Dude, how do I recover from a RETROSPECT EXPRESS image?

[lPHONE]

My friend backed up to this Iomega hard drive that came with Retrospect Express. Needless to say, her hard drive crashed and I'm stuck with the daunting task of getting her data back off the retrospect image.

Now I went to both Iomega and Roxio's websites and I must say: These people are really really really retarded - (It's beyond me why either of these buffoons are still in business) Iomega's support doesn't even recognize my serial number and searching for the model: RPHD-TG yeilds 0 results. It's as if they didn't even make the drive.

And then there's the jerks at Roxio who want $129.00 for a copy of free software that came with a $60 hard drive.

Seriously, what do I do in this situation? Why should I give these incompetent morons a dime when I have the hard drive right in front of me? There's got to be some kind of extraction tool, solution, or something.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Seriously, what do I do in this situation? Why should I give these incompetent morons a dime when I have the hard drive right in front of me? There's got to be some kind of extraction tool, solution, or something?"

I think the very first order of business is to see if the internal drive can be recovered, restored, made operational again.

I would suggest using the original system software DVD's that came with the Mac to first check it (to see if it can be repaired), and if it CANNOT be repaired, to re-initialize it and re-install a clean copy of the System.

IMPORTANT:
Don't reinitialize it unless you have satisfied yourself that there is no other way to revive the drive.

Does your friend's Mac have a firewire port? Do YOU have a Mac with a firewire port, as well? Have you tried getting her Mac into "Target Disk Mode" and then connected it via firewire to YOUR Mac? What are the results?

If you don't want to pay the $130, you might consider searching Usenet binaries for a copy of RE.

Does Restrospect Express create backups that are in "finder format", or does it use its own "proprietary" format? If the files on the backup drive are in finder format, it shouldn't be too hard to "copy them over manually", though this often takes time. If this seems like a possibility, I would first do a clean install of the system on the original hard drive, create a new user account, update it to "current" using Software Update, then "manually migrate" all the documents, and perhaps some applications (SOME applications would probably need a clean re-install).

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Whatever your friend does after she gets through this, DO NOT let her use Retrospect again to do her backups.

Instead, download the free CarbonCopyCloner app from:
http://bombich.com/
it's very easy to set up and use.

CCC will create full "bootable backups" in Finder format. If your friend ever has a problem with her internal drive again, she will be able to hook up the backup, boot from it, hopefully resolve the problem on the internal drive, and even "re-clone" the contents of the backup to the old drive if necessary.

DO NOT let her use Time Machine. It DOES NOT create bootable backups, and file aren't in Finder format.

CarbonCopyCloner is the app you want when things get up and running again.

Don't use ANYthing else (possible exception: "SuperDuper!", which is very similar to CCC)!

 

[lPHONE]

Yea, I finally ended up "OBTAINING" the software through unorthodox methods that we all know about and do not speak of, but I tell you now: RETROSPECT IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS. This crap is version/OS specific. I had to reinstall 10.5 because the v. the backup was made in wouldn't install on Snow Leopard. Restore the files, then upgrade to Leopard, then set up Time Machine. COMPLETE GARBAGE.