Media Request timeout error

[marka29]

Hi,

This is my first post and I'm fairly new to Retrospect. My customer is using version 4.2 on a PowerMac running OS9 and Appleshare. They have two scripts that run daily incremental backups. Everything has been fine but now they're getting Media request timeout errors. One thing I noticed -- last Thursday the script autolaunched at 7:45 A.M. when it normally runs at 3:00 A.M.. Apparently the customer had to reset the time because of Daylight Savings. Since then it's been running at the normal time of 3:00 A.M. and getting the Media errors. I have been able to verify the tapes and the script, both are O.K.. I'm just wondering what the best way would be to get the customer back on track. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[mcswgn]

A media request timeout means it was asking for a particular tape (or whatever the media is) during execution and it never got it before the timeout period expired. Typically this will be cause the current tape is full and it wants a new blank tape, but there can be other reasons like if you've already given it a tape and it now needs to go back and verify the previous one.

 

In the Retrospect window click on the Configure tab, then Backup Sets, and then double click on the current Storage Set. What does it say in the window that opens? It should give you a summary of the amount of data already in the storage set and either an estimate of an amount of space remaining (something like xx GB assuming a capacity of yy GB), OR say something like "appending will require a new member". (I'm grossly paraphrasing from memory.)

 

If it says you need a new member, then the current tape is full and it will need a new blank tape to continue. If it turns out that the tape is full, you should find out what their backup strategy is. How frequently are they recycling storage sets? It may be that it's time for this storage set to be retired and a brand new one started. If you/they want to continue the current storage set, then don't just stick in the blank tape. If there are multiple scripts & storage sets you will never know which one it will be joined to. Do an immediate backup of something to the desired backup set and then when it asks for the new tape, stick it in.