www.aiscl.co.uk

Until I get a couple of external USB hard drives, I am backing up my personal data to DVD+RW discs using the InCD packet writer. I leave the last disc of my backup set in the drive and have scheduled AISBackup to run the job every morning at 4:00 AM.

I am having a small problem with this setup. Fairly frequently, say once every three or four backups, my Trash file for Mozilla Thunderbird does not backup correctly. For example, this morning the session tab for this backup job had a red error: "Scheduled Backup: 1 File could not be restored when tested A full restore using this session may not be safe". I checked and the one file was my Trash file:

C:\documents and settings\Jeremy\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\*.slt\Mail\mail.myisp.com\Trash

This file is around 54 MB in size. I tried to run the job interactively and got the same error. I ran the job one last time and this time there were no backup errors.

Now I am not too concerned that my Trash file is sometimes not backing up, but I'd love to know why it is happening. Thunderbird was not open when the backup occurred, though it should have worked anyway since AISBackup handles open files right?

Version: 2.2.0.271
Physical Memory: 1024
Platform: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
CDDVDWriter1: E: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW TS-H552BTS04
PacketWriter: C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\INCD
ASPI: ASPI Set to: BinaryMagics version 1.0.0.0

I thought the problem might be the DVD, but why would I only get the error for one specific file every time? Do you have any advice concerning this problem, and will it go away when I stop using optical media?

Thanks!

Jeremy

To see if it is an optical media problem please backup this file (or folder) to disk a few times.

I will set-up thunderbird here and test the same.

Is this a multi session backup to the same DVD?

If the zip file still exists o DVD does it fail a WinZip test?

If the DVD is multi-session is AISBackup ejecting and reloading the disc prior to the test phase?

Another thought: Maybe Thunderbird is updating the file during the backup, this maycause a problem, especially if the backup is password protected.

Barry

Barry,

I cannot test for a while, but I know the answer to some of these questions.

I don't think the DVD+RW is multi-session, I formatted the disc using InCD. The entire backup job took 5 DVD+RWs the first time. I now have a sixth disc that stays in the drive all the time. My backup uses advanced sessions. I keep all monthly, four weekly, and six daily backups and have the prune option checked. The daily backups are usually < 150 MB, so combining that with pruning, I expected to not need a 7th DVD for a little while.

I'd have to check, but I think the ZIP file is deleted during the backup. I know AISBackup is not ejecting the disc, but I expect that is related to using InCD?

(On a probably unrelated note, while I was evaluating the software, I had a problem when using the AIS integrated CD writer where the disc changes were not visible until I rebooted the computer. In this case the DVD was automatically ejecting but it didn't seem to help anything. I found that going into InCD's options and unchecking "automatically format blank discs for InCD" fixed that problem. I guess the two apps were fighting over the disc?)

I don't think Thunderbird is changing the file, since I did not have the application open when I ran my second failed backup. In any case, the ZIP file is not password protected.

I really don't want to seed this discussion with lots of red herrings, but I remember when I was trying out AISBackup, using the integrated CD writer (but with a different batch of DVD+RW discs) I had one particular TIF file that consistently gave me problems backing up. It also usually took two or three tries before succeeding. However, it never changes, so it slipped my mind until just now.

I'll experiment with disk based backups when I get a chance. Thanks a lot.

There is an option in AISBackup to make the zip file on disk and then transfer to a packet writing CD or DVD rather than perform I/O directly to the DVD, this may help if there are issues writing directly to CD or DVD. I also know that in the past there has been problems with INCD but as far as I know the current versions work okay. There are definitely issues when backing up to INCD over a network share. Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / Create Backup File Then Copy To Media

AISBackup usually works okay with the integrated writer if the BinaryMagics ASPI driver is used - Tools / Program Options / Troubleshoot CD/DVD Problems.

It may also be worth checking the drive Firmware version.

Actually there is an INCD version dated: March 31st, 2006 4.3.23.2 available from Nero’s web-site. http://www.nero.com/

Barry

I found that checking Create Backup File Then Copy To Media seemed to solve my problem. At least I've not gotten it for a week. Thanks a lot!