#Warning to PAR users!!!
19 messages in this thread
i have been using a PAR for about six months, and have just discovered a very
disturbing problem. when i completed an animation, i copied the ani file to my
system hard drive and then backed it up to dat tape. i just tried to restore
one of these files (over 10,000 frames!) and found that it was corrupted. i
have subsequently found that just about every file of any significant size
(over 1000 frames) is corrupted. since just about every animation we create is
larger than this, i can't tell you how devistating this is!
i have checked and found that this problem has occurred not only with the beta
software, but also with the original shipping version. if any one has any
ideas about how to retrieve these ani files, i will be eternally gratefull.
jerry o'connor
Are you absolutely sure the .ANI files are corrupted, Jerry?
It could be that you are trying to copy the files back to a slower portion of
the PAR drive than they were compiled on, making it impossible for the PAR to
play them back properly. You might try (if you already haven't) totally
clearing off the PAR drive and restoring the .ANIs to it then.
Hope this helps some.
-Alan
Sorry Alan but what you say is certainly not the case.
I have had the same problem, and it is impossible to back up files from the
PAR, they all get corrupted as said when they are larger then +/- 1000 frames.
I backed a few up, reformatted the whole drive and put one back on the drive ,
every time i did that at the same frame things went wrong, evn though it was
the only ani on the PAR-drive at that time, before I backed up it was not the
first file in sequence, so something in the software is wrong, so at this time
I end up rendering to a seperate drive before going to PAR.
There is a serious bug in the software somewhere causing corruption in 2
instances:
1. when deletting a Project directory, the PAR-drive gets messed up
2. when backing up, something seems to go wrong when exporting out of PAR, so
back ups become useless.
Christophe
Wow.
You certainly seem to be having some serious problems!
I've never had any problems restoring to the PAR drive from a DOS drive,
Athough I have heard of problems when restoring straight to the PAR drive from
tape without "stopping" at a DOS drive first.
I'd run the *exact steps* you took during this process by DPS and see what they
say. In the meantime, maybe you could try another HD.
Hope you get this squared,
-Alan
Well I know that the deletion of project directories has caused many people
problems, so that seems to be normal, but following your reaction I again tried
to copy that animation that resides on the PAR at this time and has been put
back on, and what do I see:
I put it back on with same Q-FActor/Block LImit, etc, and it is a few K larger
then before when I export it again to my Fast SCSI 2 harddrive.
When copying it on again under another name, again things go wrong at the same
fram, it was not frame 1000, but exactly frame 895 to 1250 are playing bad.
So you would try to test another harddrive???
Christophe
You re-compiled the sames TGAs to a freshly formatted/optimized PAR drive,
backed up to a DOS drive, and still cannot restore to a (*again*) freshly
formatted/optimized PAR drive?
As far as I know, this really should work as long as you are restoring the
.ANIs to the same spot in the HD as they were originally compiled. If not,
there is definitely a problem somewhere; software, hardware, HD, etc.
-Alan
I have a big animation (7415 frames) that I have moved off and on the PAR
twice, without a problem, so it isn't happening to all ani's.
Not to say I have not had problems with the PAR, just not this one.
Reading these recent reports of corrupted backups I just had to try it.
I currently have 450 megs of a project on my 1G PAR drive so I limited my
backup test to a file I had that was 3300 frames. Occupied 350 megs. I
restored it to the PAR drive and all is well. It was originally recorded to
the PAR direct at BLF 240 and QF 23.
One difference I find myself doing here is I never address the PAR drive as a
DOS drive. I always use the PAR.exe to effect any action on its files. I do
all my colorado 250 backups and restores from the DOS drive. I know this is
slower but it would seem from all the trouble others are having that it is
safer.
Your other report of deletion of the project files does crash my PAR drive
requiring a reformat.
Well then something else is wrong in my system,
I have tried using PAR.exe and DOS programs like Norton Com. for actions on PAR
hardrive, and the problem stays the same, at a certain frame the ani gets
corrupted..
