banjojr Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Sorry if this is a very basic question, but can't seem to make sense of it from the Manual. It's a work Mac, so THINK it's on v6...can't verify for this post. have 2 External Firewires which are pretty much full. Haven't backed up for some weeks, but now have time to try and rectify things. Want to erase both drives and start afresh by reinstituting incremental backup. Can get all set up with source/destination thing, but how do I make sure the fresh backup is writing to an erased drive? Is this the "recycle" thing? Also, seem to recall that there is a restriction on naming Backup sets in which the name of the drive is provided by Retrospect. i.e. you can't just randomly name the destination drive. Hope this isn't too basic a question. All was working well until the drives filled up, then got "too busy" to start again. Don't want to go down that road again. We're a prepress and have just archived a whole lot of data onot DVD, so now's a good time. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 To reuse the media of a backup set, you can either schedule a recycle backup; or you can go to Configure> Backup Sets and, for the backup set in question, select Options> Media Action to manually recycle the media. Do the two FW drives each have a different backup set on them? If so, you may want to delay recycling one of them so that you don't lose all your current backup data. Having redundant backups is a good strategy, should one of the media members become unreadable. What type of backup sets are you using? If they are file backup sets, you may rename the destination volume at will, as well as store other files on the same volume. If, on the other hand, you're using the FW drives as removable disks, the volume has to have the same name as the backup set member, which will be of the form 1-[name of your backup set] [version number of your backup set], etc., and must be exclusively dedicated to that backup set. Unless you need your backups to span multiple volumes, a file backup set is generally the better choice for a FW hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Someone else, (since gone), set it up for me, so now it's time to grapple with this.Thanks for your steer on it; I see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. First clarification...when you go Media Action, will this erase, or write over the drive selected? In regard to your question about backup set type; pretty sure they are being used as "removable", but would rather swap to "file" backup by the sound of it. We regularly offload jobs onto DVD for archive, it's just that we want to be covered for more current stuff only. I remember when it was set up by the other person, the sets were being named 1-Backup Set A...etc., and had to be careful to leave the name unchanged, hence my assumption it's in "removable" mode. What I want to do, I think, is do file backups, (don't mind if it's uncompressed-but what's the time factor uncompressing...Dual 1.8 G5, plenty of RAM)?...Then, when the 1st of the 2 FWs is full, start writing to the 2nd one, then, just write over/erase drive 1 when drive 2 is full. That's all we need, I think. Any extra info you think I might need to do this would be welcome, but what you have given me is a great start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Knew I'd left something out...am not concerned about ANY of the data on the FWs at the moment...it's a bit (ahem) old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted October 16, 2006 Report Share Posted October 16, 2006 Since you're basically wanting to start over, I'd just drag the two data files from the FW drives to the trash, as well as the two associated catalogue files, which will be on a different drive, wherever your predecessor stored them. (The catalogue files will have the same name as the data files without the numerical prefix and suffix.) You could then rename your FW volumes to whatever you want. Then go to Configure> Backup Sets and create two new File Backup Sets, assigning each to your desired FW volume. Then go to Automate> Scripts and edit your scripts, adding the new backup sets as destinations, but not yet deleting the old destinations. This will allow you to modify the schedule for each backup "scheduler" by selecting the appropriate new backup set from the drop-down menu. (If you delete the old destinations first, the associated schedulers will disappear and you'll have to recreate them.) Finally, go back to Configure> Backup Sets and forget the two old backup sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Thanks twickland. Shall attempt this Friday (late~quiet time). Have copied and pasted these answers to my Homer Simpson (Help!) folder. Your replies are invaluable. It's all about getting used to what Retro's trying to do and how, I guess. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Nearly there, but stumbling on a basic thing. Was all set to go, as you outlined above. This morning, message as below... - 19/10/2006 9:00:21 PM: Copying Paul's HD… Can't save Snapshot in Backup Set A2, error -34 (volume full). Not enough disk space for the catalog. About 63.5 M more required. 19/10/2006 9:05:36 PM: Execution incomplete. Remaining: 243656 files, 83.3 GB Completed: 0 files, zero KB Performance: 0.0 MB/minute Duration: 00:05:15 (00:05:09 idle/loading/preparing) My FW shows 232 GB, capacity; 4.7 MB. available. Internal HDD (source), 149 GB. data for backup. I've trashed the data files; not sure why this is not freeing up the FW for backup. Suspect I need to erase drive in some way. What is the safe way to do this? My knowledge has some weird gaps on these things. