Re: Hardware Error

[Matthew Tevenan]

David,

If the error occurs when this drive is connected to three different
machines, and you've tried multiple cables and terminators, I'd look toward
a drive problem. However, make sure you've cleaned the drive heads and tried
the drive without the other SCSI device(s). I'm assuming this is built-in
SCSI? If not, make sure you've tried a different card. Try some fresh tapes
in the drive too. 

If the drive still fails after swapping out all these variables, you've
isolated the problem to the only variable left--the tape drive. This is a
device error--generated by the device itself.

If you have further problems, please call tech support directly. Our number
is 925.253.3050, and we're open Monday through Thursday 9 to 4 Pacific Time,
Friday 9 to 2:30.

Regards,

Matthew Tevenan
Technical Support Specialist
Dantz Development Corporation
925.253.3050 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> From: "David Thornton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 13:30:43 -0500
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Hardware Error
> 
> I've got Retrospect 4.2 running on a 7100/80, backing up to an HP 1533 DLT
> mechanism in an external enclosure. This drive is used only for a specific
> small backup set on a client machine, and backs up daily with a recycle
> backup weekly. About two or three times weekly, the script will fail with a
> hardware error 203, and ask for a new tape. The log shows the following
> information:
> 
> Device trouble: ³1-Game Security², error 203 (hardware failure)
> Additional error information for device "HP DAT DDS-DC" [0:1],
> Sense > 70 00 04 00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 00 00 44 00 01 00 00 d8
> (HP  |C1533A  |9503)
> 
> The 203 is generally a SCSI related error, but because this error has
> appeared consistently when running this script while the drive was attached
> to three different computers (7100/80, G3/266 desktop, and Server G3/266
> beige), and with numerous different (new) cables & terminators, I'm leaning
> towards the problem being somewhere other than the SCSI chain. Also on the
> SCSI chain is a DLT-2000 that backs up a much larger set of files, and has
> never given a hardware error. Is it possible that the DLT mechanism itself
> is on its way out, or should I keep t-shooting the SCSI chain?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give.
> --
> David G. Thornton
> Graphics Systems Manager •
> CCL Label, Sioux Falls, SD
> e-mail:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> Boot, you transistorized tormentor! Boot!
> -- Archibald Asparagus
> 
> 
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Hardware Error

[David Thornton]

I've got Retrospect 4.2 running on a 7100/80, backing up to an HP 1533 DLT
mechanism in an external enclosure. This drive is used only for a specific
small backup set on a client machine, and backs up daily with a recycle
backup weekly. About two or three times weekly, the script will fail with a
hardware error 203, and ask for a new tape. The log shows the following
information:

  Device trouble: ³1-Game Security², error 203 (hardware failure)
  Additional error information for device "HP DAT DDS-DC" [0:1],
Sense > 70 00 04 00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 00 00 44 00 01 00 00 d8
(HP  |C1533A  |9503)

The 203 is generally a SCSI related error, but because this error has
appeared consistently when running this script while the drive was attached
to three different computers (7100/80, G3/266 desktop, and Server G3/266
beige), and with numerous different (new) cables & terminators, I'm leaning
towards the problem being somewhere other than the SCSI chain. Also on the
SCSI chain is a DLT-2000 that backs up a much larger set of files, and has
never given a hardware error. Is it possible that the DLT mechanism itself
is on its way out, or should I keep t-shooting the SCSI chain?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give.
--
David G. Thornton
Graphics Systems Manager •
CCL Label, Sioux Falls, SD
e-mail:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Boot, you transistorized tormentor! Boot!
-- Archibald Asparagus


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Multiple Tape Drives

[Julia Frizzell]

Thanks for the replies to my earlier posts, folks! The person who ran 
the backups before me told me that she went through a year of backups 
with one set of tapes before she had a problem with the "tape eating 
its tail," so something somewhere along the line (maybe with earlier 
versions of Retrospect?), we either erased the tape and started over, 
or she didn't know what she was talking about.

Now, one more question. I have a feeling I know the answer to this 
already, but...

If we purchase another tape drive, is it possible to tell Retrospect 
to backup a certain selection set to one drive, and another set to a 
different drive? I read in the manual, and here on the list, that you 
can use two drives as a "poor man's autoloader," which I understand 
how it works and it's fine.

However, I'm interested in test driving the new VXA drive, and was 
hoping I could use it to just backup our servers, and not our client 
desktops. I'd like to leave those still backing up to our DDS-3 DAT 
drive.

