Re: Error 212, VXA, Retrospect 4.3

[David Weeks, weeks.de]

On Don, 2. Nov 2000, 23:16:46 Uhr GMT David Weeks wrote:


   >a VXA drive which we are running on an Adaptec SCSI
   >card in a PPC 8500/200 with128MB RAM.
   >Backups run just fine and very fast, but after having backed up the entire
   >network (probably 40GB) the next incremental backup suddenly stops and
asks
   >for the tape that's already in the drive. This tape is now marked as
   >"gelöscht" which is German for erased or deleted. When this first happened
I
   >ejected the tape and put it straight back in the machine and it appeared
to
   >recognise it but when I tried to continue the incremental backup it
brought up
   >an Error 212 message. When I tried to retrieve data from the tape it
appeared
   >to rewind to the correct spot and start to retrieve the document, but then
   >stops and again brings the error 212 message.


On the advice of several different people, I moved the VXA onto the external,
built-in, SCSI bus and started a backup. The backup ran just fine but the
verification just brought up the Error 212 message again. As far as the
hardware was concerned this was pretty much all I could do, short of moving
everything onto a different Mac.
So I started looking at Retrospect once more, something I had done dozens of
times already. Whilst I was checking everything through I came across the
option in my backup script for Software Data Compression (or whatever its
called in English ­ I'm using a German system) where it says that software
compression will be ignored if the drive is using hardware compression, which
it is. Following the tried and tested troubleshooting principle of "if you
don't absolutely need something, switch it off" I did just that ­ and guess
what...? Yup! the next attempted backup with verification ran just perfectly
and the subsequent retrieval of random documents as well.
After an all-time personal-best deep sigh of relief I was ready for more.
Would it work with the Adaptec card? In a word ­ yes! A full unattended backup
from all clients ran perfectly overnight, peaking out at around 235MB/min.
This doesn't seem to be a hardware problem in the strictest sense, and I also
don't think that it's a software problem because we've been using Retrospect
with DAT drives for years with this setting switched on (the defaultsetting).
Instead it seems to indicate an incompatibility in the Firmware.
Thanks to Chad Chelius and Jim Coefield for your knowledgeable help in
narrowing down the problem and to Frau Wohlfahrt at Dantz Europe for
responding so quickly to my cry-for-help. 

Best regards,

David Weeks
___
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Tel. +49 (0)89 811 79 840
Fax  +49 (0)89 811 79 860
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Re: Error 212, VXA, Retrospect 4.3

[Jim Coefield]

Dave,

I'd first follow the advice given me by Ecrix Irena a few weeks ago, 
and if that doesn't help, most likely your drive is experience some 
sort of scsi problems with your computer. I'll forward you that post.

If that advice doesn't help, I'd contact Ecrix and tell them about 
your situation. Pulling logfiles and giving them sense information 
from the drive will help to resolve the situation. Some of us with 
certain configurations have been working with Ecrix to resolve 
problems with Retro Mac and VXA drives. They are working on firmware 
updates to resolve specific problems that folks are experiencing. I 
have found Ecrix to be most responsive to folks with certain 
configurations who can help them debug their drives.

Jim Coefield
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


>Subject: Error 212, VXA, Retrospect 4.3
>From: "David Weeks, weeks.de" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 00:53:51 +0100
>
>Hello All,
>
>two weeks ago we bought a VXA drive which we are running on an Adaptec SCSI
>card in a PPC 8500/200 with128MB RAM.
>Backups run just fine and very fast, but after having backed up the entire
>network (probably 40GB) the next incremental backup suddenly stops and asks
>for the tape that's already in the drive. This tape is now marked as
>"gelöscht" which is German for erased or deleted. When this first happened I
>ejected the tape and put it straight back in the machine and it appeared to
>recognise it but when I tried to continue the incremental backup it brought up
>an Error 212 message. When I tried to retrieve data from the tape it appeared
>to rewind to the correct spot and start to retrieve the document, but then
>stops and again brings the error 212 message.
>The first time this happened I thought that I had maybe set up the script
>incorrectly or had inadvertently deleted the tape. Therefore yesterday I
>rewrote the backup scripts and backed up the whole network again onto a new
>tape. This evening I came back into the office to find that todays incremental
>backup had also stopped and was again demanding the tape already in the drive.
>All other details are again as described above. This is, as you will surely
>realise, a very disturbing situation for us as we are now without a safetynet
>and our old DAT based system simply cannot cope with the amount of data we are
>generating.
>if anybody is able to shed some light on this Iwould be very grateful.
>
>Best regards,
>
>David Weeks
>
>--



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Re: Error 212, VXA, Retrospect 4.3

[David Weeks, weeks.de]

On Fre, 3. Nov 2000, 2:26:50 Uhr GMT Chad S. Chelius wrote:


   >The first step I would take in troubleshooting this situation would be to
   >isolate the SCSI bus.  Are there more than 1 SCSI device on the Adaptec
SCSI
   >bus?  Is your VXA drive terminated properly?  One other option would be to
   >temporarily attach your drive to the 8500's built in SCSI bus.  Also I'm
   >just curious as to what operating system you are using.  Please update us
on
   >your situation.

The VXA is the only device on the Adaptec card, which incidentaly is a 2930,
and is correctly terminated using the Ecrix terminator.
MacOS is 8.6. 
I'll certainly try it on the built in SCSI bus, but as this problem only seems
to occur at the end of a tape, and although the VXA is very fast, backing up
60+GB does take a while!

Best regards,

David Weeks

___
weeks.de Werbeagentur GmbH
Tel. +49 (0)89 811 79 840
Fax  +49 (0)89 811 79 860
ISDN (Leo) +49 (0)89 811 79 880
ISDN (EuroFile) +49 (0)89 811 79 881


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Re: Error 212, VXA, Retrospect 4.3

[Chad S. Chelius]

> Hello All,
> 
> two weeks ago we bought a VXA drive which we are running on an Adaptec SCSI
> card in a PPC 8500/200 with128MB RAM.
> Backups run just fine and very fast, but after having backed up the entire
> network (probably 40GB) the next incremental backup suddenly stops and asks
> for the tape that's already in the drive. This tape is now marked as
> "gelöscht" which is German for erased or deleted. When this first happened I
> ejected the tape and put it straight back in the machine and it appeared to
> recognise it but when I tried to continue the incremental backup it brought up
> an Error 212 message. When I tried to retrieve data from the tape it appeared
> to rewind to the correct spot and start to retrieve the document, but then
> stops and again brings the error 212 message.
> The first time this happened I thought that I had maybe set up the script
> incorrectly or had inadvertently deleted the tape. Therefore yesterday I
> rewrote the backup scripts and backed up the whole network again onto a new
> tape. This evening I came back into the office to find that todays incremental
> backup had also stopped and was again demanding the tape already in the drive.
> All other details are again as described above. This is, as you will surely
> realise, a very disturbing situation for us as we are now without a safetynet
> and our old DAT based system simply cannot cope with the amount of data we are
> generating.
> if anybody is able to shed some light on this Iwould be very grateful.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> David Weeks
> 
> 
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> 
> For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
> 
David,
The first step I would take in troubleshooting this situation would be to
isolate the SCSI bus.  Are there more than 1 SCSI device on the Adaptec SCSI
bus?  Is your VXA drive terminated properly?  One other option would be to
temporarily attach your drive to the 8500's built in SCSI bus.  Also I'm
just curious as to what operating system you are using.  Please update us on
your situation.

Chad Chelius



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