Restore issue...

[fury99]

Please help. When I attempt to restore data from a storage set with multiple members of media, Retrospect asks for the first member. It doesn't make any sense that when I back up data onto, say the fourth member of a storage set, that it should be asking for the first member.

 

All my backup is done manually. The data that is backed up is on firewire drives and put on DLT tapes. The DLT tape drives are 4000 and G4 macs running 9.2.2 with Retrospect 4.1 are doing the job.

 

Now I skip to a add a new tape to my storage sets when my tapes get around 19 gigs on them. I do not allow Retrospect to fill the tape and ask for a new one. I do understand that putting data on tape gets varyed results, so I found that no more than 19 gigs works for me.

 

Not all of my backup sets do this, but I am yet to find a common denomitator with the issue I am having.

 

I hope this is enough information. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[AmyJ]

I'm not sure that I'm completely wrapping my mind around your exact backup strategy, but I can certainly help you understand why Retrospect is asking for Member 1 during a restore, even though you may be at Member 5 (for example).

 

The first backup to a new backup set will copy every unique file on the source volume(s). During each subsequent execution Retrospect will look for new or changed files and copy them to the backup set. In other words, the new/changed data is appended to the end of the existing backup set.

 

Based on that information, let's create the following scenario:

 

** On February 4 I executed a normal backup of my computer to Backup Set A - all 150,000 files. This backup spanned 4 Members.

 

** On March 4 I executed a normal backup of my computer to Backup Set A - only 25,000 new/changed files where added to the backup set. This backup filled the remainder of Member 4 and spanned to Member 5.

 

My Documents folder contains some files that have not changed since the original backup on February 4. The folder also contains some files that have changed - so they were backed up on March 4 -- remember, subsequent backups only copy new/changed files.

 

On March 10th I lose my entire My Documents folder, so I need to restore the entire folder. The files that have not changed would be located somewhere on the first 4 Members used during the original backup. Recently modified files would be located on later Members. In order to completely restore the My Documents folder I would need all 5 Members.

 

Hope that helps!

[fury99]

I gotcha! Let me run a test on one of my storage sets and I will get back to you with the results. Thanks for the info.

[fury99]

It took a few days for me to rerun my storage set and I ended up with the same result. I will give you a some more information on what exactly I am doing to help you.

 

I am using retrospect as a archiving solution and not a computer backup solution. That was my bad for what I said in my original post. What I am doing is coping folders of files onto firewire drives, then putting them to DLT tapes.

 

Example: Folder created for January is called "987_0401" is copied to a firewire drive. A new storage set is created called "987-2004" and the folder is backed up to it. Once the folder is successfully copied to tape, it is deleted from the firewire drive and the server it orginated on.

 

The next month new folder has been created called "987_0402" that is copied to firewire. Before I direct Retrospect to copy the folder to tape, I configure the storage set to "skip" to a new member. Then I go forth with adding the "987_0402" to the "987-2004" storage set.

 

With most of my storage sets I am able to get 2 to 4 months worth of files with no issues. These storage sets do not ask for the first tape when restoring from a later tape in the set.

 

But there are a few storage sets that I am able only to get one month on one tape, because those folders run a average of 11 to 18 gigabits a month. With those storage sets I add a new member every month. These are the storage sets that keep asking for the first tape of the set to restore something that was put on a later tape.

 

Now I tried rebuilding a storage set two different ways, going with the information you gave to me. This particular storage set has four folders on it right now.

 

Round one: I put one folder on four different firewire drives and built a new storage set.

 

Round two: I put one folder on four different computers and built a new storage set.

 

I tried to restore the forth folder from both and Retrospect asked for the first tape each time.

 

So at this time I am still stumped. I hope this will help you.

 

 

Thanks