dwaughe Posted August 20, 2009 Report Share Posted August 20, 2009 I am trying to implement a rotated backup script using Retrospect Disk-To-Disk for Windows patched to version 7.6.123. The goal is to a have a script that performs nightly backs up to both an internal hard drive as well as one of two external hard drives. The external drives are expected to be rotated once a week, taking the previous week's drive off site and bringing the other one on site. This of course is dependent on people remembering to do this, and is subject to things like vacations and illness disrupting the human side of the process. I began by modifying an existing, working backup script that was backing up to an internal hard drive on the server. I added two new backup sets to this script, each one on a separate external hard drive, and each drive mounted under a different drive letter. I then added two new schedules to the script to run back ups to the two new sets. The script successfully executes the scheduled backup to the set on the internal hard drive, then it successfully executes the scheduled backup to the first external hard drive. At this point I would expect it to recognize that the third backup set is missing, write an error into the entry for that execution in the History log, and exit. Instead what appears to happen is that the Retrospect.exe process just hangs up (possibly waiting for the backup set to be connected?), and any attempt to launch the Retrospect client simply opens the Activity Monitor (which displays nothing). In order to regain access to the client, I have to end the Retrospect.exe process from the Task Manager. Once I do this and I review the History log, the entry for the third backup script says that Execution completed successfully, lists no errors, and says it took 0 seconds. I do not doubt that a workaround for this bug may be to modify the schedules of the backup scripts to only run the backup for the backup sets I expect to be connected to the server for that week, however as I said the human element of the disk rotation is unreliable and I would prefer to have the server run the backup to whichever disk is currently connected. If someone forgets to swap the drives one week, I expect the alternating schedule workaround would cause the process to hang up in the same way as it currently does. If anyone has any suggestions on how to better implement this type of backup, I would appreciate your input. Otherwise, I would like to hear from EMC what you think the problem is and how we can resolve it. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted August 20, 2009 Report Share Posted August 20, 2009 I am trying to implement a rotated backup script using Retrospect Disk-To-Disk for Windows patched to version 7.6.123. ... If anyone has any suggestions on how to better implement this type of backup, I would appreciate your input. My suggestion would be to adjust the media wait timeout parameter to some acceptable value (say, one minute). You will get an error, and that script will quit with an error, but it will move on. See page 270 of the Retrospect Users Guide: Retrospect for Windows 7.5 / 7.6 Users Guide I think that you would get more useful responses if you posted in the Windows Retrospect forum. This particular forum here has very low traffic. See: Retrospect for Windows forum Otherwise, I would like to hear from EMC what you think the problem is and how we can resolve it. These forums are user-to-user support. 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. ... 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 I don't make the rules - I'm just a user like you are. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwaughe Posted August 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2009 That timeout sounds promising, but will it cause the entire script to fail or just that scheduled operation? That is, the script has 3 scheduled backups, one for each backup set. If the media for the second set fails, will the entire script stop and not attempt to run the backup to the third set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 Not sure, give it a try. At worst, you could split it into 3 scripts. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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