Moved Volume - Back Up All Files Again?

[jwarthman]

Apologies in advance for the duplicate post - this hasn't received any replies in the "General Forum".

 

 

 

I run Retrospect 5 under Mac OS 9. I back up that OS 9 Mac, as well as several Mac and PC clients on the LAN.

 

 

 

Attached to the OS 9 Mac was an 80 GB external firewire drive - nearly full. It has been fully backed up to multiple backup sets (tape).

 

 

 

I moved the 80 GB drive to a different Mac - this one running OS X.

 

 

 

Now, when I back up the OS X client, it thinks it needs to back up the entire firewire drive all over again. This will take hours and hours - and two $65 tapes FOR EACH BACKUP SET!

 

 

 

I have the matching options for the script set to "Don't add duplicates" and I have NOT checked "Match only same location".

 

 

 

It seems to me that Retrospect should be able to notice that these files have already been backed up.

 

 

 

How can I fix this?

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

-- Jim

[lv2ski]

If you move data, it's considered new data in that new location. It will be backed up all over again.

[CallMeDave]

In reply to:

---

It seems to me that Retrospect should be able to notice that these files have already been backed up.

---

 

It does.

 

 

 

And it also notices when the files have been changed.

 

 

 

When the external drive was mounted on the Desktop of the OS 9 machine, the files had no unix inode information provided by the running OS.

 

 

 

When you moved the drive to the OS X machine, the operating system assigned inode information to each and every file.

 

 

 

When Retrospect saw the files again, the unix information had changed. Retrospect properly matched the files and scheduled them for backup.

 

 

 

You _might_ have had different results if you set the external drive's Finder flag of "Ignore privliges on this drive," but I don't know.

[jwarthman]

Melissa,

 

If that's the case, then what is the purpose for Retrospect's matching options, specifically "Don't add duplicates" and "Match only same location"?

 

 

 

I have the impression that these are supposed to allow Retrospect to not back up files if they're already backed up - even if they reside on a different volume.

 

 

 

Or, is it the case that the moved files (same volume, same volume name, but different "server") will be backed up as far as the catalog goes, but will not occupy space on the backup set (tape) sinde they're already there?

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

-- Jim

[jwarthman]

Dave,

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply - it makes very good sense.

 

 

 

So the next part of my question (as I alluded to in my reply to Melissa, below) is, will Retrospect back up all these files, or just note in the catalog that they're already backed up? If the Unix inode information must be backed up for an 18 Mbyte TIFF file, can Retrospect simply back up the changed inode data - or does it need to also back up the (unchanged) TIFF file?

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

 

-- Jim

[CallMeDave]

phe Unix inode information must be backed up for an 18 Mbyte TIFF file, can Retrospect simply back up the changed inode data - or does it need to also back up the (unchanged) TIFF file?

---

 

I fear that the process of upgrading a Backup Set from use under OS 9 to use under OS X is not as elegant as all would like it to be. The complete files will be copied again, the same as if you'd changed a single pixel in that TIFF.

 

 

 

But, once you're safely in OSX, changing only the unix permissions will _not_ result in the file being copied again. The Snapshot will record the permission changes to assign during a Restore.

 

 

 

Dave

 

 

[jwarthman]

Well, it's not what I had hoped to hear, but thanks once again for a clear reply.

 

 

 

I guess I better buy some more tapes...

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

-- Jim