Missing catalog error

[drrobins]

Using Retrospect 8, and the NetGear ReadyNas NV+ on Ethernet. I created a new backup from scratch, after doing the hotfix rdu.rpx.

 

Successful backup by manually running my script done. On repeat later, get the "Need media" error. When looking at the Media Sets, my Media Set A has a red X in front of it. Below it says "catalog missing", and the catalog address points to /Volumes/backup-1/Media Set A.rbc. When I look at the drive, the catalog is seen correctly placed there.

 

1. Why is the partition shown as "backup-1", when it is actually named "backup"? Plus, when the choices come up to select a member during rebuild, backup-1 is displayed twice.

 

2. Why is this error occuring, if the catalog is put there by Retrospect itself?

 

3. Repair of the involved media 1-Media Set A quickly repairs it, and the red-X is replaced by a green icon, the status goes to Ready, option is Fast Catalog Rebuild. Why does the red-X keep coming back?

 

Until this is fixed, I can't run an automatic backup script.

[CallMeDave]

Why is the partition shown as "backup-1", when it is actually named "backup"?

 

Because Mac OS X will not allow a volume to be mounted twice with the same name, and attempts to do so will result in the operating system appending a number to the name to avoid duplicates.

 

Likely you first mounted "backup" on the Desktop of the Macintosh hosting the Retrospect Engine. Then you asked Retrospect to mount the same volume, and when it did so OS X appended the "-1" to the volume name, which Retrospect took as the true name of the volume (it was, at the time).

 

If you then restarted the Macintosh, Retrospect would try and find/mount "backup-1" but would never find it, since it only existed due to the specific sequence of events earlier.

 

Moral of the story, don't mount the same volume as a Finder user that you also intend to use with Retrospect.

 

Look around here on the Forum; this is the most common issue reported since Retrospect 8 was released.

 

 

the catalog address points to /Volumes/backup-1/Media Set A.rbc

 

Generally you don't want to put your Catalog file on the same physical or logical volume that you're using to actually store data, but that's a best practices issue and not the underlying cause of the problem you're reporting.

 

 

 

Dave

[drrobins]

Regarding where to put the catalog file: the only other choice then is on the system I am trying to back up. Then, if that system crashes and I want to restore it, the catalog file would be lost also.

 

So, under best practices, where should one put the catalog?

[Maser]

I always have my catalog files on the "engine" machine internal hard disk.

 

Is that not possible with your setup?

[Daniels]

I follow the same protocol as Maser keeping catalog files on the engine machine.

[ferthalangur]

I'll pipe in that I store my catalogs on the internal hard drive of my engine machine, but I also have a cron job that daily backs up all my configs and catalogs to a dedicated external drive ... just in case Retrospect decides to wipe them out, or the engine disk crashes.

[drrobins]

My engine machine is my main Mac. I always assumed that in the event of a crash, the safer place to put the catalog would be on the NAS backup drive. Otherwise, if my Mac crashes, no catalog.

 

WIth Retrospect 6.1, I used external Firewire drives, and kept the backup as well as the catalog on the same backup drive.

 

But CallmeDave says this is apparently nonstandard technique.

 

I guess one can restore without a catalog. but the catalog then has to be rebuilt first from the backup, possibly less reliably?

 

I don't back up using clients; since each Mac I have is its own engine, then each separate catalog would reside on each machine.

[rhwalker]

I guess one can restore without a catalog.

You guessed correctly.

 

but the catalog then has to be rebuilt first from the backup,

Correct. The media set (f/k/a/ backup set, and f/k/a/ data set) is simply Retrospect's database into which it dumps files and metadata, etc., and the catalog is Retrospect's index into its database so that it can find things quickly.

 

possibly less reliably?

Nope. But certainly at great expense of time. It may take a week or more, depending on the number of members in your media set (and how closely they are coupled - bandwidth wise - to the engine) to rebuild a catalog. That's one (but not the only) reason to limit the number of members in a media set.

 

When you are in the crisis of trying to get back online quickly after a crash, it's no fun to spend days rebuilding the catalog before you can begin doing the restore. Moral: back up your catalogs.

 

It all depends on your backup policy, and what your priorities are.

 

I don't back up using clients; since each Mac I have is its own engine, then each separate catalog would reside on each machine.

I don't think I have ever heard of someone using that approach. Localized media sets at a central server would seem to make for better management.

 

The usual use for multiple servers is either to:

 

(a) spread the load when a single server can't back up all clients in the allotted backup window; or

 

( to compartmentalize sensitive data.

 

Russ

[CallMeDave]

each Mac I have is its own engine

 

Regarding where to put the catalog file: the only other choice then is on the system I am trying to back up. Then, if that system crashes and I want to restore it, the catalog file would be lost also.

 

So, under best practices, where should one put the catalog?

 

When using Retrospect exclusively to backup the Engine host machine's boot volume to external backup media, this is a reasonable question to ask.

 

Retrospect's default prompts the user to save in the /Library folder on this boot volume; but since the purpose of the backup is very likely to protect this volume from catastrophic failure, such failure would be loose the Catalog too, resulting in either the need to use a backup version (a possible point of failure) or to rebuild from the media (a guarantee of added restore time).

 

Storing the Catalog on a Member is less then optimal for a couple of reasons, but that doesn't mean you _have_ to store it on the boot volume. You could store it on another share point (assuming that fileserver would always be available); you could store it on flash storage (USB or SDHC), depending on the size needs; you could store it on an external 2.5" USB cased drive.

 

But as Russ notes, Retrospect works best as a central place to pull in backups from other machines on a network; running the Engine on multiple machines is not the best use of resources (not to mention cost, as you'd be expected to own a license for each and every machine you're protecting this way).