So, am I out of luck?

Thanks in advance, again!

-- 
--
Julia Frizzellhttp://www.netspace.org/~glyneth
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.theblackroad.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  ICQ: 8458071
"The courts have ruled that Microsoft has performed an illegal
function and will be shut down." -- Rewind, NPR


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Re: Chunk checksum errors

[Matthew Tevenan]

Todd,

Check out Dantz Technical Note 307, at



Bottom line is that these are most often caused by Retrospect files that
have become corrupted. Moving the DAT drive internally probably wouldn't
make that much of a difference, though if the error is happening randomly
only once in a while, it may be caused by SCSI configuration problems. Check
the note for full troubleshooting tips, and call us if you have further
questions.

Regards,

Matthew Tevenan
Technical Support Specialist
Dantz Development Corporation
925.253.3050 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> From: Todd Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 08:10:41 -0700
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Chunk checksum errors
> 
>> Ok guys,
>> 
>> What causes this???  This happens about every 2 weeks.  It always
>> happens in the middle of a backup.  The error is -24201  Hardware is
>> a 7200/120 with a 10/100 Asante card with current drivers.  Retro 4.2
>> and driver update 1.9  DDS-3 drive was external, was placed
>> internally 2 weeks ago trying to solve this problem.
>> 
>> 
> 
> Todd Williams   UCSD ECE Computing Support Group (858)-534-7821
> 
> 
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File Size limit to PC Drive?

[Jeff]

If I am backing up to PC drive from my Macintosh is there a file 
limit size with version 4.3?

-Jeff


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Chunk checksum errors

[Todd Williams]

>Ok guys,
>
>What causes this???  This happens about every 2 weeks.  It always
>happens in the middle of a backup.  The error is -24201  Hardware is
>a 7200/120 with a 10/100 Asante card with current drivers.  Retro 4.2
>and driver update 1.9  DDS-3 drive was external, was placed
>internally 2 weeks ago trying to solve this problem.
>
>

Todd Williams   UCSD ECE Computing Support Group (858)-534-7821


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Re: simple question: Retrospect won't quit

[Matthew Tevenan]

Jeffry,

If Retrospect is not quitting after your backup but you have the
Special>Preferences>Unattended setting set to "Quit," remember the
look-ahead time. This is what Retrospect uses to gauge whether or not the
backup Mac should be quit. If there is a script in existence that is
scheduled to run within the look-ahead period (defaulted to 12 hours), it
will not quit so that this script can successfully execute. You can change
this to a minimum of one hour.

If everything seems in order, try running the backup with nothing else
loaded on the machine. Something else may be preventing Retrospect from
executing the shut down command. You can also try restarting with minimal
extensions before the backup.

If you have further questions, please call us directly. Our technical
support number is 925.253.3050, and we're open Monday through Thursday 9 to
4 Pacific Time, Friday 9 to 2:30.

Regards,

Matthew Tevenan
Technical Support Specialist
Dantz Development Corporation
925.253.3050 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> From: "Jeffry C. Nichols" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:00:40 -0500
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: simple question:  Retrospect won't quit
> 
> I currently am running several scripts, one of which backs up every
> client each day.  When I had only that particular script running,
> Retrospect would "auto start" normally, run the script, then quit and
> e-mail me the log file--no problem.
> 
> Recently, however, I've added some scripts to run _after_ the main
> one, backing up all files on each client, one client each night.
> That script also works fine, e-mails me the results, but it doesn't
> quit after it's completed.
> 
> I didn't change the settings, and when only the main script is
> running (like on weekends), then the program quits fine each time
> after completing the back up.
> 
> Any thoughts as to why this might be?  It's a minor annoyance, but
> still puzzling.
> 
> Thanks.
> Jeffry C. Nichols, PhD
> Instructor/Lab Coordinator
> Rice University
> Biochemistry Department
> Houston, Texas
> 
> Phone:  713-348-2660
> 
> 
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simple question: Retrospect won't quit

[Jeffry C. Nichols]

I currently am running several scripts, one of which backs up every 
client each day.  When I had only that particular script running, 
Retrospect would "auto start" normally, run the script, then quit and 
e-mail me the log file--no problem.

Recently, however, I've added some scripts to run _after_ the main 
one, backing up all files on each client, one client each night. 
That script also works fine, e-mails me the results, but it doesn't 
quit after it's completed.

