bad backup set header / not enough memory messa

[swope]

I am trying to recatalog a dlt tape. After 4.2 gig, i get the first message "Bad backup set header"

 

Then a short while later, "not enough memory" and the recataloging stops.

 

Any suggestions?

[AmyJ]

What Operating System?

 

What version of Retrospect?

 

What drive? While in Retrospect, go to Configure > Devices > Device Status and list Vendor, Product and Version.

 

 

 

When troubleshooting issues, it is important to provide as much information as possible.

[swope]

Sorry, Mac os - 9.1

 

Retrospect 5.0205

 

Quantum dlt4000 drive version d991

 

Any help will be appreciated

 

Thanx

[AmyJ]

Were the tapes originally recorded with this drive or a different tape drive? Did you have verification turned on during the original backup? Does this happen on all tapes? How much memory do you have in this system?

 

 

 

A bad backup set header message means that Retrospect encountered a missing or damaged file header which contains information such as the file's name and size. This error can indicate SCSI or other device communication problems.

 

 

 

If the data was originally backed up without error, try the following troubleshooting to isolate the problem:

 

 

 

1) a dirty tape drive or bad tape. Clean the drive. Try another tape.

 

 

 

2) another device on your SCSI bus is interfering with the tape drive's communication. Make sure your SCSI ID numbers are set correctly. Turn off your Mac and the SCSI devices. Disconnect all SCSI devices except for the tape drive.

 

 

 

3) you have a bad cable. Replace the SCSI cable that connects the tape drive to the computer after removing other devices and cables from the SCSI chain.

 

 

 

4) you are missing a terminator or have a bad terminator. The last device and ONLY the last device in your SCSI chain needs to be terminated. Try replacing the terminator if you already have one on the chain.

 

 

 

5) the computer may be having a problem. Install Retrospect on another Macintosh and try the tape drive there as the lone SCSI device.

 

 

 

6) 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.

 

 

 

Of course there a myriad of other specific issues having to do with a device's own hardware settings like with internal jumper cables, dip switches or internal termination that has to be sorted out with the device's manual and/or vendor or manufacturer of the drive but the kernel of SCSI troubleshooting above is a good general guideline.