Dan Montgomery
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Who needs that iPhone Health app? lol.
Lots of files are simply going to take time. But there are a few things you can do. One is in the Settings>Video turn OFF the “Determine video type” feature. This setting creates thumbs for each known video file type, and also extracts the metadata for known types (timecode, frame rate, codec, etc.) so it takes processing time.
Alternatively, you can leave the ‘Determine type’ ON and set the advanced OPTIONS for it to ignore certain file extensions or small files, etc.
Also, on the Prepare Backup window, check the box to “Automatically begin backup after indexing is finished”. This eliminates the need for your presence to hit the Begin button once indexing is ready (so you can keep on walking).
PS: We routinely test with hundreds of thousands of files. However, there is no need to write an entire tape at once. You may add to it in several smaller sessions. After all, it’s not a WORM drive.
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Yes Tom, PreRollPost tracks file positions on thte tape for efficient sorting and retrieval. You may import any LTFS tape in Settings>Local Indices>Index Generic LTFS Tape
PreRollPost also creates its own thumbs for video files and presents tem in the Retrieve window (which is organized similar to Finder for easy navigation)
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George, are you sure they’re actual font files and not symbolic links?
For linked files, it usually helps to include the source ones in your backup too.
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Yes Tom, PreRollPost tracks file positions on thte tape for efficient sorting and retrieval. You may import any LTFS tape in Settings>Local Indices>Index Generic LTFS Tape
PreRollPost also creates its own thumbs for video files and presents tem in the Retrieve window (which is organized similar to Finder for easy navigation)
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Oh. And to verify the contents of the tape against the source files, you can retrieve them from the tape to a disk. Then run ShotSum to compare the two.
With ShotSum ($99) you can check any files or folders at any time. You can also find all the instances of the same files across several disks or network, etc. (regardless how they’re named).
ShotSum, like ShotPut Pro, has an option to save the MD5 checksum values to a text file with the files. If you do this, at any time in the future you can check the files integrity by just dropping this .md5 file into ShotSum (or ShotPut’s checksum utility) and the software will follow the embedded links to check the associated files against the md5 checksums of the originals. This of course has the advantage that you may move or copy the files and always be able to verify they’re exactly matching the originals.
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PreRollPost is an LTFS application. In LTFS, after copies complete the tape is recued to read each file (retrieve them) to compare MD5s to those of the source files. If you have a lot of files this step obviously can take some time to complete.
Once that’s done, the index partition on the tape is updated to reflect the data that’s been written to the tape. During this timeframe PRP also updates it’s SQLite database file with the new information. Again, this step may take some time if there are tens of thousands of files involved. Once all these steps are complete, you’ll get a ‘Done’ notification (or error information if any checksum problems are encountered, etc.).
So, if you completed the copy but quit the app and ejected the tape during the next phase your data should be intact. It’s just the indices and second checksum that didn’t get a chance to finish.
Depending on the severity of tape damage you’ll be prompted to do different recovery steps when the tape is next mounted. PRP will first attempt to repair the tape–getting the index on the tape to match what’s found in the data partition. Sometimes you may have to use implicit LTFS commands which are provided to you in a simple ‘Tape Recovery Utility’ interface under PRP’s application menu (above Quit). These recovery tools are designed to be used in sequence–usually the ‘Full Recovery’ is all that’s needed to get the tape’s partitions back into sync.
The next option is named Deep Recovery and it’s commonly needed when the tape is improperly ejected, power lost during the write process, etc. It should only be used if the Full Recovery is unsuccessful because this process can take hours to complete.
The last option is Read Only Mount. It’s the last resort and generally only needed in cases of actual physical damage to the tape or it’s memory, etc.
Any of these recovery options should never be interrupted once started. Otherwise you run the risk of the tape becoming permanently unmountable.
So, again, in your case it’s probably a simple matter of running the Full Recovery to get the tape’s index back in good shape.
To put this tape, or any other LTFS tape, into PreRollPost’s database: Go to Settings>Local Indices. Click on the lower left button to ‘Index Generic LTFS Tape’. This will copy the tape’s index information into PRP’s database and it will then be Retrievable/Searchable in that window. (To remove any tape or session from the retrieve view, select it and press Delete on your keyboard. To add it back, use the steps just described.)
Hope this helps. It’s generally not a good idea to stop an archive in progress if possible.
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Actually, PreRollPost is ‘video aware’ so we intelligently split data between tapes such that each is self-contained. In other words, to retrieve a video volume or project never depends upon more than one tape. The contents of each stands alone (a much safer scheme IMHO).
And PreRollPost does not say “sorry, not enough space”–it simply prompts for another tape to complete the backup if it exceeds the capacity of the mounted tape.
Imagine Products had worked with auto-loaders in the past, it’s not magic. Just hasn’t been a priority for us yet with this software line.
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Eric,
Tim’s right about OSX 10.7…get away from that as soon as you can. OSX 10.9 is a better choice at the moment as 10.10 will soon be upon us!
To avoid folder and file naming issues, etc. it’s a good idea to use an application for the copying that checks and corrects errors. Not to mention the backside of archiving–speeding up the retrieval process.
Try the demos–there are several software solutions out there now at various price points (e.g. BRU, PreRollPost, YoYotta, etc.)
Dan
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Kevin,
We have quite a few users of this software now. It’s matured a lot over the last 3-years. Some of the more recent additions is the (obvious)support for the new mTape LTO drives. PreRollPost installer has all the drivers needed to get up and running in just a click, regardless of your tape manufacturer.
Many users of PreRollPost are supplying video to Discovery Channel and need an easy, certified way to create LTFS tapes that meet their specs.
There’s a free demo you may try, even if you don’t yet have an LTO deck. And of course several tutorial videos available to help you get familiar with it quickly.
BTW, I’m pretty sure mLogic has plans for more reviews of the mTape & PreRollPost together. We and they will both be showing the two products together at IBC for those folks coming to the show.
Dan
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Steve,
That’s very curious. First, typically caching should NOT be disabled–especially on Mavericks. The suggestion to do so often helps older, slower systems. It MAY help on 10.9 if your system is underpowered on RAM. Since you say it did not help, best to turn Caching back on. While you’re in advanced preferences, make sure you’re Ignoring hidden files/folders. Copying those could easily explain things getting slower and slower.
If purging log history doesn’t help, that means your backend database file getting too large isn’t the problem either. You may want to try restarting the computer as other apps may be draining your RAM. Also, I assume you’re not running anything else while copying…
I’m wondering if your CF card reader may be the culprit. These tend to overheat with continued use, so it’s a good idea to have at least two and rotate between them to allow for internal cooling. If you have a multi-card reader check that the driver is up to date. In general, reading one card at a time is much faster than trying to read and copy from multiple ones.
Also make sure your output destinations aren’t fragmented and you’re not making two copies to the same drive or to the computer’s internal hard disk (usually much slower than an external drive). And reformat the CF cards fresh in the camera once in awhile too.
Last of course is the potential for faulty hardware–the drive or connectors to them, however any of these should cause copy errors and halt the offload.
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