mysterious error message every day: "you have not been backed up since Thu Ap 3, 2008. Contact..."

[jamesiporter]

I keep getting an error message display each day. See attached. It sounds like a miscue between some setting I am not aware of and something else (like a server command setting?) since I am not set up for administered backups, but only to my x-hd and these are working fine. Any ideas? I'd like to remove the message, which started appearing a few mos. ago out of the blue, no idea why.

 

thanks.

 

Using Retr. 8 for Mac (latest version); osx: 10.6.3

Edited May 28, 2010 by Guest

[rhwalker]

Could you please explain a bit about your setup?

 

Specifically, you indicate that you have Retrospect 8 for Mac ("latest version"). That's not helpful version information. We frequently see postings in these forums where the poster insists that he/she has the "latest" version, but does not. Also, months from now, when version updates have occurred (don't we wish), "latest version" will be useless to someone trying to troubleshoot their problem by searching these forums. Please provide the version (8.x.x.x) of Retrospect engine and also the version (8.x.x) of Retrospect console that you have installed.

 

Additionally, you don't say whether you are using Retrospect to back up a Retrospect Client machine, or whether the machine on which you are seeing this error is the Retrospect engine machine or, instead, the Retrospect client. If this message is appearing on the Retrospect client, please provide the version of Retrospect client (8.x.x).

 

If this error is appearing on the machine running the Retrospect engine, I suspect that you may have (in error) installed Retrospect client on that machine. If so, that's the problem, and you need to uninstall Retrospect client on the Retrospect engine machine.

 

Russ

[jamesiporter]

V. 8.1

build 626

Client may be 6.3.027 (that's the updater in the folder; I assume that's the Client I am using)

 

You write: "Additionally, you don't say whether you are using Retrospect to back up a Retrospect Client machine, or whether the machine on which you are seeing this error is the Retrospect engine machine or, instead, the Retrospect client. If this message is appearing on the Retrospect client, please provide the version of Retrospect client (8.x.x)."

 

to which I reply: "Sorry, not sure I get the distinctions. Ret. is installed on my iMac; it is backing up to a hard drive. The error message appears on the desktop every morning. No idea what generates it. It doesn't appear in the client, but only on the desktop as you see it in the .png."

 

If you think the error is coming from having installed the client on my iMac, I'd be glad to know how to uninstall it. thanks Russ. Jim

 

[color:orange]PS: Just found my Client in the Applications folder, and updated it to 6.3.028 as well.[/color]

Edited May 28, 2010 by Guest

[rhwalker]

Ok, then your problem is just as I suspected.

 

Briefly, as explained in the Getting Started guide and Retrospect User Guide, there are three parts to the Retrospect suite, and one of them (Retrospect Client) is optional, and is used only when one computer (running Retrospect engine) backs up other computers (Retrospect clients) on your network (typically, a LAN).

 

Retrospect engine does the real work, and is the Retrospect program proper. In some manner, depending on your specifics, it gets the data from one or more sources (perhaps on the same computer as Retrospect engine, perhaps on a Retrospect client) and writes the data to the destination media set (really, a Retrospect database).

 

Retrospect console is the GUI, and can be run on the same computer running Retrospect engine, or on some other computer, or even on an iPhone (presently, the iPhone app doesn't have all of the console features, and is, pretty much, just a monitor).

 

Retrospect client is a program that can run on other computers (but not on the Retrospect engine computer), and reads source volumes on the client computer and passes that data to Retrospect engine. The client and engine chat back and forth to accomplish the backup job (and restore, to the client).

 

If I understand what you are saying, you only have one iMac computer running Retrospect 8.1.626, and the engine and Retrospect console are installed on that same computer, and you back up from some unknown source (perhaps one or more volumes on that iMac) to a hard drive destination on that iMac.

 

If that is correct, then you should not have installed Retrospect client. Retrospect client is putting up that error message because it has never been contacted by a Retrospect engine to do a backup. Your Retrospect engine is doing the backup of locally-attached sources, and the client is not needed.

 

Now for the interesting part - how to uninstall the client. The more recent Retrospect clients (and I believe that Retrospect Client 6.3.027 is in this group; Retrospect Client 6.3.028 is the current "latest" version, and I know that it IS in this group) don't have an uninstaller. Earlier versions had a menu choice when you ran the installer that would uninstall the program. Also, because of differences in what pieces were installed, their names, etc., you need to use the uninstaller for the same version that you installed. Isn't this a support nightmare?

