Error 205 with HP StorageWorks DAT 40 USB (DW022A)

[painter099]

Hello!

 

I have recently purchased the abovementioned DAT drive after years of DVD-backup. At first everything seemed to go well. Retrospect 6.1 under Mac OS X found the drive, erased the tape, rewound it and then - before beginning the write process - displayed an error 205 (connection lost). This happens invariably no matter what I do. I have tried all fixes for 205 errors I found on EMCInsignia's support pages and in this forum (Swap USB-ports, replace cables, buy original HP tapes, etc, etc.). And what is really miraculous: The same tape drive works just fine with Retrospect 6.5 under Windows XP SP 2. Does anybody have an idea? I would be really grateful.

 

Hardware:

• MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM
• HP StorageWorks DAT 40 USB (DW022A)

 

Software:

• Mac OS X 10.4.8
• Retrospect 6.1.126
• RDU 6.1.2.109

[rhwalker]

I don't see this device listed as a supported device:

Retrospect supported devices

 

Russ

[painter099]

Hi Russ,

 

thanks for the quick reply. Sorry, my fault, I'm still new to the world of forums, and simply forgot information.

 

In fact, the device is even fully supported. It has an old (discontinued) part number by HP, which is C5683A. (It also identifies itself with that number in the Retrospect's device list.) If you search for that, you will find it as one of three supported devices under the number.

 

(There is only thing that puzzles me, Retrospect 6.0 and RDU 6.4.102 are listed as minumum requirements on MAC OS. I am using Retrospect 6.1 and RDU 6.1.9.102, which is the most current version. I don't recall ever having seen an RDU 6.4.102., well perhaps its 6.0.4.102...)

 

Any other ideas?

 

Thanxxx

 

painter

[rhwalker]

Are you up-to-date on the firmware? Looks like there was a firmware update a year ago:

HP Firmware update YU5A

 

Looks like you might have to use a Windows machine to do the firmware update.

 

Other than that, I'm clueless unless it's a USB issue.

 

russ

[painter099]

Hi Russ,

 

just did the firmware update using the HP Tape Tools under Windows XP. Didn't change a thing, same 205 error just after the tape finishes rewinding. I believe you are right, it might be an USB issue. USB2-support by Apple is still rotten. I guess I will have to wait until OS X 10.5 is published and try again, hoping they will have improved the performance of the according kernel extensions by then.

 

Thanks again and regards

 

Stefan

[TKevin11]

I'm having the same problem. There appears to be an older update that includes the DAT 40, but inexplicably, the version number is higher (6.6.101) and I can't download it; I keep getting timeouts.

 

It's on page

 

http://kb.dantz.com/display/2n/articleDirect/index.asp?aid=8136&r=4.078311E-02

[infinithree]

It appears the issue is created by a change to USB support that was introduced in Mac OS X 10.4.8.

 

If you connect the drive to another computer that is running (I believe) 10.4.7 and earlier, you should be able to format/erase the tapes.

 

Once you have formatted/erased the tapes (personally, we used 10.3.9) you can go back to the other machine and use the tapes with no problem.

 

How odd!

 

I concur with the previous poster who said that USB2 support in Mac OS X is rotten. It is more than rotten and it is frightening to know that it hasn't been fixed in 10.4.9 and will require a full upgrade to 10.5 to work (hopefully).

 

Hope this helps.