[Lindsay Simpson]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your reply. I agree and initially thought an individual tape might be causing the errors. I went ahead and unwrapped a brand new tape and began the process again. Alas, same issues occurring with the same TOC error appearing on my first attempt, at less than half tape capacity, on the new tape.

I thought perhaps again it was the procedure I was using and tried a slightly different approach after erasing the new tape following it’s first TOC error. For the next attempt I copied about 400 GB of media to the staging folder and then dragged/dropped it’s entire contents into the VTAPE folder rather than transferring one media directory at time, which could be anywhere from 4 GB to 64 GB. Here is a link to the latest TOC error on the new tape.

toc_error_420gb_staged_transfer_6_19_12.png

I will purchase a head cleaning tape and try that next. Do have any brand preference when it comes to head cleaners? How often do you recommend running a head cleaner? I will report back following the clean.

Thank you,

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Thanks to you both for pointing me in the right direction. I’ve got it sorted out and of course it’s rather easy. I figured the issue was my lack of knowledge of the proper tool.

Thanks again,

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Hi Rolf,

Sorry for the confusion, but when I asked about your reply, I was referring to the email correspondence we had begun specifically regarding my systems inability to archive anything from the CatDV plug-in. I responded to your email with all of the information you requested, which I have copied below, and have yet to receive a response in that correspondence.

“Cache-A Version: 2.1.14
CatDV Pro 9.0.6
Windows 7 Ultimate

The Cache-A is only mounted on one machine and it is a NAS mounted drive with 1 Gb/s speed. The source media that is being pushed to the vtape for archive is sitting on a RAID-0 array with an SAS connection.

I am not playing media from the vtape, but yes I am simply using the vtape as the appropriate conduit to archive files to tape.

Yes, it consistently archives okay using the Finder if I first copy files to a CacheA share, internal HD, and then move the files into the vtape. This is the only way I have performed a successful, error free archive. I have documented that if files copied to the Cache share, internal HD, are copied and pasted to the vtape rather than dragged and dropped or moved, I received the same ‘resource temporarily unavailable’ error.

Yes, it fails every attempt I have made in CatDV, which I agree is very strange. ”

Thank you,

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Hi Rolf,

Just wanted to touch base here as I haven’t received a response from the last email I sent you including the system specs you requested. Perhaps my email was caught in your spam filter? I don’t mean to seem pushy, I am just eager for some feedback and to continue moving in a positive direction to get our plug-in working.

I am happy to provide any and all details you may feel to be of importance. I can even provide step by step screen shots etc. Just let me know how I can help facilitate this. At this point I’m stumped and out of ideas (at least for today) of what other factors to test in terms of isolating an issue specific to our system. Could an uninstall/re-install of CatDV have any affect?

Thanks again for your patience and feedback,

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Okay, so I realize I’ve been told on a few occasions now by different sources that file/media type shouldn’t matter, but I decided to do a bit of testing anyways.

I took a single clip from each of our media types and converted each of them into 8 different formats with a QT wrapper. The formats ranged from ‘Animation’ codec to basic DV NTSC. I also threw an AVI and H264 example in the mix as well. I then imported these files,which are sitting in an isolated location on our raid drive, into a blank CatDV catalog. Next I fired up the CacheA, re-initialized a tape I have been testing on, configured the CatDV plug-in to point to the correct VTAPE, highlighted a portion of the clips no more than 20 to 30 GB at a time, and started the archive using the CatDV plug-in. Not a single one of these files transferred without error ‘Resource temporarily unavailable’.

I moved a few test files over to our C-drive to try an archive from there and eliminate the Raid as a factor, but had the same error filled transfer result.

At this point I feel there has to be something funky going on with my CatDV software/plug-in. Rolf, CatDV, can you guys chime in? I’ll try you through your formal support contact as well.

Thanks,

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for clarifying the restore procedure for CatDV. I will be sure to follow that process, once I have an error-free, successfully archived a catalog.

As for the issues that seem to specific to our system, at this point I am at a bit of a loss. I have also been working with our IT specialists on everything from examining permissions on all related hard drives to our network connections, including testing different Ethernet cables.

I will continue archiving directly to the CacheA using the staged transfer method for now, and fingers crossed perhaps will have a new revelation or idea to test out. I am open to any suggestions you might have.

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Ah yes, I understand now. Thanks for clarifying Nate.

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Jeff,

Good to know ‘Archive Media Tools’ = plug-in for future correspondences.

As for the drag/drop vs. copy/paste your explanation definitely makes sense. I’ll continue using the drag method, and I was mostly just curious on that issue as I found it strange. Another thought I had on that was permissions differences between simply moving a folder (drag/drop) and re-writing a folder (copy/paste).

Yes when working with the plug-in which is ideally what I want to do, the staging folder does not play and a role and it shouldn’t have to. Not sure why our plug-in seems to be failing…which again seems to bring me back to media type, though Rolf and others have said it shouldn’t be an issue.

I just checked our network connection and we are running at 1 GB/s just as you are. I just performed another quick archive test and as soon as the data starts appearing in the Cache UI transfer log so do the red ‘x’s and associated errors which are frequently ‘Cannot open: Resource temporarily unavailable’ as noted in the transfer log I provided earlier.