 

As for the more recent versions, as noted above, there is no released uninstaller, but there is an unofficial uninstaller script that will do the job. Curiously, this unofficial uninstaller script has only been posted to the Retrospect Windows forum, in an obscure thread. Go figure.

 

Here is the link:

Unofficial Retrospect Mac Client uninstall script

 

Read that thread from the start to understand the various issues.

 

Russ

[rhwalker]

[color:orange]PS: Just found my Client in the Applications folder, and updated it to 6.3.028 as well.[/color]

Ok, then you may have complicated the situation. See the discussion above about needing the uninstaller for the particular installed version.

 

Again, I don't recall off the top of my head whether Retrospect client 6.3.027 had the uninstaller option as a menu choice. I know that 6.3.028 doesn't, and needs the unofficial uninstall script.

 

Again, see the linked thread above, and read that thread from the beginning in order to understand the issues and see where the uninstall menu choice is for some versions.

 

So, your steps to uninstall would be:

 

(1) run the Retrospect Client 6.3.027 install program. If it has an uninstall menu choice, run that uninstall option to uninstall tidbits from the prior Retrospect Client 6.3.027 installation. If not, then step (2), below, will uninstall everything.

 

(2) Now run the unofficial Retrospect Client uninstaller script to uninstall Retrospect Client 6.3.028 that you installed today.

 

That should cure the problem.

 

Now do you have a better insight as to why your version numbers were needed? Isn't this a support nightmare?

 

Of course, all of this chaos will now become orderly now that the Retrospect product line has been sold to Roxio. We hope.

 

Russ

[jamesiporter]

Fascinating. Thanks for all the advice, Russ. I ran the unofficial script, now will run the uninstaller for .027 to be sure any remnants are taken care of. I always wondered what the purpose of the Client was and why it complained of not ever having been run when I called it up. Now i know.

[jamesiporter]

oops, easier said than done; 6.3.027 is no longer on the site or in the archives. Probably it won't matter(?). I'll just have to hope not.

[jamesiporter]

 

oops, easier said than done; 6.3.027 is no longer on the site or in the archives. Probably it won't matter(?). I'll just have to hope not.

[rhwalker]

Fascinating. Thanks for all the advice, Russ. I ran the unofficial script, now will run the uninstaller for .027 to be sure any remnants are taken care of. I always wondered what the purpose of the Client was and why it complained of not ever having been run when I called it up. Now i know.

oops, easier said than done; 6.3.027 is no longer on the site or in the archives. Probably it won't matter(?). I'll just have to hope not.

You will know whether or not you have gotten all of the pieces if the error message stops.

 

Also, note that the above (correct, as of the date of this post) discussion is different from the explicit uninstall instructions given on page 82 of the Retrospect 8 for Macintosh Users Guide:

 

Uninstalling a Client and Its Software

 

If you want to remove the client software from a computer, forget the client as described in “Removing a Client,†earlier in this chapter. Then see the following sections for each type of client:

 

...

 

Mac OS X

 

1. Locate your EMC Retrospect 8 disk image or CD and navigate to /Client Installers/Mac Client/.

 

2. Copy the Mac Client Uninstaller to the Macintosh on which you want to uninstall the Retrospect Client software.

 

3. Open the Mac Client Uninstaller and follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall the Retrospect Client software.

In a perfect world, the documentation would be correct. Let's be thankful that a Users Guide now exists, and it is very helpful and is mostly right.

 

It would be nice if the uninstaller script was made a part of the Retrospect Client download package, but that's not the way things are right now.

 

Hope this helps, report back whether this cures your problem.

 

Russ

[rhwalker]

oops, easier said than done; 6.3.027 is no longer on the site or in the archives.

It's still there, but without a link. Here is the link: Retrospect Client for Macintosh 6.3.027

 

Unknown whether you need that or not. I think that the new install method (and changes to the client) began with Retrospect Client 6.3.x.

 

There have never been (that I am aware of) any release notes for any of the Retrospect 8 Macintosh Clients, so none of us users have a clue what the differences are between the various versions, what bugs were fixed, what versions of Retrospect Client are compatible with what versions of Retrospect, etc. All of that will change now that Retrospect has been sold to Roxio. We hope.

 

Good luck,

 

Russ

[jamesiporter]

 

Thanks a ton, Russ. Jim