Retrospect 5.6 on XP crashes after backup

[dhertert]

Consistently receiving blue screen of death from XP. Installed Maxtor external hard disk with bundled Retrospect 5.6 over USB. Finally got backup to perform after very rough start (many death screens - after clock runs when locating the device). Once a backup was completed, XP crashed again. And again after the next backup. And again after the next.

 

XP otherwise completely stable. Reading & writing fine from the new external drive. Researched knowledgebase with no helpful results. I sense that Retrospect is searching for a device somehow denoted as a back-up device (such as a tape drive) but all it sees is a hard drive ... tried to find somwhere in control panel etc. that would enable me to appoint the external drive as a back-up device, to no avail.

 

Running a Micron computer Pentium 3, 768 MB ram, 2 internal hard drives, Maxtor external hard drive over 2.0 USB, XP Pro service pack 1, system restore turned off for all disks.

 

Getting ready to return the drive & software - hope you can help me troublshoot as I need a functional backup system.

 

Thanks.

 

[awnews]

I don't have any specifics and I'm not set up exactly like you (although I'm running XP SP1 and RP6 with latest RDU w/o BSODs) but here are a few comments.

 

1) I didn't think that Retro5.6 was rated for XP--check the "requirements" and do a forum search (and wait for a mod to respond). I hate to suggest that you pay for an upgrade of the software when you're on the verge of returning it but...

 

2) Try turning on NT Passthru (rather than ASPI) using CTRL-ALT-P-P hidden settings. You should also check under the environment tap to see if you're running under ASPI or NT Pass now.

 

3) Turn off write-caching on your harddrives. This is under the Device Manager for each drive.

 

4) I don't think the USB drive will show up as a "back-up device"--it's just a harddrive, and it's *not* considered to be "removable" by the OS or RP. You can do a File or Disk backup to any harddrive.

[dhertert]

Thanks very much for your reply.

 

1. Bingo - Box advertises XP compatible but back-up software refers only to 2000 and NT at highest level.

 

2. Not a heavyweight user - not sure where to find "environment tap" info. And, ctrl-alt-p-p evokes no response on my machine;

 

3. Searched for where to disable write-caching ... nothing shows under device manages or under control panel/admin tools/computer management/storage/disk management (local) ...

 

Is the upgraded software compatible with XP?

[awnews]

Disclaimer--I haven't used 5.6 in a while, and it was under W2K, and I don't have it installed anywhere. Some things might have changed between 5.6 and 6.0. My comments are based on what I see in RP6.

 

2. Under RP6, it's in the left list as Configure->Devices-> which brings up a list of Storage devices. Click on the "Environment" tab for a list of devices that Retro knows about. It will also tell you if Retro on your machine is using ASPI or NT Passthru.

 

Ctrl-alt-p-p is done with the RP6 window as the front window. There are a bunch of hidden options, including "Execution" where forced NT Passthru is an option. I've had a lot of problems with ASPI (incompatibilities between ASPI versions and assorted software, blue-screen under XP and W2K, etc.) and avoid it where I can.

 

3. Under XP, click on your "My Computer"->Manage. Choose the Device Manager. Choose the [+] Disk Drive icon from the list. For each drive {+], choose Properties the Policies tab. Uncheck the "Enable write caching" box.

 

I did find a quote from Amy:

 

"5.6 was the first Windows XP compatible version of Retrospect" so I must be off thinking that XP isn't supported with 5.6. And I did find posts by others using 5.6 with XP (and having problems, not necessarily related to 5.6). On the other hand, Dantz doesn't seem to really be supporting 5.6 (no more updates, haven't seen a new RDU in while) so it's sort of a dead end. No guarantee that 6.0 would improve anything so hard to say whether you want to risk $50+ on an upgrade to find out. Maybe if they include a MBG?

[AmyJ]

Retrospect 5.6 is definitely Windows XP compatible - no upgrades are required.

 

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.