StoreEver Tape Storage
1745875 Members
4412 Online
108723 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

 
CA756694
Honored Contributor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

HP cannot distribute Colorado Backup II anymore. So, if this worked, it would purely be a workaround for those that had CBII version 9.0/9.1.

John
Eagles may soar in the clouds but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
CA816442
Advisor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

Jeff,

A good idea, and it did provide some results:

I tried installing CBII 8.1 as Win2000 and no go, but when I changed the compatability to WinNT4 it installed. Then on rebooting it produced BSOD's. I had to go back to Last Good Configuration. That got be booted ok and as CBII was installed I tried it but the media was not recognized.

I then tried CBII 9.0 and that suckere installed with no need for a compatability setting. that is also the one my buddy is successfully using. I rebooted and no problems. I started the program and it sees the Colorado 8GB internal drive but it does not like the media, even a newly unwrapped tape.

At this point I am running the same configuration as my friend: XP, Colorado 8GB internal, CBII 9.0 -- working for hime but not for me.

Since my tapes are either new or previously used by NovaBack I'll go over to my friends house today and intitialize 2 tapes for use by CBII and try again.... but I do not feel very hopeful.

Sounds like HP "signed" away the right to develop driver code when it licensed CBII to BackMyPC people, providing them a non-competitive advantage to offer the only software backup software that can run on the HP hardware.

I'm only musing here, but that has a bad smell of non-comptetitive practices in the marketplace...

HP should take the initiative to support its customers at the basic driver level so we can run any backup program that previously supported this drive.

-Ric
...like a rolling stone
CA756694
Honored Contributor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

Ric,

Cards on the table ?

Rightly or wrongly, we have never owned the whole solution (hardware, driver, software) except for a short while after we bought out CMS some 8 or 9 years ago.

I am left with a legacy situation here which is proving tough to work through.

Although, we are discussing some good options. Many of these are simply not achievable for one reason or another.

cheers
John
Eagles may soar in the clouds but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
mike topper
New Member

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

I say this is a lot of BULL. The 5 & 8 Gigs were fine in their time. I have already waited too long to back up my files. If HP will not cut us a deal on an UPGRADE, then I suggest customers look into RAID Technology or do what I am planning to do soon, purchase a new tape drive from another vendor.

Cheers don't restore crashed systems ...

Best,

Mike T.
CA816442
Advisor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

John,

I understand Mike's frustration above. I won't join in a chorus of reaction because I do not want to shut down our communication and I do appreciate the place you find your self in.

How about going to the people HP licensed/sold CBII to and buy back the low level driver with the rights to modify it to be generic in support of the tape unit.

Then its simply a dollar issue and you could quickly get it to support CBII9.x for us current users, removing some of the heat.

Otherwise, I really do think HP must consider moving us all to a different tape platform at a near $0 cost.

While I paid good money for the tape unit, my real costs are in the boxes of Travan media I own. So I'd prefer to get this resolved using current hardware.

Thanks for your continuing attention.

-Ric
...like a rolling stone
CA816442
Advisor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

ok John,

I went to my buddies house and retensioned and initialized 3 tapes on his XP, CBII9.0 and then came back to see if it would recognize my tapes. Same same on all 3 tapes -- can't recognize media.

My friend is going to create a profile here and tell what he is running so that you have the opportunity to make contact with him in regards to finding out WHY his XP/CBII9.0 configuration works.

This is important because if you can define the operating and setup parameters it should be possible to publish that and make it available to all of us. I'm asking you to follow up with him, please.

-Ric
...like a rolling stone
Ken Parker_1
New Member

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

Hi John,

You have been chatting with Ric Fink, among others, about compatiblity problems. In his last message to you, July 20, he mentioned that I (his "buddy") was running CBII 9.0 on XP. That's true and I've never had a problem with it since the original install. I have a Colorado 8GB internal drive which I installed early this year when I got a new PC. I haven't a clue why mine works, but if you want to know more about the configuration on my PC please feel free to contact me and pose some questions that might helpful.

Ken Parker
CA816442
Advisor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

BTW, feeling cornered by the reality of these tape problems I downloaded the 30-Demo of Backup MyPC.

Guess what ?? That demo program gets the same error about the media as does the CBII. What now ??

The problem must be in the tape's qic157.sys driver, and not the drvmcdb.sys driver of CBII, since the demo would not work. But HOW can they sell their program as XP compatible ??

I really hope HP hires a good assembler programer and gives them the assignment to get the device operating under the XP io specs.

-Ric
...like a rolling stone
CA816442
Advisor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP

John,

If HP is smart they will want you to talk to Ken Parker because HIS Colorado 8GB internal tape works under XP.

That means there IS some operational configuration that will work. HP should want you to adequately define it so that it is available for general use.

PLEASE privately contact Ken Parker and find out what is happening "right" on his system.

Thanks.

-Ric
...like a rolling stone
CA756694
Honored Contributor

Re: HP response - Colorados and XP


Ken,

Can you post your email address.

I'd be interested in your system config.

cheers

John
Eagles may soar in the clouds but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines