Jump to content

Retrospect 5.0 and DVD–Ram problems


Recommended Posts

I have a Dual 500 MHz PowerPC G4 and am using Mac OSX version 10.2.1

It has a DVD Ram 4.7 GB

 

Having recently purchased a copy of retrospect backup 5.0, I tried to use it with Maxell 9.4 GB double sided DVD–Ram

To start off with it seemed to be working fine and began the backup, however it only copied 2.0 GB of the data before an error message came up. I assumed that this was the fault of the disk and tried another disk, this time it copied only 1.0 GB of data before another error message came up.

 

Error Messages: The Operation could not be completed, An unexpected error occured (error code -36)

The Operation could not be completed, Disk cannot be read or written (error code -36)

Error code -206

 

I have since tried to backup with a LaCie 5.2 GB double sided DVD–RAM and had the same problems. I have used DVD–Ram before to backup my work without using Retrospect and have so far had no problems. However since using retrospect the problem has got worse and I am now unable to even format DVD–Ram.

Is it possible that these disks could have been damaged by retrospect whilst being formatted, or do you know of another problem that may have occurred?

 

I would be grateful for any suggestions…

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

There is nothing in Retrospect that could damage the discs. With DVD-RAM discs Retrospect sends a standard erase command to the operating system. Retrospect does not load drivers or have direct access to the drive - data transport is done through the operating system.

 

-36 is an Apple generated I/O error. From the Knowledgebase:

 

Sometimes the Disk First Aid utility and even Norton can not detect the -36 error.

 

Apple's Drive Setup does not do a "low level format" on IDE hard disks, which means that bad blocks (-36 errors) will not be fixed by using the format option in Drive Setup. Zero all data is also not helpful

 

You should run the "test disk" option in Drive Setup. This will look for and repair bad blocks (sector sparing as Apple calls it).

 

Apple's TIL entry for this error:

 

Type -36 error (I/O Errors) This file is having difficulty while either reading from the drive or writing to the drive. The file may have been improperly written data to the drive or the hard drive or disk may be damaged. This is almost always indicative of a media error (hard error on

the disk). Sometimes (rarely) it is transient.

 

Solutions: Try copying the file to another drive. Use a disk recovery software, such as Disk First Aid to examine the disk. You can try rebooting with all extensions off. Once in a while this will allow you to read the data. The file in question should be restored from a backup that was stored on a different disk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did think that there may be problem with one of my files, but I tried using several different types of DVD Ram and each time it stopped writing in a completely different place, it never stopped writing on the same file.

 

I spoke to the manufacturers of the DVD–Ram and they told me to send them back to see if they were faulty disks, even though they were brand new. As I did not want to send all my files to the manufacturer, I tried to reformat the disks before sending them back and was unable to do so, Disk First Aid examined the disks and when I tried to erase them this way, it just kept coming up with errors and ejecting the disk. I tried them on other machines and they couldn't be read or written to on any machines.

The disk manufacturers also could not understand why and they couldn't fix them either.

They sent me back new disks, I didn't want to risk ruining the new disks, so I tried to back up a few files without using retrospect, just using the finder, however I am now unable to even Initialize a disk, I just get an error and the disk ejects.

 

As I said in the my previous message, I have been using DVD_Ram for at least a year and never had any trouble until I started using them with retrospect, now I cant use them at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...