No Catalog - now what?

[lbz]

Hi all-

 

We were transfering data from an old mac to a new one. On the new mac the back is all set, but we get a -43 error that the catalog can not be found. I look under my document folder and it is not there. What can i do? This machine has no real backup to repair. Do I need to make a new backup set and start from scratch?

 

Thanks,

LBZ

[twickland]

You don't say what type of backup set you were using.

 

If it was a File Backup Set, there are two files associated with it (unless the backup set is very small, in which case the two files might be combined). The data file should have the name of the backup set, and the other should have the same name but end in ".cat". Both files need to be in the same folder on the destination volume.

 

For any other type of backup set, the catalog will be stored on some volume and the data will be on its own media or volume(s). Somewhat confusingly, these catalogs have the name of the backup set without a ".cat" extension.

 

Your problem may simply be that Retrospect is attempting to access the catalog file where it used to be located on the old Mac's volume. If that's the case, search for the catalog file in Finder and then double-click on it to tell Retrospect where the catalog is now located.

 

If it turns out you have actually lost the catalog, you should be able to recreate it from the data, though that can take quite a bit of time depending on the amount of data.