dhwagner Posted April 10, 2002 Report Share Posted April 10, 2002 What exactly is incompatible about the OEM Adaptec 2940U2B? I have a B&W G3 running MacOS X 10.1.3, with the 2940U2B card and two SCSI drives-the original 9 GB IBM DDRS-39130D drive plus an IBM 18 GB DDYS-T18350N. I have no intention of attaching any backup device to this drive. I can't imagine that Retrospect would have a problem with backup sources on hard drives attached to this card. I definitely don't want to spend $500 for an ATTO SCSI card, or replace my drives with an IDE drive and card. I currently use a Yamaha 16/10/40 firewire CD-RW for backup. I have definite thoughts about getting a VXA firewire tape drive. On a side note, is there any hope for the AIWA TD-U8000, or should I just junk this drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted April 11, 2002 Report Share Posted April 11, 2002 I was shocked today after I bought and downloaded 5.0. I got kernel panic on my G3 with OS X 10.1.3. After checking Dantz's support site, I see the OEM 2940U2B card is unsupported. What the heck?!? How can a piece of essentially Apple supplied hardware, which is otherwise supported in OS X, be unsuppored in the final commercial release of Retrospect. I can use it in Classic but that's not why I spent the $150. I will ask for a refund unless I get confirmation from Dantz that they WILL support the 2940U2B in the near future with a date of when they expect an update. Dantz? What gives? I am NOT going to buy another board. By the way, I use an external HP SureStore 70 DLT drive with a 68-pin SCSI connection. plexus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhwagner Posted April 11, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2002 I would really like to hear user reports on this. Most important for me is know whether Retrospect can back up SCSI hard drives attached to the OEM 2940U2B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted April 11, 2002 Report Share Posted April 11, 2002 The following text came directly from the Adaptec URL below: The following products have been discontinued and a software upgrade path for these products will not be provided. With the release of Mac OS X compatible drivers for all currently shipping PCI cards we are now in a position to update all of our SCSI PCI card product kits, when this process is complete we will then be able to begin offering an upgrade program for the following unsupported cards. This process is taking longer than expected, but we do continue to work on it. We apologize for the delay and any problems it may have created. Please check back for details. * PowerDomain 2940UW * PowerDomain 2940U2W * PowerDomain 3940UW * PowerDomain 3944UWD * PowerDomain 2940W If you purchased your Adaptec SCSI cards through Apple, please contact Apple for compliance information. http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/markeditorial.html?cat=%2fTechnology%2fMacintosh&prodkey=mac_osx_info&type=Technology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhwagner Posted April 11, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2002 Thank you for your reply. I was already aware of the information on Adaptec's site. Since they seem to be having enough trouble providing good drivers for their shipping products, I am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to provide a driver for the OEM 2940U2b, although I am grateful for their "maybe someday." That is a better answer than I got from Epson concerning the SC 850 printer. I would really like an answer to my question, however. I have been using my B&W G3/450 with OS X for several months now, with almost no problems. I can't see how Retrospect could somehow, in *backing up* a hard drive connected to the 2940U2B, could exercise a driver bug that would not be exercised in normal use. I understand that writing/reading tape drives attached to the 2940U2B is another matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 I can back up to DTL tape on a 7000 from the OEM 2940U2B under OS 9.2.2. Under OS X I get kernel panic when it starts writing. I will try backing up to an UW hard disk connected internally to the board. I really want to know from Dantz if they are eventually going to get Desktop to work with the OEM 2940U2B board. Dantz? please?? plexus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twovoltz Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 It's not up to Dantz to make Retrospect work with a SCSI card that the manufacturer says is not compatible OS X. That is up to Adaptec. If Adaptec is not making their own card compatible, how could the software possibly overcome that limitation? You should be voicing your concerns to Adaptec -- not to Dantz. Leave Dantz out of the picture, and your SCSI card is still not compatible with your OS. If Firestone said that none of their tires were compatible on Ford vehicles any longer, would you ask the company that makes your brakes to fix it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhwagner Posted April 12, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 I agree that it is not Dantz's responsibility to fix the driver. I just want them to tell us the extent of the incompatibility. It appears that there are serious problems writing or reading to tape drives connected to the OEM 2940U2B. That is a problem for some, but it is not a problem for me. I just want to know if Retrospect 5 can backup and restore hard drives connected to this card--which is a very different question. The Preview worked fine for this, although it had trouble re-building catalogs from CD-R backup sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twovoltz Posted April 15, 2002 Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 I would look at it this way: Because the card is not supported, nothing connected to the card will be supported. "I just want them to tell us the extent of the incompatibility. It appears that there are serious problems writing or reading to tape drives connected to the OEM 2940U2B" -- Ask Adaptec. It is THEIR