Assertion check at "elem.c-812"

[kaelin]

I am a new Retrospect user with a 5.1 workgroup license. Thus far I am only using Retrospect on one machine (Mac OS X Version 10.3.1, Dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 GB DDR SDRAM), to back up the local system drive to an external firewire disk (a LaCie Big Disk 500GB, also new).

 

I have successfully done a few test scripted backups, including scheduled Regular backups. However, my attempt at a scheduled Recycle backup to my test backup set was a minor disaster. First, the backup failed with the error message:

 

Quote:

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Trouble in Retrospect:

Internal consistancy check failed:

Assertion check at "elem.c-812"

 

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This left my (luckily test) backup set empty, and its catalog file apparently irrevocably locked somehow. Rebooting the machine did not unlock the catalog. I could not trash the catalog and recreate a new one. Basically, the backup set was hosed.

 

Not to be discouraged, I created a new backup set -- only to find that after a couple of tests it too manifested a locked catalog file and became unusable. Becoming concerned, I attempted to verify an old, non-test backup set, and it too was unreadable! Same error: a locked catalog.

 

I became concerned that there might be a problem with my firewire drive, so I ran Disk First Aid and sure enough it found and repaired several problems with the volume. But in subsequent ad-hoc tests of the drive I have not seen any indications of faulty hardware. It seems to me that Retrospect may have been responsible for the errors.

 

After recovering the volume with Disk First Aid, I can again access my backup sets (no more locked catalog errors for the moment) -- but I am obviously concerned about the reliability of Retrospect at this point. Was this just a fluke, or is this a commonplace occurance?

[natew]

Hi

 

For these kinds of errors be sure to restart the machine before trying another backup - that can take care of this kind of thing about 80% of the time. If the problems continue try creating new preference files for Retrospect as they may be damaged.

 

Nate

[kaelin]

I had to restart the machine numerous times while trying to get Retrospect to work reliably. I'm now seeing other crashes as I try to use the network backup feature of my Workgroup license. Sigh. This is far and away the most dissappointing software utility I've ever come across.