Onstream FW30 does not appear in Apple System Profiler-Mac X (10.2.8)

[daverphoto]

I'm having the exact same problem as "tzarob" posted on Dec 18, 2003.

I've been running the Onstream FW30 on Mac OS X (10.2.8), now suddenly the Mac dosen't recognize the tape drive. It doesn't show up in the Apple System Profiler as a device or in Retrospect Config. I have tried changing firewire ports and cables....no luck.

Any Mac users out there?

-dave

 

[drewdavies]

I wish I had an answer for this one, but unfortunately I found myself in the Tek-Tips site because of this very same problem. If anyone out there has a solution, please let both Dave and myself know!

If it's helpful, here's my specs:
PowerMac g4 Quicksilver 867, Mac OSX 10.3.4, OnStream FW30 Echo drive, trying to run Dantz Retrospect 6.0.193. No response from the drive, Retro's config won't see it, profiler won't see it, no life from the drive upon sytem startup. The drive worked fine last week when booting from Mac OS 9.x and running Retrospect 4.3a.

Thanks for any help anyone's got!
drew.

 

[theguru97321]

I had an issue about 1 month ago, where i could maybe get 1 backup out of my drive, then it would not longer read tapes, and the backup software not longer recognized the drive. i had to replace it. (EBAY!!)

 

[drewdavies]

This drive seems to be working fine, because I can still start up in System 9 and use it to my heart's content.

However, I have found at least a workable solution to this OSX issue, even if I don't understand why. I knew before that the OnStream drive always had to be turned on before powering up the G4 for the drive to be recognized, but I tried this on a lark and it worked:

Shut down the CPU, turn off the OnStream drive, disconnect the firewire cable from the CPU and from the OnStream, disconnect the power cable from the OnStream. Then, plug the power cable and firewire cables back in, power on the OnStream, then power on the CPU. All of a sudden, the drive showed up in Retrospect.

I haven't had time to run test backups, so I don't know if it will recognize the drive forever, but I figure this bodes well for the long-term use of the drive.

Hope this helps anyone else!
drew.