incompatibility. "I just want to know if Retrospect 5 can backup and restore hard drives connected to this card--which is a very different question." -- But it's not a different question. The hard drive is connected to an unsupported card. The vendor is saying don't use this card under OSX, so how could a hard drive communicate properly across this card? I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's simple concept. It doesn't matter what software you use, or what drive (hard drive, tape drive, etc.) you attach to the card because the card is not going to properly transmit data if it is unsupported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhwagner Posted April 15, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 The OEM 2940U2B was sold by Apple as part of certain B&W G3 models. It is Apple's responsiblity. Neither Apple nor Adaptec has ever said that the card is incompatible with Mac OS X. The Adaptec statement quoted earlier in this thread by John Mayoff simply says that if you bought your card through Apple, look to Apple for driver updates. Dantz has stated that their product is incompatible with the 2940U2B. Perhaps they are the only ones whose sofware product is not compatible with this card; without access to facts, we can't know. I suspect that Retrospect has problems writing to or reading from tape drives connected to this card; we have seen reports on this forum to that effect. It may well be that there are SCSI commands that relate only to communication with tape drives, or that are not used in communication with hard drives. No one has posted any message on this forum that says they have a problem backing up a hard drive connected to a 2940U2B using a back up device that is connected by other means and is otherwise known to be supported and working. Moreover, the Preview worked fine for backing up hard drives connected to a 2940U2B. I have asked a very simple question, and so far it has not been answered. "Are the known incompatiblities of Retrospect 5 with the 2940U2B limited to its use with tape drives?" Similarly, "Have there been any reports of Retro 5 failing to back up or restore hard drives connected to a 2940U2B using supported back up devices?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted April 15, 2002 Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 This may shed some light: I just bought DVD Studio Pro 1.5 which will prepare a DVD project for replication and write out to either DVD media or DLT. DLT is the prefered way to deliver a DVD for replication. My HP DLT7000 drive is connected to my OEM 2940U2B card in my G4/400 AGP via a 68pin LVD cable. This configuration does not work with Retro 5.0 under X. It does work with Retro 5.0 under OS 9. This is consistent with the unsupported hardware list on dant'z web site. I also have 2 UW SCSI drives connected to the 2940U2B card internally. These drives work fine uner OS X. Now, does DVD Studio Pro, under OS X, work with the DLT7000 drive? The anwser is... YES! It just wrote out a DVD project. So, my conclusion is that the issue is with Dantz not Apple or Adaptec. The card works and is supported under OS X. My feeling is that Dantz did not finish the drivers for this card under OS Xin the release of 5.0. They even say somewhere that OS X interfaces with SCSI in a different way than OS 9. I think it works under OS 9 because they are just using the olde drivers that were parts of the ADK. Now, Dantz... will you eventually support the OEM 2940U2B card under OS X? That's all we want to know. Hell, it's a peice of Apple supported hardware. Common... tell me yes. Tell me you have an update that is due out anyday now. Tell me it's free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted April 15, 2002 Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 Further to my previous post, I am also doing a hard disk to hard disk back up right now under os X. Both drives, source and destination, are UW on the 2940U2B internally. This is pointing more and more to a Dantz tape driver issue than an issue with the hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted April 19, 2002 Report Share Posted April 19, 2002 The Adaptec 2940U2B is fully unsupported by Retrospect on OS X. This adapter was heavily tested and failed in every case. When Retrospect attempts to send data to a tape drive attached to the 2940U2B card, a kernel panic occurs immediately. The problem is with the Adaptec78XXSCSI.kext kernel extension. Apple is looking into this issue right now. Hopefully a fix for this incompatibility will be released in an upcoming version of Mac OS X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgpalma Posted April 25, 2002 Report Share Posted April 25, 2002 As I have posted in other places the 2940U2B, that came with the B&W G3 servers, has worked perfecetly for me. We are backing up to a new VXA-1 tape drive and have encountered no difficulties, others appear to have worse luck with this set-up. It is unsupported but so-far so-good. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhwagner Posted May 14, 2002 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 I finally bought the release version of Retrospect. I bought the Workgroup version because I still think I might have to run Server just to get reliable export of home directories. Despite having an Adaptec 2940U2B in my B&W G3/450 (Mac OS X 10.1.4), Retrospect worked fine in backing up both the B&W G3 and my Pismo (via the network client for Mac OS X), to a firewire Yamaha CD-RW drive (16-10-40, using CDR's). It was a bit of a nuisance that the Preview uninstaller removed my preferences so that I had to remember where my catalog files were. They were hard to find, since I was logged in as an ordinary user and the catalogs were under /Users/admin/Documents/Retrospect-Catalogs/. Anyway, as far as I can tell, there are no problems with the 2940U2B if the card is not used to communicate with a back-up device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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