jelenko Posted August 29, 2002 Report Share Posted August 29, 2002 Does Retrospect Express support Disaster Recovery for RAID drives? I have a Promise Fastrack 66 IDE RAID controller with 2 drives in a RAID 0 array. I had created a backup set and a Disaster Recovery CD. But, when I went to use it [one of the drives died], I got a BSOD with boot device unaccessible when the system was first trying to boot into Windows - just after copying the set up files from the Recovery CD. I tried adding the Promise drivers at the very beginning of Windows setup and NOT adding the drivers. If I added the drivers, the recovery made it to the point I mentioned above. If I didn't add the drivers, the recovery couldn't find the array to start copying the set up files. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2002 I should add that, when I did add the Promise driver during Windows setup, later, when Windows setup first started copying setup files, it reported that it could not find fastrack.[something] and fastrack.inf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2ski Posted August 30, 2002 Report Share Posted August 30, 2002 Are you using Retrospect 6.0 or 5.6? Just want to make sure your using 6.0. 6.0 fixed this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2002 I'm using 5.6. Have you actually done a disaster recovery on a RAID drive? Also, do you happen to know what was actually fixed? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2ski Posted August 30, 2002 Report Share Posted August 30, 2002 We ignored any 3rd party drivers during Disaster Recovery in 5.6. 6.0 includes them. This is definately fixed in 6.0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awnews Posted August 31, 2002 Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 I don't agree that "This [all 3rd party drivers included in RP6.0 DR] is definitely fixed in 6.0". See my (GoAWest) latest update to the thread "Retro 6.0 and 5.6 DR and expansion IDEs" in the Retrospect Pro 6.0 forum before you run and buy the 6.0 update assuming it will fix your issue. Note that my experience was with RP6.0 and default/installed CD-included RDU (no RDU listed in log). There's now a 3.2 RDU but I have no idea if it makes any difference for the DR 3rd party driver issue (is there some way to find a list of changes made by each RDU?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 I can confirm 6.0 DOES NOT fix the problem. I just downloaded 6.0, created a new Disaster Recovery CD. Same behaviour. If I don't add Promise driver during Win 2K setup, W2K setup can't find any hard drives [i'm assuming that's because, without the Promise driver, setup can't see the RAID drive] If I do add the Promise driver during W2K setup, setup says it cannot copy fastrack.sys and fastrack.inf from the CD. This occurs when setup first starts to copy files to the disk. I ask again, has anyone actually done a disaster recovery to a RAID drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 I should also add: How do I get my $49 back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awnews Posted August 31, 2002 Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 It's interesting that the DR process *does* copy the drivers for a Promise IDE expansion card (driver = ultra.sys) but *not* for your Promise RAID card (fastrack.sys) or my CMD648 expansion card/feature (cmdide.sys). So somehow the DR6.0 process is copying some but not all 3rd party drivers just like DR5.6. When Dantz claims to copy "all 3rd party drivers" I wonder how they think they're doing it--copy all the drivers on the HD (based on my experience, they *are* grabbing files off the HD and not just the Windows boot/install CD. The ultra.sys isn't on the W2K install/boot CD) or copy based on hardware drivers in use (e.g. pull up W2K->Manage->Device Manager) [note: ultra.sys is on my system but not in-use since I no longer have the Promise IDE card installed]. However neither of these is happening/working based on our common experience. I bought a new copy (rather than an upgrade) of RP6 since I decided to leave RDP5.6 running on an older system and use RP6 + clients on newer system(s). I haven't thought about asking for a refund but I am annoyed since this DR driver issue has existed since 5.6 (I actually reported it after I did a 5.0->5.5 upgrade and couldn't see my HD after DRCD boot)) and it obviously hasn't been fixed or tested despite claims to the contrary. I'm hoping that Dantz will actually get it fixed before charging us for a 7.0 upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 I'm about to reverse my claimed findings. I was using a backup set that I had created with 5.6 [i'm pretty sure I had updated it with 6.0]. In any case, after creating a completely new backup set with 6.0 and a new Disaster Recovery CD referencing this new backup set, I've made it all the way to Windows with Retrospect restoring from the backup set. The new Recovery CD did not require me to add the Promise drivers and had no mention of not being able to copy fastrack.sys/inf. Right now, looks like the issue I was having has been fixed. Sorry for my misdirection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awnews Posted August 31, 2002 Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 If you look in the /Drivers folder (or do a search on the whole thing) on the DR6.0 CD, do you see the fastrack.sys driver (and don't find it on the DR5.6 CD)? As I mentioned, in my case I see the (not needed) ultra.sys but not the (needed) cmdide.sys. I'm wondering if the reason things are working for you is that 6.0 DR process correctly copied the needed driver while the 5.6 didn't. I do know that Promise sells well-known and used cards so that their drivers are things that Dantz would commonly see. On the otherhand my ASUS CUBX motherboard (integrated CMD648 IDE) is less common and is something that Dantz might not see. I'm wondering if they only copy "3rd party drivers that we know about" rather than "all 3rd party drivers." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted August 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2002 fasttrak.sys is on both the 5.6 and 6.0 CD's. Also, the restore has completed. Everything looks/works right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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