, I believe I had 2 options - to rebuild the catalog from the backup set, or to start a new one. It is my understanding that it is wise to have 2 backup sets anyway, I spent 6 hours creating a new backup set on DVD.

 

2 days later, my mac is running slow and I plan on taking it in for maintainence...backing up my data first. I opened the app by double clicking the app icon, clicked 'immediate backup' then 'backup' only to receive the "locked" error message on my new backup set, only 2 days old. Very frustrating.

 

Help please!!

 

details:

 

15" powerbook G4

1.25Ghz

OSX.3.8

retrospect 6.0.183

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