I didn't change the settings, and when only the main script is 
running (like on weekends), then the program quits fine each time 
after completing the back up.

Any thoughts as to why this might be?  It's a minor annoyance, but 
still puzzling.

Thanks.
Jeffry C. Nichols, PhD
Instructor/Lab Coordinator
Rice University
Biochemistry Department
Houston, Texas

Phone:  713-348-2660


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Re: DLT autoloaders?

[Jon Gardner]

on 7/25/2000 3:07 AM, Larry Acosta Wong at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> So, which is the winner? For me, I'm torn between the VXA-1 and
> AIT-1. The PC Mag article made the VXA-1 look pretty bad but I'm
> thinking that it's just relative and that the performance numbers for
> the AIT-1 would be pretty similar. Plus the July Ecrix promo making
> the VXA 70% cheaper than the AIT forces me to try out the VXA. Even
> better, I can buy two VXA drives for less than the cost of one AIT
> drive and make a poor man's autoloader!
> 
> 
> One last alternative, a friend of mine decided to skip the whole tape
> drive thing and buy a Quantum Snap Server 4000 ($2,469) instead. The
> Snap Servers ship with DataKeeper. Anyone have any experience with
> this? It only works under Windows but it allows "real-time"
> continuous back-up. On the Snap Server 4000, you get up to 120GB of
> storage.

At 70% cheaper, the VXA is definitely the way to go, especially if most of
your backup data is being pulled across the network AND your backup data
will fit on one VXA tape (I hate swapping tapes). While backing up the local
machine to the VXA drive, Retrospect reported 4Mbps throughput at one point,
but the network backups are considerably slower (though still more than
twice as fast to the VXA than to a DDS-3). I think that the VXA has allowed
us to max out the network bandwidth, so we wouldn't see any real benefit
speed-wise by using a higher-dollar AIT.

We're actually using your second idea for our offsite backups. I set up an
old Motorola PPC clone with Mac OS 9, Rumpus, and a 50Gb LVD drive in
another facility...we do a local backup to the VXA, and an offsite backup to
an ftp storage set on the clone.

So, we never have to shuttle tapes back and forth for the offsite backup,
and a week's worth of local backups fits on one VXA tape. It all adds up to
a major decrease in the hassle factor of our backup strategy, and it didn't
cost much at all. That makes me happy, plus it impresses my boss. :)

<><
Jon L. Gardner '89, Computer Systems Manager 
Texas A&M University Dept. of Food Services 
Tel 979.458.1839 * Fax 979.845.2157 * Hip 979.229.4323
PGP public key available at 





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Re: 4.3 and the bleeding edge

[Malcolm McLeary]

Hi Robin,

On 25/7/00 6:50 AM, Robin Mayoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>My point is that the -23 has been known to be caused by extension conflicts.
>It may be worth while to attempt to reproduce the problem with basic Apple
>extensions to see if the problem goes away.

After disabling Virex 5.9.1, Retrospect 4.3 was able to access the 
storage sets created on the weekend and perform a full restore to my 
server.  :-)

Does Virex 6.1 cause the same problem?

Cheers,  Malcolm


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   Information Alchemy Pty Ltd
 ACN 089 239 305
   Canberra, Australia

Malcolm McLearyMobile: 0412 636 086
Managing Director  Email:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 This message was sent using Claris Emailer 2.0v3 for Macintosh.  



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Re: File locking and Retrospect

[wayne ingalls]

Julia wrote:
>We've just recently become interested in purchasing some commercial
>product to allow for file/disk/folder locking, for more security on
>our desktops.
>
>Can anyone tell me what effect this might have on Retrospect backups,
>and what, if any, products will work with Retrospect to make sure the
>backup is successful?

We use DiskGuard at our office to lock access to the desktop. It runs on
both the client machines and my backup server. It has no effect on
Retrospect. I would imagine that other products would act the same.

>And I'm assuming that no one has any ideas on my earlier question
>about the tape rewinding and starting over again, which means I need
>to start a new tape set.

Sounds like you ran out of space and need another tape. My backup is
taking 6 tapes a week - if you look in the manual, there are instructions
on how to estimate the amount of storage you will need to complete a
backup.