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Quote: My FW shows 232 GB, capacity; 4.7 MB. available. I assume you got this with a Get Info in Finder. There should have also been a number for amount used. Do the figures add up? Quote: I've trashed the data files; not sure why this is not freeing up the FW for backup. Not to insult you, but you did empty the trash, didn't you? If the trash is empty and the volume information is still incorrect, the easiest fix would probably be to use Disk Utility to reformat the drive, since you don't want to save anything on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 Yep. Did empty Trash. No insult taken at all. Shall use disk Utility to re-format the drive. (I've never done this before~life's obviously been too easy for me). Thanks for the continued walk-through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Thought I was over the line, but...last bit of trouble with creating (renewing?), the Catalogue File. Once again, not able to achieve this via (re)reading the manual. Have a Retrospect Catalog Files folder on my hard drive, from which I have deleted the files from the "old" backup set. When prompted to...("where is the Catalog File?"), and I navigate to that folder, (within which I have a renamed folder as per new Backup Set), it's greyed out. I was assuming this would be the item to identify as the Catalog File associated with the new backup set...Probably something really basic, but i guess that's all it takes. How do I get Retro to recognise an appropriate Catalog File? Would appreciate a lead on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 In an earlier post, Twickland helpfully suggested that you: > ... go to Configure> Backup Sets and create two new File Backup Sets, assigning each to your desired FW volume. If you did this, you need to have saved the Backup Sets on your Destination hard drive. If you saved them to a Retrospect Catalog Files folder on your hard drive, then you are backing up your hard drive _to_ your hard drive. This isn't a Good Idea. You don't describe the steps you took that caused Retrospect to prompt you to locate a Catalog File, so readers would have to guess. The whole thing is pretty easy: 1 - Configure -> Backup Sets -> New... 2 - Choose "File Backup Set" 3 - Name it whatever you want 4 - Click New... 5 - Use the standard Apple save file dialog box to navigate to your external hard drive 6 - Click Save Use this Backup Set as the Source for any Backup operation that you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Have set up a script schedule to run tonight as a "file" backup. Don't see why it shouldn't run on that basis. Twickland earlier suggested that I should use the "removable disk" config if I want to span multiple volumes. I will have 2 Internal drives to back up onto another FW off another mac later, but I'm just having a go at "file" backup on my mac, just to get something going. (I'm only using 1 internal drive). In answer to your question, CMD, was prompted to find Catalogue file when going Configure>Backup Sets>Configure>(then chose backup set)...navigated to Retrospct Catalogue folder, from which I had earlier dumped data files (old/redundant). Problem is predecessor had Retro Catalogue folder on my HDD. Should a catalogue folder not be located on the source drive under any circumstances? Was only going on the basis of the previous setup, but am happy to modify ANYTHING to get underway again. Can the catalogue file be on the same destination drive as the backup set it relates to? I've got another manual at home~shall have a look again tonight. Shall see if I have been able to do a file backup o'night. Am assuming I won't be able to do a "file" backup on the other Mac, using 2 source inernal drives onto 1 FW. Also, does the term "removable drive" have a particular significance? Appreciate your (collective) patience and input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisha Biondy Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I use Retrospect to back-up my internal hard drive to an external FireWire. The Backup Set A and the Backup Set A.cat are both located on the external FireWire drive. tlbb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Quote: does the term "removable drive" have a particular significance? Well, yeah. Every term has a particular significance. That's why different terms are used to describe different things! > Should a catalogue folder not be located on the source drive under any circumstances? Retrospect doesn't know anything about a "catalogue folder," but where files should be stored depends on the Type of Backup Set you are using. For most Backup Set Types, the catalog file is independent from the Media being used; the catalog file works best if it's stored on a volume directly accessable to the machine running Retrospect (local HD or fast server volume). It's OK if the catalog lives on the same volume that's being used as a Source, although the catalog itself won't be backed up. Since your catalog files are valuable documents, it's a good idea to use different methods to make backups of them too. For File Backup Sets, the data and catalog portions are stored together on the volume being used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Quote: In answer to your question, (I) was prompted to find Catalogue file when going Configure>Backup Sets>Configure>(then chose backup set)...navigated to Retrospct Catalogue folder, from which I had earlier dumped data files (old/redundant). Sounds like you didn't follow the last step of my 10/16 post above, which was to go to Configure>Backup Sets and forget your predecessor's backup set(s) that you no longer intend to use. (You were to do this only after you edited your scripts to incorporate your newly-created backup sets in the backup schedule.) To forget a backup set, highlight its name and click "Forget." It's not absolutely necessary for you to complete this final housekeeping step, but it will help avoid confusion in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Think I've got enough now to get it right. Pretty sure I did 'forget' the relevant sets, but will have to revisit that. And the background info on Catalogue files makes more sense to me now. Shall keep at it till I get it right. Thanks for the help from both of you. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 ...and thanks too, tlbb...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjojr Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 At the risk of prolonging a long thread...got a successful backup off my HDD o'night. Hooray! Shall now work on my colleagues 2 HDDs and try to get them onto the 2nd FW. "Happiness is a fully executed log file 1st thing in the morning" Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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