DVD capacity thresholding

[badbigdad]

I have Retrospect 7.0 running on Windows Server 2003 on a Dell Proliant 150ML server. I have a requirement that states that the Operator shall have a choice that an archive/backup operation either complete when the last full DVD is written, i.e. the data that would be put on the last, partial DVD would not be archived, or the data would be written to a partial DVD as is normal. The need for this choice is uncertain as it is buried in a book of requirements that are equally unclear. The Customer contacts don't know why this is here, but we have to meet it. Does anyone know if Retrospect supports this choice or not? Thanks in advance. Charlie.

[rhwalker]

I would bet that the requirement is for those programs that don't use Retrospect's method of writing to DVDs ("packet writing") that allows data to be appended to a partially-filled DVD. It's the reason that Retrospect doesn't support all DVD drives (they need to support reliable packet writing) which is not how most programs write to DVD. Most programs do not allow appending to a DVD. See:

Retrospect packet writing

 

But yes, what the heck. Let the operator have the option to toss the last DVD into the garbage, mark the member as missing. That way, the operator has the choice not to archive the partial DVD. To allow the choice that you seem to need would require that the entire DVD image be built before burning of any part of the DVD begins, and that's not how Retrospect works.

 

It's also possible that the "requirement" was put in to the procedures at the request of a particular vendor whose software had this odd feature, just to keep the customer locked in to a single source. We've all seen the vendor gamesmanship involved in writing "specifications" and "requirements" for a RFQ so as to preclude all but a single vendor.

 

Russ