dlwight Posted April 21, 2003 Report Share Posted April 21, 2003 I was given a LaCie 52x24x52x CD-RW FW Drive for use in backing up on my Mac with system 9.1. I upgraded to Retrospect Express 5.0 because the Dantz supported drive list indicated this would make Retrospect Express work with my new drive. Now I find that not only am I out $29.95 for the upgrade, but that I must wait for the time, if ever, that a driver is available for a Mitsumi CR-487ETE FW drive mechanism which is apparently at the heart of my LaCie product. Will such a driver be available in the near future or should I go back to backing up on 100 MB Zip disks, a tedious process that I was trying to escape? If the driver is never to be available, I would apprectiate the return of the cost of the Retrospect Express 5.0 upgrade as I feel that the Dantz supported drive list was misleading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted April 21, 2003 Report Share Posted April 21, 2003 When searching the Dantz device database for CR-487ETE, you will not currently find the drive. Were did you find the drive listed as being supported? Dantz will be adding support for this drive in a future update. To be notified when the next update becomes available, sign up for the following mailing list: http://list.dantz.com/mailman/listinfo/rdu_announcement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd813 Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 It's not that the 487-ETE CDRW from Mitsumi is on your list (it's clearly not).... the problem is that LaCie ( one of your prominent "partners" whatever THAT means) was using a Lite-on mechanism that your database says works "optimally" with Retrospect, and by the time I bought a 52X24X52 LaCie drive it has the Mitsumi mechanism, which is nowhere to be found on your list. Don't you guys TALK to each other ? You have LaCies Logo on your home page and this is the SECOND time in the last two years I've been burned like this by a combination of a LaCie drive and the lack of support from your software. I don't have the time or the money to be chasing after drive mechanisms that are almost always obsolete by the time you try to get one. The absolute blinding speed with which this switcheroo happend where the Mitsumi replaced the Lite-on mechanism is really infuriating. Save the blather about "not reasonable to expect Dantz to keep up with every mechanism" or the other annoying standard disclaimer "we are currently testing but cannot guarantee support ". The software is not cheap, the upgrades are not cheap, and the drives CERTAINLY are not cheap!!!!!!!!!!! Why, after all this time, is there not a standard spec that a drive can adhere to and be "Dantz Certified"? With a nice recognizable logo on the box???? If there were any real significance to the designation of a company as a "partner", I can't see how that would be an exercise in Rocket Science. Asking the sales clerk, whether online or in the store, what mechanism is in the drive is just not an acceptable or reasonable solution. It should not be that hard or that much of a crap shoot. It just should not. Pete D. StarStruck SoundLabs Wilmington, NC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 Our next release will dramatically change CD drive support and allow us to support more drives then ever before. There is no ETA at this time for the next release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd813 Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 That is good news, WHEN it happens. I need support right now. I have been using your software since 1995 and because I couldn't return the LAST LaCie drive I purchased that wasn't supported, I'm still backing up LARGE digital audio and LONG digital video files at 4x, and the last 8 years of my business are held hostage by existing as Retrospect backups on tape AND on CD. Even if there WAS a viable alternative in the marketplace I really wouldn't be able to "jump ship". When I bought my LAST Lacie drive that wasn't supported, I had neglected to double check on the Dantz Compatability Database before I made the purchase, Shame on me (sorta). THIS TIME I BOUGHT ONLY AFTER I CHECKED AND DOUBLE CHECKED THE DATABASE, AND THE MECHANISM THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE DRIVE WAS EMPHATICALLY DESCRIBED AS WORKING "OPTIMALLY" WITH RETROSPECT. I know this is not going to be what I want to hear but here goes...... I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to send my new Lacie/Mitsumi 52X24X52 back to the vendor, thus incurrung ANOTHER delivery charge and then going BACK to the quest for a Dantz compatible drive. Is it at ALL possible that Macintosh support for the Mitsumi 52X24X52 drive mentioned at the beginning of this thread is imminent? -OR- Since there are NO mitsumi firewire mechanisms on your database at all, does