palter Posted August 12, 2002 Report Share Posted August 12, 2002 I am using Retrospect Professional, version 6.0.206. I am using an HP SureStore T20 tape drive connected via an Adaptec AHA-2930CU PCI SCSI controller. I am using Travan TR-5 media (10GB native, 20GB compressed capacity). The drive doesn't support hardware compression; so, I've enabled Retrospect's software compression. When Retrospect nears the end of the tape, it stops copying files and switches to "Writing index...". However, it always generates an "unexpected end of media" error while writing the index. Is there anything I can do to avoid this problem? - Gary Palter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2ski Posted August 12, 2002 Report Share Posted August 12, 2002 Interrupted backup (power failure/crash/tape removed too soon) Error 105 tends to indicate that the last backup attempt to this tape was interrupted by a crash or power failure, or that the tape was removed before it should have been. If you are using a Travan tape drive, and you pull the tape out before it has stopped moving after a backup, you can see this error on subsequent backups. Always give the tape drive time to stop rewinding before removing a tape. In this context, you have three choices: retire this backup set, recycle it, or tell Retrospect to skip to a new piece of media to continue appending to this set. To retire the set, simply create a new set, and use it for your future backups. You should still be able to restore data up to the point of the error; you just can't append to it. To recycle the set, go to Configure>Backup Sets. Highlight the set having the problem, click Configure or Properties, then go to the Options tab. Click the Action button. Choose to Recycle. To tell Retrospect to skip to a new tape in this set, go to Configure> Backup Sets. Highlight the set having the problem, click Configure or Properties, then go to the Options tab. Click the Action button. Choose to Skip to a new piece of media. It is worth trying your backups to a new backup set, using different media at this point. If you do not see the problem on appends (incremental backups), then the first set was indeed damaged. If new backups to a different set and tape do not resolve the problem, continue with the suggestions below: Device transport issue (Windows only) Under Windows 95, 98 or ME, check that ASPI is installed correctly. Run ASPICHK (in the Retrospect Program Files folder) to make sure ASPI is properly installed, and all 4 ASPI files are at verion 4.60. If not, try a reinstall (ASPIINST.exe, also in the Retrospect directory). Under Windows NT, XP or 2000, check if you have ASPI installed. If not, you are fine. If you do, try bypassing ASPI using these steps: From the Retrospect Directory type Ctrl-Alt-P-P. Under "Execution," check "Enable NT SCSI Passthrough." Click OK. Quit and re-launch, then re-try your backup. Device driver issue Make sure that you have all appropriate drivers supplied by your drive vendor installed correctly. For example, some USB or IEEE 1394/FireWire tape drives require special third-party drivers to be installed before they will function. If you have an old version of these drivers, or the drivers are not properly installed, a drive may report error 105 on append attempts. Check the manufacturer's web site for updated drivers, particularly for USB or IEEE 1394 devices. Under Windows, most SCSI or ATAPI devices do not need OS drivers installed for Retrospect to properly function; in fact, if you have drivers installed for SCSI and ATAPI tape devices, this might be causing the problem. It is worth trying to "disable" these drivers or the device itself in the Windows hardware manager to see if this helps. Device interaction Try isolating the device and connecting it directly to the computer. If it is a SCSI device, ensure that it is properly terminated. Also try replacing the terminator. For ATAPI drives, make sure that the device is set to be "master" on its IDE channel, not "slave" or "cable select". Many CD writers do not function well if they are not configured as the master device. Check cabling. Straighten or replace the cable that connects the device to the computer. Dirty heads If you do not regularly clean your tape drive per the manufacturer's recommendations, do so, and then re-try the backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted August 12, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2002 Thanks for the information but ... I'm not getting error 105; I'm getting error -104 (unexpected end of media). - Gary Palter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2ski Posted August 12, 2002 Report Share Posted August 12, 2002 They are both the same! There could be an EOD marker at the end of that tape and it could be a bad tape. Try a new one would be the first step. Then try the above steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted August 13, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2002 Let me try a more detailed explanation ... The problem occurs whenever Retrospect fills any and all tapes I use. It is not limited to any one tape or backup set. It also doesn't