I have another thought about the archive fields in CatDV, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Thanks again for your feedback as I am strangely more optimistic now than I have been for some time regarding this situation. Have a great evening!

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

Hi guys,

Is it sad that at this point I am happy to accept a pessimistic outlook on this workflow? It’s just nice to not feel quite so crazy or that it is entirely based on operator error.

Yet its very frustrating indeed. Over the past few months, as I have been solely responsible for establishing this media archive system, I have felt like a hot potato at times, bouncing between CatDV and Cache-A support with little headway made.

I also have little trust when it comes to having absolute knowledge that files have been properly archived. My latest attempt to ‘Restore Media Files’ in a CatDV to CacheA test resulted in this error:

Perhaps I am missing a step in terms of restoring through CatDV? But it seems to me if I have to manually locate the file, or media directory containing a specific file, through the Cache UI and move it to the VTAPE within the CacheA UI, this defeats the purpose of restoring through CatDV.

Jeff, correct me if I’m wrong, but what you are doing is archiving by moving a CatDV catalog file to the VTAPE. Correct? I haven’t tried that method yet. I have only used the function built into CatDV itself, and am careful to select 20 to 30 GB chunks of clips inside a specific catalog to send to archive at one time. The chunk size limit was recommended by CatDV or CacheA (I can’t remember at this point). Also just FYI we do not operate with a CatDV server here. We are a two-person crew with only one edit system utilizing a raid array for main media storage and attempting to establish this CatDV/CacheA based archive system.

I just did a quick repeat test of a P2 media directory archive, performed three different ways on a freshly re-initialized tape.

Attempt 1 (first event in attached transfer log) was out of CatDV utilizing the ‘Archive Media Files’ tool.

Attempt 2 was a basic, staged transfer where the media directory was copied to a ‘staging folder’ on the CacheA share drive and then copy/pasted from the stage folder to the VTAPE folder. This is when the directory file size seems to change.

Attempt 3 was a basic, staged transfer where the media directory was copied to a ‘staging folder’ on the CacheA share drive and then dragged and dropped from the staging folder to the VTAPE. This is the only way so far that I have performed successful transfers. I have tested this recall successfully (going to test again now…just to verify).

4032_aedirectorycatalogcopypastdragdroptranferlog42412.htm.zip

ae_catalog_test.png

Nate, you had mentioned looking at file size by hovering over a file in the CacheA UI correct? I had not noticed that feature yet, but when I tried it, I get nothing. One thing I have noticed in regards to file size is that on occasion a media directory will be a larger size according to the Cache UI log at the end of the transfer.

Nate, what type of media are you archiving through CatDV? Does your production house convert all media upon return from a shoot out of it’s native format?

Jeff thanks for sharing media type…yes I was curious as to whether it was a media type specific issue. Forgive my ignorance, but is worker node a feature only accessible if you have a server-based CatDV system? Not sure I entirely understand the role of the server though I realize it is a key tool when working in a larger production house.

I had some concerns about portions of the MXF file structure not being archived with the associated media files through CatDV, such as MXF .txt files and empty folders built into the structure for proxies and additional metadata. I feared that when restored our NLE wouldn’t be able to read the MXF structure if it was missing components, empty or not. I have been able to ease my fears of this matter with a bit of testing at least with my P2 media.

In terms of basic archives to the CacheA, skipping CatDV, has anyone noticed any difference when performing a staged transfer as to whether the desired media in the staging folder on the CacheA Share is copy/pasted to the VTAPE folder or dragged/dropped to the VTAPE folder? Numerous tests on my end with these slightly different methods with an almost empty LTO tape and CacheA share drive, have proved that if media is copy/pasted to the VTAPE rather dragged/dropped, the transfer will produce various, seemingly random errors and not be completely successfully.

As far as illegal characters and file naming issues, I have tested that as well and haven’t come up with any road blocks on our end in regards to that. I performed various tests with the same directory with a name from the most basic to more complex using underscores and numbers, all with success if, and only if I transfer via the basic, staged transfer using the drag and drop method. I even tested file path length as the MXF structure can be deep and file path did not prove to be a limiting factor.

Having spent a significant amount of time importing, adding metadata, and sorting our raw media directories in category/subject based catalogs for efficient, long term accessibility post-archive and with our main raid storage almost at capacity, I am extremely eager to verify a successful CatDV to CacheA Archive and Restore with a successful test. I’ve taught myself not to get my hopes up too much. Every time I think I’ve sorted it out, something different seems to pop up.

Anyhow, now that I have mastered the staged, basic transfer, for now I am sadly skipping CatDV until I can figure out how to successfully restore from an archived catalog etc. Any suggestions on that issue?

Lets’ continue this conversation. Thanks and good luck to all on this archiving journey!

Lindsay

[Lindsay Simpson]

You are spot on when you say the ‘LASTCLIP.txt’ file is unnecessary. I performed a test I had yet to think of. While Premiere no longer recognizes the media as specifically P2 media provided thumbnail images in the Media Browser, the footage can still be imported by selecting the clips within the ‘Video’ folder of the media directory.

Just a reference for future thread readers mostly.