You might want to try filtering some files that aren't important or that
no one will ever ask you to restore as a way to save space and reduce
the number of tapes you need. I have a long list of filters, but some
easy ones are

-anything in the trash (there are people who never empty it here)
-anything in the Netscape/IE cache folder
-anything in Recent Apps/Docs/Servers folders
-anything in OS 9 Temporary Items folder
-movies or mp3 files? (not that anyone would have many on their drive)

To see how much space you might save, try an immediate restore
on one of the folders listed above - you might be surprised how much
junk is on your tape. Another option instead of using filters is to ask
the clients to enable "personal files/folders" and mark the browser
cache folders with a bullet (opt/8) to screen them out. I find filters
work better, because the clients don't have to remember to mark
the folder again after a reinstall.

hth,
-wayne
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




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Re: DLT autoloaders?

[Larry Acosta Wong]

I, too, am in the market for a new tape drive. Here's what I've found:

Exabyte M2: 60GB,  12MB/s, $3777 ($80 media)
Sony AIT-2: 50GB,   6MB/s, $3289 ($94 media)
DLT 8000  : 40GB,   6MB/s, $3915 ($64 media)
Sony AIT-1: 35GB,   3MB/s, $1913 ($88 media)
VXA-1 : 33GB,   3MB/s,  $939 ($67 media)
DDS-4 : 20GB,   3MB/s, $1072 ($33 media)
Mammoth   : 20GB,   3MB/s, $2126 ($56 media)
DLT 4000  : 20GB, 1.5MB/s, $1352 ($64 media)
Mammoth-LT: 14GB,   2MB/s, $1193 ($35 media)
DDS-3 : 12GB,   1MB/s,  $777 ($16 media)
Eliant 820:  7GB,   1MB/s, $1160 ( $8 media)
DDS-2 :  4GB, .51MB/s,  $606 ( $7 media)

-Native capacity listed, compressed capacity is typically 50% more
-Sustained transfer rate listed
-Cost is based on internal model with wide SCSI connector (if available)
-VXA-1 tape drive is even cheaper through Ecrix July promo ($539)
-Media listed is highest capacity format in single packs


So, the fastest, highest capacity tape drive is the Exabyte 
Mammoth-2. Unfortunately, it's one of the most expensive as well.

My understanding is that DLT drives aren't well geared for the 
repetitive start-stop-start pattern of incremental backups done by 
Retrospect. DLT drives tend to overshoot the tape and thus spend a 
lot of their time rewinding. This drive is best suited for backing up 
a large continuous flow of data. Sound right?

I've used AIT's in the past and I've been very happy with them. A few 
broken tapes but it wasn't too difficult to disassemble the Seagate 
autoloader and remove the tape.

VXA-1 seems like the deal. Good capacity, fast performance, 
super-duper reliability, fantastic price. Unfortunately, it received 
the worst performance scores by PC Mag 
. 
But, that test was against only the higher performance versions of 
the other tapes drives (M2, DDS-4, DLT 8000, and AIT-2).

DDS (aka DAT) is definitely the most popular, price is good, media's 
cheap. But, everyone I know with DDS drives has had perpetual 
reliability problems (both media and mechanism). Someone said that 
this had to do with the thinner tapes found in the DDS-2 drives and 
that the problem had gone away with the DDS-3 drives. Anyone verify 
this?

So, which is the winner? For me, I'm torn between the VXA-1 and 
AIT-1. The PC Mag article made the VXA-1 look pretty bad but I'm 
thinking that it's just relative and that the performance numbers for 
the AIT-1 would be pretty similar. Plus the July Ecrix promo making 
the VXA 70% cheaper than the AIT forces me to try out the VXA. Even 
better, I can buy two VXA drives for less than the cost of one AIT 
drive and make a poor man's autoloader!


One last alternative, a friend of mine decided to skip the whole tape 
drive thing and buy a Quantum Snap Server 4000 ($2,469) instead. The 
Snap Servers ship with DataKeeper. Anyone have any experience with 
this? It only works under Windows but it allows "real-time" 
continuous back-up. On the Snap Server 4000, you get up to 120GB of 
storage.

The obvious drawbacks are:
-finite storage tops out at 120GB (or 90GB with RAID 5 enabled)
-no off-site backup
-no complete images of hard drives
-no historical backup

The advantages are:
-allows users to recover files without admin assistance
-high performance (hard drive vs. tape)
-real-time backup
-no backup server to maintain or purchase.


At 1:34 PM -0500 7/24/00, Robert Cooper wrote:
>Hello List,
>
>I am looking into DLT vs DDS for a tape library.  I went and read the old
>posts on the Ecrix and Mammoth DLT drives.  I was wondering what the user
>experience has been with them now, since it has been some months since these
>posts were put up.


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