matter whether the tape was empty before Retrospect fills it (i.e., whether Retrospect is appending to an existing member of a backup set or completely fills a new member during a single backup operation.) After Retrospect reports the error, it asks for a new tape to be added to the backup set. It then proceeds to finish the backup operation that was in progress. Retrospect doesn't report any problems during its verification pass. Further, if I retrieve the file that was being copied to tape when the 104 error occurs, Retrospect is able to restore it without problem. (A bit-by-bit comparison with the original file shows that it is identical.) And, Retrospect asks for both tapes in order to retrieve the file. - Gary Palter P.S., I had the same problem with Retrospect 5.6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted August 17, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2002 Melissa (or anyone else from Dantz), Any response to my latest update above posted on Tuesday, 8/13? - Gary Palter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted August 19, 2002 Report Share Posted August 19, 2002 What operating system is this running under? Is a driver being loaded for the device in the Device Manager? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted August 19, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2002 Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 3. The Device Manager reports that a driver for "HP T20 SCSI Sequential Device" is loaded. When I click on Driver Details, the Device Manager lists the following file: C:\WINNT\System32\DRIVERS\hpt4qic.sys (Version 5.00.2159.1) However, as soon as I do anything in Retrospect that actually accesses the drive (e.g., opening the Devices window), the status in the Device Manager changes to Disabled. I asked this in my original post but I guess it was missed: What does Retrospect mean when it says it's "Writing index"? Is this something written to the tape and, if so, where on the tape? - Gary Palter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted August 29, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2002 Any response to my previous post dated August 19th? For the record, I've also tried all the trouble shooting tips listed in Melissa's original reply. They make no difference; I still get the 104 error whenever I fill a tape. - Gary Palter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted September 12, 2002 Report Share Posted September 12, 2002 The drive may be defective. If you have implemented all of the preceding steps and get failures on multiple tapes after changing cables, terminators and computers, then the drive, being the only factor that has not changed, is the culprit--send it back to your vendor for repairs. The steps above are the essential outline of our SCSI troubleshooting here at Dantz. Hands on testing of device issues is really still the best method and even getting SCSI logging information is usually only to confirm empirical testing. Note that concluding something is a bad device is the LAST thing we assume after all other components and variables have been ruled out. "SCSI voodoo", as they call the nebulous symptoms that can plague a SCSI bus, can often lead one to false assumptions of the cause of problems. It's important that once a variable is tested that it be tested more than once for consistency's sake to rule out dumb luck. For example, SCSI voodoo accounts for why a tape drive may work fine for many months without proper termination but then suddenly fail in some way later. Although customers will often cite that nothing has changed with their SCSI bus configuration in months and that it was all working before, this is really a hallmark inconsistency of SCSI voodoo. The quickest and most conclusive test for most devices is to test it on more than one computer as the only device on the bus and with a different SCSI cable. If the problems can be reproduced on multiple computers, it's more than likely a hardware problem with the device itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palter Posted October 20, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 Just for the record ... I spoke with a friend who had the same tape drive as myself and was using Retrospect for backup. He reported that he never got an error when switching tapes. So, it became obvious that there was something wrong with my system. Well, about three weeks ago, my tape drive died. It would refuse to recognize any tapes. (I.e., I'd insert a tape and the drive would just sit there. Normally, on insertion, a TR-5 drive spins the tape a bit to verify that it's OK.) Of course, this happened the day after the warranty expired. I have upgraded to a Seagate Hornet 40 (Travan TR-7) internal ATAPI drive. It's working flawlessly so far. Thanks for putting up with me through all this, - Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted October 22, 2002 Report Share Posted October 22, 2002 Thanks for the update - much appreciated! : ) Glad you found a drive that you can depend on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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