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DVD-R media or drive problems?


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I am using Retrospect v 5.0.205 on my iMac flat screen with super drive. I am running OS X 10.1.5. I have made several backups onto DVD-R media, so I know it's supported and works... sometimes.

 

 

 

The problem that I commonly have is that the backup will write all the data to the DVD-Rs, it usually takes 3 of them, then during the verify pass, repeated errors occur as it tries to read the data back of the DVD-R. Well, needless to say, it is frustrating! You spend 6 hours backing up your machine, with 5 media changes, and then find out the backup is useless. The media is spoiled and cannot be reused.

 

 

 

Does anyone have any idea whether I'm getting bad media, or I have a defective drive? How can I tell? Out of 15 disks I've run through, 3 have failed. But this means 3 out of 5 backups are useless.

 

 

 

Can anyone help me?

 

 

 

Thanks a lot,

 

 

 

William

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What is the error that you are getting?

 

 

 

Can you provide more details on your configuration please?

 

 

 

Computer Model and speed

 

Device (from Retrospect's Configure > Devices > Device Status window)

 

Device firmware (in the version column of the Device Status window)

 

Device interface

 

Media brand and size

 

Other Devices

 

 

 

Thanks.

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What is the error that you are getting?

 

--> they look like the following:

 

Trouble reading: “5-Backup Set A” (4092), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble reading: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble positioning: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble reading: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble reading: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble positioning: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Trouble reading: “5-Backup Set A” (4093), error 206 (drive reported a failure: dirty heads, bad media, etc.).

 

Additional error information for device "Pioneer DVD/CD-RW" [0:1],

 

Sense >

 

(PIONEER |DVD-RW DVR-104 |A216)

 

8/17/2002 4:30:56 AM: 1688 execution errors.

 

Remaining: 562 files, 2.7 GB

 

Completed: 1225 files, 432.0 MB, with 39% compression

 

Performance: 26.6 MB/minute (71.0 copy, 4.8 compare)

 

Duration: 02:20:33 (00:06:45 idle/loading/preparing)

 

 

 

- - -

 

 

 

Can you provide more details on your configuration please?

 

 

 

Computer Model and speed

 

--> iMac (top-of-the-line G4, with super drive as original equipment, running OS X 10.1.5, sorry I don't know what the speed is.)

 

 

 

Device (from Retrospect's Configure > Devices > Device Status window)

 

--> ATAPI-A PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-104 A216 Pioneer DVD/CD-RW (1.51)

 

 

 

Device firmware (in the version column of the Device Status window)

 

--> A216

 

 

 

Device interface

 

--> Unknown (whatever the iMac came with, the drive is original equipment in the top-of-the-line iMac)

 

 

 

Media brand and size

 

--> Apple DVD-R Media 4.7 GB Gen Purpose

 

 

 

Other Devices

 

--> none, except for these USB devices:

 

Keyboard & Mouse

 

Epson Stylus Color 740

 

USB Microphone Andrea NC-7100

 

 

 

You're welcome! Please help me!

 

 

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

William

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This drive is supported, and the error that you're reporting is just telling you that the drive had trouble communicating with the device.

 

 

 

Is this all on the same DVD (the 5th one in the set)? If so, it's very possible that that member was damaged.

 

 

 

Try the backup again and see if the error is always repeating.

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"...just telling you that the drive had trouble communicating with the device."

 

 

 

Don't you mean that the drive has trouble reading the media? I think of the drive and the device as being two words for the same thing. If I am misunderstanding, can you be explicit about which drive and which device?

 

 

 

All the errors occur on the same media. Once they start, the verify process slows down to a crawl, as you can see from my last post (speed of verify pass).

 

 

 

"Try the backup again and see if the error is always repeating. "

 

 

 

You might want to read my first post again. The error does not always repeat. I think I either have a defective drive (which SOMETIMES cannot read what it has written) or defective media (some is good, but some is bad), but I cannot tell which.

 

 

 

Have you heard anything like this from other users of Retrospect on the iMac backing up to DVD-R?

 

 

 

I appreciate your time, but I still don't have any answers!

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

William

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Sorry, I meant that the computer has a hard time communicating with the device. This can be due to faulty media, but it can also be due to other factors, such as a problem with the drive or its connections in the computer.

 

 

 

Are you able to determine a pattern to the problems?

 

 

 

What if you try the verify or backup while booted into OS 9?

 

 

 

No, I have not seen other reports of this error with this drive, but media and/or device errors are among the more common problems that people have with their backups.

 

 

 

I'm afraid that there is no quick answer that I can give you. If all your software is up to date (Retrospect 5.0.205) and you get the error on different DVDs in different operations, intermittently, then this points to a problem with the drive.

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