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I'm a user of Retrospect 6.1, backing up to DVDs and trying out the trial of 8.1. Having just wasted an hour clicking on my DVD drive in the dialogues, and trying to work out how to make it recognise my DVD, I see in the Read Me something which seems to say optical backup is disabled. As John McEnroe said "You cannot be serious?". No DVD backup and no manual, and yet EMC want to *charge* for this?

 

Please correct me if I have misunderstood this. Otherwise it's back to 6.1...

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Please correct me if I have misunderstood this.

 

You have misunderstood this.

 

Optical support is disabled by default in the current shipping version, and it lacks a GUI to control that.

 

However, instructions to enable device support (using a simple text editor) is provided in the Retrospect 8 Read Me.rtf that's installed alongside the console application.

 

Dave

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Thanks. I have to differ insofar as my installation is concerned.

 

The .rtf file I have ("EMC Retrospect 8.1 Read Me

Updated June 26, 2009") makes the following mention of optical:

 

"Optical device support is deactivated in this release because of a bug in Mac OS X that prevents the Retrospect engine from sharing optical devices with other applications while it is running. Optical device support will be reactivated in a future release."

 

This is repeated a couple of other times. I can see no references in it to using a text editor. It's the same file that's on this forum.

 

There are no other .rtfs installed by 8.1 which I can see. I've looked on the .dmg, in /Library/Application Support, no joy. I did download the 30 day demo, so is this something missing from that file?

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Thanks for that. It certainly does enable the optical drive, but I'm now having further issues.

 

Firstly, I note that when the Retrospect Engine is running, it is often impossible to open the DVD draw, whether or not there is a disc in it. This is regardless of whether Console is running or not.

 

Secondly, although it is writing DVDs, at the end of each DVD the amount of data to be backed up goes back to the initial quantity. Each time it seems to be awaiting the same DVD (i.e. 1-xxx) rather than 2, 3, 4 etc.

 

Can't find anything about this yet. Any help appreciated.

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Thanks for coming back so fast. I've always found, even in 6, that the Retrospect driver could prevent other access to the DVDs, but of course that went once the program was quit. Clearly it's a long term issue.

 

Second question: it's the default Pioneer DVR 110D in a Quad G5 (PPC of course). I read somewhere that if it shows up in the Storage Devices with a triangle beside it it's OK. Is that right?

 

Nigel

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I've always found Retrospect's capture of the optical drive unlike other applications that make use of the drive. Even in version 6, the drive is captured when Retrospect launches rather than when it needs to read or write to the drive. Other applications (like Toast or Finder) don't capture until you start the burn process.

 

I realize there are good reasons to lock out use of the optical drive for unattended operations, but maybe the answer is to make an option to control capture: always or when a backup, copy or restore operation is in process. It seems like this could be done without waiting for Apple to change the OS.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Even in version 6, the drive is captured when Retrospect launches

 

Actually not true.

 

Retrospect Classic loads its drivers when it scans for devices.

 

There are various times the program does this, such as when you select Configure->Devices, or Configure->Backup Sets->New, or when a script is run. But just launching the program manually won't override Apple's optical driver.

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I was just wondering if the support person from Retrospect had anything more to say about this query of mine above?

Nigel,

 

You do understand that these forums are user-to-user support, don't you? We are just users like you are.

 

From the Retrospect Forum Rules:

 

This forum is a community based self help tool for users of the Retrospect Backup Software and other EMC Insignia Products. This is a Public Forum. ...

 

While this forum is monitored by members of the EMC Technical Support team, it is not possible to reply to all questions and threads. This forum is not an official method for contacting technical support. EMC employees are under no obligation to reply to individual forum posts. If you need immediate technical support, you can contact technical support directly at http://www.emcinsignia.com/contactsupport

Sorry, I only do tape backup, not to optical media, or I would try to answer your question.

 

Russ

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I read somewhere that if it shows up in the Storage Devices with a triangle beside it it's OK.

 

What [color:red]c[/color][color:blue]o[/color][color:green]l[/color]o[color:orange]r[/color] is the triangle?

 

My optical burner (Matshita DVD-R UJ-846) displays a [color:green]green[/color] circle (w/3D light effects) with a white checkmark; my institution suggests this is a good thing. Triangle icons are often associated with alerts, but we won't know for sure until the manual is released.

 

Dave

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