The Retrospect Driver Update is a plug-in extension for Retrospect 4.0 or Retrospect Express. It updates Retrospect or Retrospect Express to support new drives and to work around a bug in the “MESH” SCSI controller found on various Macintosh and compatible computers.
INSTALLING THE DRIVER UPDATE
To install the Driver Update, drag its icon into your Retrospect folder (the same folder in which the Retrospect or Retrospect Express application resides). The next time you open the application, the Driver Update loads automatically. You can verify it loaded by examining the operations log.
If you previously installed version 1.0, 1.1, or 1.2 of the Retrospect 4.0 Driver Update, move it to the Trash before installing this new update. Version 1.3 retains all the functionality of the earlier versions.
SUPPORTED DEVICES
This Driver Update adds support for the following CD-R and CD-RW drives:
Mitsubishi CDRW226. Requires firmware version 1.20.
Mitsubishi CDVR2X6. Requires firmware version 1.11 and asynchronous SCSI.
Philips OmniWriter 26. Requires firmware version 1.20.
Ricoh MP6200S, MP6201S. Requires firmware version 1.20.
Yamaha CDR400c, CDR200c. Requires firmware version 1.0j.
Philips drives: If you need the data from a disc damaged by a power failure, please contact your Philips drive reseller or call Philips directly at 408.467.3628.
Ricoh drives: Ricoh recommends you use media from the following manufacturers only: Ricoh, Kao, Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui Toatsu, TDK, and Kodak.
Yamaha drives: To update your drive’s firmware, visit Yamaha’s web site at www.yamahayst.com.
NOTE: With certain CD-R and CD-RW drives, in the unlikely event the power fails while writing, the disc and all files previously copied to it may be unusable. We recommend that you protect against this by rotating media to create multiple copies of your data. See the Retrospect User’s Guide or Retrospect Express User’s Guide for more information on rotating media in backup strategies.
For Retrospect only, this Driver Update adds support for the following tape drives:
AIWA TD-8001. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Hardware compression. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
Exabyte Eagle NS8. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Optional hardware compression. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
Seagate STT-8000, Hornet 8. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Optional hardware compression. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
Tandberg NS8. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Hardware compression. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
Tandberg TR4. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
Wangtek TS-420c. 2 or 4 GB capacity using QIC-3095 or TR-4 cartridges. Hardware compression. Requires asynchronous SCSI.
MESH SCSI PROBLEMS
A bug in the “MESH” SCSI controller found on various Macintosh and compatible computers causes Retrospect to report errors such as “data offset,” “resource offset,” “trouble communicating,” and “bad StorageSet header.”
AFFECTED DEVICES
Testing by Dantz has shown the MESH bug can affect the Sony SDT-1000, -1020, -2000, -2000E, -4000, -4000E, -5000, and -5200 DAT drives. We have encountered no problems with other devices, including Sony’s later, faster DAT drive models.
If you use one of these drives with Retrospect, you may need the Driver Update only if you use the drive with one of the following computers with the MESH chip.
AFFECTED COMPUTERS
The MESH chip controls the internal SCSI bus of the Apple Power Macintosh 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, 9600, and Workgroup Server 7350 and 9650. It also controls the internal SCSI bus of Power Computing’s PowerWave and PowerTower Pro, and UMAX’s J700 and S900. Because the external SCSI buses of these machines are not controlled by a MESH chip, any external drive you connect—even one of the drives listed above—will not encounter the MESH bug problem.
The MESH chip controls the single SCSI bus of the Apple Power Macintosh 4400, Performa 5400, 5500, 6360, 6400, and 6500, and PowerBook 2400 and 3400. It also controls the only SCSI bus of APS’ M•Power, Motorola’s StarMax, Power Computing’s PowerBase, UMAX’s C500 and C600, and any other computers based on Motorola’s “Tanzania” motherboard.
