Why do I get this error?

[steffi]

What is the memory limitation here?

 

Can't save catalog, error -108 (not enough memory).

[pwilk]

How much memory do you have and how big is your volume that you are trying to backup? Its helpful if you give some basics about your system and what version of the software you are running.

 

My guess is that you are backing up a huge volume. Try breaking it up into smaller pieces.

[steffi]

I have 2 GIG on a Mac Book Pro and it's backing up a 120 GB hard drive.

 

Why does it need so much memory to write the catalog file?

 

log shows that the volume is about

 

Completed: 1558326 files, 53.2 GB

 

in size

 

It's unacceptable to me to

 

1. not be able to use one volume instead of mulitple volumes

 

2. to have the catalog write fail at the end of the actual backup

 

am I being unreasable?

 

Just how much physical ram does it need to write out the catalog?

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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I have 2 GIG on a Mac Book Pro and it's backing up a 120 GB hard drive.

 

---

 

You need to be more specific here. There are multiple ways that "a 120 GB hard drive" could be used with Retrospect to store backup data.

 

- What Type of Backup Set are you using?

 

The first response to your original post requested information about your system configuration, software versions, etc, yet you have omitted them from your second post. Online help _requires_ that the person with the information share that information with those from whom he/she hopes to receive help. Otherwise, it's just grasping at straws.

 

 

Dave

[steffi]

I'm using Retrospect to backup my 100 gb (not 120) hard drive from my MacBook pro onto an AFP share which resides on a ReadyNAS with 2 x 750 ES Seagate drives. So it's a File Backup Set over an AFP share.

 

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo

OSX Leopard 10.5.1

Retrospect 6.138

ReadyNAS with V4 Raidiator

 

Any suggestions or additional questions I can provide more information.

 

Volume is pretty much the entire internal Mac Book Pro hard drive with several exclusions.

[rhwalker]

Quote:

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Why does it need so much memory to write the catalog file?

 

---

because you have so many files and snapshots. You could, at the tradeoff of time, store the catalog compressed. See the Retrospect preferences. But then you will start griping about the time it takes to compress the catalog at the end of backup sessions.

 

Another reason, now that you have provided some configuration information, is that you only have 2 GB of RAM on an Intel Mac. You need at least 3 GB because you've got Retrospect, running emulated under Rosetta, with Mac OS X, trying to sort large catalogs. Until there is a Universal Binary (native) version of Retrospect, you are stuck, and we may never see a Universal Binary version. Add more RAM. The error message is self-explanatory.

 

Quote:

---

It's unacceptable to me to

 

1. not be able to use one volume instead of mulitple volumes

 

---

I assume that your gripe is that the backup set is so large. You have a few choices:

 

(1) don't back up as many files;

(2) get a bigger disk for your backup destination;

(3) use tape backup;

 

Good luck.

 

Russ

[steffi]

I want to use one volume as it's easier to manage.

 

Also, destination is a ReadyNAS with 2 x 750 GB so there's plenty of space.

[rhwalker]

Quote:

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I want to use one volume as it's easier to manage.

 

Also, destination is a ReadyNAS with 2 x 750 GB so there's plenty of space.

 

---

Yea, so what's your point? You were the one who griped that you wanted to be able to use one volume.

 

Your error message has nothing to do with your NAS destination. You need more RAM. See my explanation above. The error message is just reporting what the problem is. Retrospect can't open your computer and install more memory - you have to do that. If you don't know how, take it to an Apple store and have them add the memory.

 

Russ

[CallMeDave]

Russ offered:

<i>You have a few choices:

 

To that list I would add:

- Don't back up as many files in a single Session

 

Retrospect will be perfectly happy backing up a Source Container consisting of a subset of your entire drive in one Session, and a different subset consisting of the rest of your drive in another Session, all to the same Backup Set. This would reduce the number of files that need to be kept in memory at any one time.

 

Note that with Retrospect, the issue isn't the amount of space the data consumes (53.2 GB is not all that much), but the number of files (1.558326 million is a quite a lot).

 

> Your error message has nothing to do with your NAS destination

 

I _guess_ not. But I'd certainly be interested in the same File Backup Set being used on a physically attached volume. Perhaps file sharing is contributing the the problem.

[rhwalker]

Quote:

---

To that list I would add:

- Don't back up as many files in a single Session

...

Note that with Retrospect, the issue isn't the amount of space the data consumes (53.2 GB is not all that much), but the number of files (1.558326 million is a quite a lot).

 

---

Best approach might be to define a few subvolumes to get the number of files down to a manageable number.

 

Russ

[steffi]

Help me why with virtual memory I'm forced to add more RAM. Is this using 32 bit memory addressing scheme?

 

Is there a 64 bit version in the works then? ie. the limititation literally the amount of memory addressable by a unix process?

 

I'm surprised that such a task requires more RAM..

 

Anyway, I would prefer one job for the backup so that it can shutdown the NAS after the job. Rather than

two different jobs where only the last job shuts down the NAS. Unless I can easily tell the second job to run

at the completion of the first instead of using a scheduling window per se.

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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Is this using 32 bit memory addressing scheme?

 

---

 

Yes. It is a Carbon application; there is no 64 bit addressing for Carbon, and Apple decided (just this year) not to provide support for 64 bit Carbon applications.

 

> Is there a 64 bit version in the works then?

 

Unknown. There have been some recent promises by EMC posted here on the Forum, but that's all we users know.

 

> I'm surprised that such a task requires more RAM

 

Ok.

 

> Unless I can easily tell the second job to run at the completion of the first instead of using a

> scheduling window per se

 

I'm not sure what a "scheduling window" means in your intended context, but you can configure one backup to begin after another.

[steffi]

I can only set my notebook to turn on at a certain time and turn off a certain time via preferences.

 

I can also set that all jobs will sleep the computer at completiion in Retrospect preferences. I don't think, without Applescript hackery this is possible per job right?

 

So,

 

I have two jobs I need to run nightly and I want the second to kick off after the first. Rather than assume the first will be complete by the time the second is scheduled to run.

 

Q. Instead of using Retrospects scheduler can I kick of a job to run via Applescript from an iCal event? Presumably I use Run Documents like this?

 

I think I'd rather use that as my trigger for the job to start than the Retrospect scheduler. and have both jobs run consecutively instead of one kicks off a certain time and another another time hopefully after the first one has finished.

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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I have two jobs I need to run nightly and I want the second to kick off after the first. Rather than assume the first will be complete by the time the second is scheduled to run.

 

---

 

 

Yes.

 

You schedule the first script ("Aardvark_Script") to run at 11:58 pm

You schedule the second script ("Boston_Script") to run at 11:59 pm

 

No matter how long it takes for Aardvark_Script to run, Boston_Script will begin immediately after the previous execution is completed.

 

The naming matters only if you have more then two scripts that might need to run in sequence; once a script is overdue to run, Retrospect will start the next pending script as sorted by alpha.

 

Unattended Preferences respect the Look Ahead time, so you have control over which script puts your machine to sleep.

 

Dave