RVirtue Posted October 23, 2002 Report Share Posted October 23, 2002 Anyone here (besides me) have a system that is configured with Intel's 850 chipset and application accelerator drivers? It appears to me that there's a serious compatibility issue with Retrospect. Briefly, my setup is as follows: ASUS P4T-E system board, Intel P4 2GHz processor, 1GB RDRAM, 2x60Gb IBM HDDs (on primary), Pioneer DVD and Plextor PX-W2410A CD-R (on secondary). The OS is Win2K Pro and, in addtion to Retrospect v6, Roxio's "Easy CD Creator" v5.3.1 (SP4) is also installed. Additional details on my setup are available by clicking the "My PC" button at http://www3.sympatico.ca/virtech/ and details regarding Intel's system board drivers are available at http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/ The Roxio software (although not generally known as a bug-free product) gives me no problem at all burning any kind of CD-R/RW regardless of the transfer mode (PIO or UDMA) set for the Plextor drive and regardless of whether the Intel software is installed as recommended by my system board manufacturer. Retrospect, on the other hand, is giving me a lot of problems. It recognizes the PX-W2410A drive OK, but its own built-in driver for that drive constantly produces "bad disc or dirty head" errors whenever I try to run a backup. Furthermore, it is unable to run a "custom configuration" process to completion as long as the Intel drivers are installed. If I uninstall those drivers and use Win2K's standard storage drivers, I am able to run Retrospect's "custom configuration" and doing so seems to get rid of most (not all) of the "bad disc or dirty head" errors. Not surprisingly, however, removing the recommended Intel drivers has a significant impact on overall performance for ALL drives -- both primary and secondary. I have looked at the situation long and hard enough to convince myself that the problem is not a bad CD-R drive nor bad discs. I have certainly tried a variety of discs -- not cheapies. And, as I have said, Roxio ECDC has absolutely no problem at all writing at maximum transfer rates to the same drive and to discs taken from the same packages. So does Dantz have a "known issue" with Intel and, if so, is it under active discussion between them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVirtue Posted October 25, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2002 As my original post is no longer editable, a brief addendum: I have since downloaded and installed the most recent Retrosoect v6.0 driver update (v3.4.106) from Dantz AND the most recent update for my Easy CD Creator software (v5.3.2.34) from Roxio. Like the previous version, the updated ECDC software works without any problem with my Plextor PX-W2410A drive regardless of the transfer mode setting and regardless of whether or not the above-mentioned Intel drivers are installed. However, neither software update has had any effect whatever on the bad results when using Retrospect. I should also mention that my ECDC software installation does NOT include Roxio's "Direct CD" component. I know that and other UDF writers can cause some difficulties and, while they aren't insurmountable, I chose to avoid that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted October 28, 2002 Report Share Posted October 28, 2002 There are no known incompatibilities. Retrospect reads and writes data using various device transports, such as USB, IEEE 1394 or FireWire, ATAPI, and SCSI. Each device transport has its own requirements and limitations, but Retrospect can properly and completely back up data using any of these. Retrospect is not overly sensitive to errors on any transport; Retrospect simply sends commands and data to devices, following each transport's strict protocols. If unexpected errors are reported, Retrospect reports to the user. In a properly functioning system, all will be well. If, however, something is not operating properly (for example, a SCSI bus is not properly terminated or you are using old IEEE 1394 device drivers for a new 1394 device bridge), errors can be reported. The issue here is not one of sensitivity, but rather the nature of backup: if data is reported to not have been written or read properly, Retrospect must report it to the user, to avoid data loss. People from time to time contact Dantz to complain that Retrospect does not work with a device, or that Retrospect reports an error, but that another application does not. There are many possible causes for this. First, and most frightening, it is possible that the other application is simply ignoring the error, and that your data is not actually being backed up properly. Second, there are many ways to access devices, including hundreds of commands and series of commands an application can use to send data. Another application may issue commands to a backup device in a different order, or in fact use entirely different ways of writing. This does not make Retrospect's access methods incorrect, or inappropriate (nor the other application's for that matter). Dantz spends tremendous resources on testing and qualifying various backup devices with Retrospect; if we certify that a device is compatible with Retrospect, we have thoroughly tested the drive. This does not mean that in some configurations other factors will not be able to interfere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVirtue Posted October 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Heheh! Thanks AmyC. You certainly answered my specific question about known incompatibilities with Intel's chipset software. But you seem to have read it as an "accusation" against Dantz. It wasn't intended as such. Incompatibility is a two-way street -- at least. As you say, other applications and other factors are also involved and you are quite correct in suggesting that they may "interfere". But, as I can't see myself replacing my entire system as a solution, I guess I'll just have to look for some other backup software that can work successfully with this particular "interference". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mparrish Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Once I install the Intel Application Acclerator drivers Dantz Prof. 6.0 doesn't recognize my Sony CRX-220A1 CDRW drive. I have to re-install Retrospect to get it recognized again. There IS a problem with Retrospect and the Intel Application Accelerator drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Hi, We have the following Knowlegebase record on this product... Application Accelerator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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