that mean that their implementation of firewire will make Mac support unlikely??? I know that your are probably tired of reading these tirades from me - I certainly am tired of having to write them. However, as a loyal customer that has bought EVERY applicable Macintosh upgrade over the years - I feel gypped and neglected. Pete D. StarStruck SoundLabs Wilmington, NC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 This drive is now supported as an ATAPI drive (as of our latest driver update yesterday, 4/28/03). We don't currently support the firewire version. Regardless of whether a company is a Dantz partner or not, it does not guarentee that we will be able to qualify new mechanisms before they ship, nor does it guarentee that we will support all of their drives, or even that they will ship all of their drives with Retrospect. We understand how frustrating it can be. That's why our next release has dramtically changed CD support, and is expected to help overcome the difficulties when vendors change hardware mechanisms, along with supporting new drives much quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlwight Posted May 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2003 I thought you would like to know that the new driver update works with my LaCie 52x24x52x CD-RW Firewire Drive with Mitsumi mechanism. I downloaded the update and was able to use Retrospect Express to back up my data just as I had hoped. It appears to work fine. I am now a happy camper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd813 Posted May 2, 2003 Report Share Posted May 2, 2003 OK... I REAAALLLYYY hope that the next release makes drive compatibility smoother. Reading the last post, I installed the Retrospect Upgrade (I had been using 4.3 since I was told that my 24x10x24 drive wasn't supported yet) After I installed retrospect 5 , I saw that there was a more current driver upgrade, but just for the hey, I fired up Retrospect and looked at devices. BEFORE I loaded the latest driver upgrade, my 24X10X24 showed up!!! The ONLY reason I purchased the 52X drive was because the older drive supposedly wasn't supported..It wasn't on the database lookup, and countless messages to this board and calls to customer service led me to beleive that it might never be supported. Any way, I installed the new driver upgrade, and the mitsumi works just fine as well. Sometimes I feel like I've stepped through the looking glass............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd813 Posted May 25, 2003 Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 By the way when IS the next Retrospect Macintosh release expected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 We don't have an ETA available at this time - we hope for a release sometime this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd813 Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 It sounds like the release has the potential to make me a happy camper........ after eight years of loyal use of your product, I truly hope this upgrade makes the whole device-thang more palatible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appleclubla Posted June 12, 2003 Report Share Posted June 12, 2003 I hope that Dantz Engineering is listening to your words and the others in this post. LaCie compatibility and compliance with Dantz is a beleagured option. As a Dantz consultant I have watched customers burn their money on LaCie drives only to find that Dantz has not put its money where its mouth is. This lack of support has been going on for years. I don't know who is to blame, the French head office of LaCie, the lack of development funds from Dantz or just someone not doing their job. The Dantz Partner program may be misleading consumers and even us technical consultants into believing that MOST of their products are supported. What irritates the most is that LaCie as a retail boxer is changing their mechanisms and NOT changing their model numbers. Other manufacturers and retailers do NOT do this, or they post the information. CD and DVD writeable formats are the future of backup. Lacie and Dantz should recognize this. Amy (moderator) has stated that the future Retrospect versions will have a 'dramatically' different driver support, but this means the purchase of more upgrades. LaCie drives made 1 year ago should NOT require a Dantz software NOT YET RELEASED in order to operate it correctly. My suggestion is to visit the local discount store with the printout of supported devices and pick the cheapest FULLY SUPPORTED device for your Retrospect version. And immediately return the LaCie hardware and the Dantz software for a refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loudbark99 Posted September 22, 2003 Report Share Posted September 22, 2003 Wow! This is really an amazing thread! I am SOOO surprised that