102 error

[mmoncino]

I have a Dell Dimension 4100 -- 2 years old. It has a 40 GB hard drive. I have 5 logical partitions and one real one that Win ME (Original OS) is installed on. I run Retrospect express 5.6.127.

 

 

 

I back up my PC twice a day---once to CD-RW drive (my data files); the second time to one of the hard drive partitions (a FULL backup of the C: D: (program files) and E: (data files) drives.

 

 

 

This has worked well EXCEPT the backup to the hard drive (partition H:) ends up with an 102 error. This has happened twice -- about a month or so after the backup scripts have been working flawlessly. The data backup to the CD-RW works fine still.

 

 

 

The error occurs with automatic runs (nightly) or when I run the script manually---"trouble writing media, "file name", error-102 (trouble communiciating)

 

 

 

The partition that contains the backup is 6.53 GB, of which 4 GB is "used" and 2.53 is "unused".

 

 

 

The last time this happened, I delted the backup and the script, wrote a new one and --- it worked fine for several weeks. I forget the amount of "used" drive space when it happened last time.

 

 

 

thoughts???

 

 

 

mark

[AmyJ]

From the Knowledgebasecolor=blue>

 

 

 

Tech Note 503w Backup to Hard Drives-Windows

 

 

 

Retrospect is able to make use of space available on external USB, FireWire, SCSI, or IDE hard drives for backup. Once the drive can be accessed within Windows Explorer it can be used as a backup destination. For information on backing up to a network drive, please see Technical Note No. 309 - Backing Up to File Servers with Retrospect.

 

 

 

To use an external hard drive for backup, you have three options: back up to a File Backup Set stored on the destination hard drive, back up to a Disk Backup Set, or do a Duplicate of your source hard drive to your backup hard drive. This Tech Note is designed to outline the features and limitations of backing up to hard drives. For complete instructions on how to backup or duplicate to hard drives, please see the tutorials at: .

 

 

 

File Backup Sets

 

 

 

A file backup set is a single file that contains all the files you have backed up, and that can be stored on any random access device (like a hard disk). Like tape or removable disk backup sets, you can incrementally backup to hard drives and optionally compress your data. The drawback is that hard drives are not removable media and cannot easily be stored off-site for safekeeping. USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) drives that are hot swappable offer greater flexibility in this. Incorporating more than one backup drive allows for true media rotation, increasing the security of your backup strategy. Unlike other types of backup sets, a file backup set does not have a separate catalog file. Its catalog is stored internally in the file itself.

 

 

 

A file backup set stored on a Windows volume is limited in size according to the format of that volume:

 

 

 

* FAT16: 2 GB

 

* FAT32: 4 GB

 

* NTFS: 1 TB

 

 

 

Unlike other types of backup sets, a file backup set does not have a separate catalog file. Its catalog is stored internally in the file itself. Right-click on your drive in Windows Explorer and get Properties to see the file system.

 

 

 

The following tutorial shows how to use a file backup set with your hard disk:

 

 

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=27446

 

 

 

Note: A file backup set is the only "backup" choice for Retrospect 5.x users when writing to a hard drive.

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Backup Set and Retrospect 6.x

 

 

 

A DISK BACKUP SET consists of one or more disks, partitions or drives, and operates much like other backup set types. You can do incremental backups, add new disks or disk space, and it supports software data compression. The drawback to the DISK BACKUP SET is that destination disks are not always removable media and thus cannot easily be stored off-site for safe-keeping. USB or IEEE 1394 drives that are hot-swappable offer greater flexibility in this. Incorporating more than one backup drive allows for true media rotation, increasing the security of your backup strategy.

 

 

 

Unlike a File Backup Set, the DISK BACKUP SET is not limited by the size or format of the drive it's saved to, and offers you a great deal of flexibility. For example you may choose how much size to allocate to each member.

 

 

 

Creating and Backing up to your Disk Backup Set

 

 

 

Launch Retrospect from the Retrospect Programs group found within the Windows Start Menu. Click Backup. In the Volume Selection window, use the mouse to select the disks you would like to back up, and click OK. Now, begin creating your new Disk Backup Set. (If you already have backup sets created, click Create New.) To back up to a hard drive, be sure to set the Storage Type to Disk. Enter a name for your new Backup Set. Under Catalog, you may change the location of this catalog file. This table of content to your backup data is usually saved to the My Documents folder on your hard drive. Do not save this to the disk you wish to use for backup. Once you've entered in the Backup Set name, and chosen any options, click OK to save the Backup Set. Now that you have created your DISK BACKUP SET, you can use this as a destination in your backup. In the Backup Set Selection window, highlight the backup set you just created and click OK. Retrospect will now display the Immediate Backup summary window. If the summary looks correct, click Backup in the lower right corner of the window. Retrospect will present destination disk window. Choose the hard disk that you want to backup to then click Proceed. The Add New Member to Backup Set window will appear. If this is a disk, with other data that you wish to keep, choose the maximum disk space that you want to allot to Retrospect and click OK. Retrospect will execute the backup and report its progress. Upon completion, if there are any errors, Retrospect will note this, and direct you to the Operations Log for details. For future scripted or immediate backups, just select the newly created backup set as your destination.

 

 

 

 

 

Duplicate

 

 

 

Retrospect offers another option for copying data to a hard disk: the duplicate feature.

 

 

 

The first duplicate operation will copy all files from the source volume, keeping them in Windows format. Subsequent duplicate operations will be incremental, copying and replacing files that have been modified or are new. Identical files are not copied again.

 

 

 

What is the difference between Backup and Duplicate?

 

 

 

o Backup copies files in a proprietary format only accessible using Retrospect. Duplicate copies files in standard file format so they can be opened or used right on the backup disk without having to go through Retrospect.

 

 

 

o Backups offer optional compression, not available with Duplicates.

 

 

 

o Backups offer optional encryption, not available with Duplicates.

 

 

 

o Backups can save old data incrementally so files deleted from the source are still available in the backup. Duplicate basically keeps a mirror image of the source so each duplicate operation overwrites previous data and only retains the current files.

 

 

 

o Duplicates are always a one-to-one operation; one volume is duplicated to one volume. If you have multiple volumes to duplicate you will have to create an empty folder on the destination for each disk you wish to copy. You can then define those empty folders as "Subvolumes" from within Retrospect. This will allow you to copy Source volume #1 to destination subvolume #1 and Source volume #2 into destination subvolume #2. The Retrospect User's Guide contains detailed instructions on how to configure a folder as a Subvolume.

 

 

 

o Duplicating of the registry is off by default

 

 

 

 

 

Troubleshooting

 

 

 

-1115 (Volume Full)

 

The destination volume has little or no available storage space. You must free up disk space on the destination before attempting the next backup or duplicate operation. You may encounter a volume full error when a file backup set has reached the maximum size allowed by the disk file system.

 

 

 

-102 (Trouble communicating)

 

The File Backup Set has reached the maximum file size limit (2 GB, 4 GB or 1 TB). Recycle the existing Backup Set or start a new Backup Set. This error may also occur if the volume is full.

 

 

 

Hangs under XP writing to USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) hard disks

 

Windows XP has a "System Restore" feature turned on by default. To increase backup stability try turn off "System Restore" from System Properties for "all drives" by going to: Control Panels > System > System Restore.