I use BLF 302 and QF 23, which of course you have to relate to PAL
I have noticed no problem here when restoring. I think you might have found
the reason for his corrupted files. I have, for the past several months,
resorted to using BLF 240 for all recordings and seem to have eliminated any
track location sensitivity. I did have some track sensitivity when I used to
use BLF 255.
RE: reformatting par drive and locating files on slower portion of drive etc…
i have made the following observations in the process of trying to
diagnose/fix the problem
1 Reformat drive and copy just one ani file to it. the problem persists
and occurs at the same frame
2 All backup, restores, etc. have been done exclusively with the par
software. i have never used dos to affect any change to the par drive.
3 I have tried to restore files using the non-beta version of the
software.
4 not all files have been corrupted within the first 1000 frames
(although most have). one ani restored over 5000 frames before developing a
problem
5 i noticed that in each case if i tried to restore the same ani several
times the file was defective on the same frame each time. this would seem to
indicate that the corruption is occurring when the file is saved, not restored.
btw i have always rendered to my system harddrive, copied to the par and then
backed up the original frames to dat tape so i haven't lost all of my rendering
time. i was always a little leary of the par and thought this was a logical
precaution.
jerry
That is all exactly the same things point by point that I have occuring with
the PAL version, so question is:
Is it hardware or software related:
1. It can't be a memory problem because I have 48MB RAM, so should be no
problem
2. I personally doubt it is the Micropolis drive, I do believe it is software.
One thing I'd like to know, my drive has been added ready to put a slave second
drive on it, could this have something to do with it.
How do others have the drive jumpers set up????
Christophe
Christophe and Jerry:
I've elaborated at my troubles concerning backing up files from and to the PAR
drive. Just to let you know there is validity to your findings:
1. I had copied 12 animation segments from the PAR to a hard drive located on
a DEC Alpha via Pathworks. (All segments used a block limit of 240) When I
copied these ANI files back from the DEC to the PAR drive I found that # 128
was the magic frame. All segments with less frames than 128 restored without a
problem. Any ANI with more than 128 frames went scrambled at frame #128.
2. In Pathworks I found a variable to put in the NFT (network file transfer)
copy command to allow variable and larger block sizes for binary files. Once I
used this option I am able to backup and restore large ANI files to the PAR
drive.
3. My findings support the theory that the files get corrupted upon the
initial backup attempt not in the restore.
I'll check my PAR manual tomorrow as there may be some driver switch which
could be used to effect the copying of files off the PAR drive.
Bob
Thanks for letting your findings be known.
BTW I have no network, so I'd have to solve the problem with driver switches,
if this is possible.
But I have to say I'm backing up the PAR through my Adaptec 2940 Fast SCSI 2
onto my Barracuda at this time, could the speed of PCI-Fast SCSI be in this???
I hope we find a switch to solve this backup because I find this a more
important problem then the corruption when deleting a Project directory.
Christophe
Christophe,
Sorry to jump in, but i think these two problems of backup/restore corruption
and file getting corrupted when you delete a project do have the same
problem-source and it is in the software. I think/hope the problem is solved
now with 1.33B-version.
Bye
Theo
You have the BBS number??
Although I hate to make an intern.phonecall with an old 2400modem to download
near 1MB, I'll try to get it through my dealer.
BTW let me know what the results of the new drivers are.
Christophe
Christophe,
Thanx, when you want i can put it on our own bulletin board. Although it is a
06-board, i can give you the 035 number so i doen't cost you Dfl 1,- per
minute. Let me know. I reserved this night to check everything out about 1.33.
And "sure", i'll inform you about it I'm using my laptop now, and i'm spoiled
by WINCIM, so i hope you get this message
Bye Theo
Thanks for the offer theo, but it is still an international phonecall from
Belgium to Holland, I'd rather go through my dealer, although I doubt he
already has the new drivers, unless you would like to mail me a floppy.
Christophe
Right. If you stick to a relatively low BLF, I'd imagine you'd have alot more
options re disk placement during a restore…
-Alan