there are some drives that Retrospect Express does not work with! My manual says that all I need is "a suitable backup device. This can be a CD-R or CD-RW drive, or a drive that mounts its media as volumes on the Mac OS desktop." It says NOTHING about drives that don't work! (Truly amazing hucksterism and flim-flammery; reminds me of the California recall election.) I have the same problem Pip does -- same La Cie drive and all. I, too, loaded the update but my drive is not recognized. (And yet, the drive shows up on the desktop!) The only thing is listed by Retrospect Express is Vendor: Lite-On; Product: LTR 52246S; Version: 6S0D; Driver: .sdapStubDrvr. What does all this mean, and does it really mean that I can't use Retrospect Express with my new La Cie drive? Oh, and what is "Auto Configurator"? I can't find any reference to it except in an obscure magazine article that I Googled. Thanks for your attention. Your friend, Loudbark99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loudbark99 Posted September 22, 2003 Report Share Posted September 22, 2003 This is truly amazing! I finally found the list of supported drives put out by Dantz, and this is what is said: LaCie d2 CD-RW 52x24x52 (LTR-52246S version) IEEE 1394/FireWire CD-RW It IS listed! But why then doesn't Retrospect Express work for me? Puzzled. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted September 23, 2003 Report Share Posted September 23, 2003 Quote: It IS listed! But why then doesn't Retrospect Express work for me? How about some additional information about your configuration? The hardware search engine also lists the minimum requirements in order for this drive to work with Retrospect. Have you checked to make sure you are meeting these requirements? LaCie d2 CD-RW 52x24x52 (LTR-52246S version) Retrospect 5.0 The following files are required for operation on OS 9.x: -Toast 4.1 (or higher) software -Retrospect SDAP Support (extension) -Retrospect Driver Update 3.2.104 or higher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commandf Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Hi there, We are getting 206 error constantly with the following system: G4-400MHz OS X 10.2.6 Retrospect 5.1 (driver update 4.1.109) LaCie d2 52x32x52 firewire This drive uses (according to Dantz phone tech support) the following mechanism: EZ Quest Boa LTR-52327S IEEE 1394 ...which was supposed to be supported by the last driver update. I've tried many times with multiple CDs to backup and when verifying, we get about 20 206 errors (we're using Verbatim 48x CD-Rs). We need to get this solved ASAP!!! We have GBs of data that needs to be backed up! PS> we waited 1.5 years for driver support for our 32x10x40 LaCie drive, and it's still NOT supported...I don't get it!!! --CommandF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commandf Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 ...one more thing to note, this is a brand new drive, and brand new CDs. Toast & iTunes burn fine with the drive & CDs. -CommandF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 While in Retrospect, go to Configure > Devices > Device Status and list Vendor, Product and Version for your drive. The LaCie d2 52x32x52 firewire is not the EZ Quest Boa LTR-52327S IEEE 1394 according to my database. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commandf Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hi there, Under the Configure > Devices > Device Status: ID: Firewire-A Vendor: Lite-on Product: LTR-52327S Version: QS09 Driver: CD-R-RDI (5.11) I spoke with Dantz & LaCie on the phone before I purchased this drive and they said it WAS the same mechanism as the EZQuest... Please inform. -CommandF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commandf Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 ...follow up... If it's not the drive, then what else could be giving us these 206 errors? It's a freshly installed OS X system...no 3rd party system hacks or anything like that. Thanks, CommandF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phalton Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 I too am having probems with the la cie external cdr. Toast is Toast Lite 5.2.1 Driver Update 3.6 Version 5.0.238 MAC OS 9.2.2 Whats the deal? It is listed as supported. I am getting ready to upgrade my harddrive on my iMAC DV from 10gig to 100+ but this is holding me up. Has anyone received contact from Dantz regarding this? Maybe a beta driver available? Any help will be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Hi Just to make sure we have covered the basic stuff- Have you tried running a backup with a base extension set + Retrospect only? How about bumping up the application memory for Retrospect? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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