Recovery using Retrospect 7.6 and RDB files

I have wiped out my hard disk and reloaded the Vista OS.  I reinstalled Retrospect.  The original backups were done by writing to a network disk; however, I have moved all of the files (AA000000.rdb to AA000238.rdb) to a USB fed, 250 GB disk which is connected directly to the laptop which I am trying to repair.  This is where the problem lays.  My original backups were all done to the same backup set.

Clicking on Repair Catalog brings up a dialog box with the directions: Select a Catalog File repair function.  The following options are available:

Update Existing Catalog file - well, it no longer exists.
Recreate from Tapes: Media selection dialog comes up - no tapes found.
Recreate from Disks - All Disks / Last Disk: Leading it through to the location does not help, it never finds the files in the directory (either on network disk or USB disk)
Recreate from Optical Drive: Same as tapes
Recreate from Removables: Same as tapes
Repair File Backup Set: Same as Disks.

At no time, using any functionality of Retrospect, does it see the *.rdb files.  It is as if that is an illegal file although the file type is registered to Retrospect (double clicking one starts Retrospect.)  

I do not understand why the app keeps looking for file types *.rbf or *.rbc.  To the best of my knowledge, it has never created those in backups.

I had a password on my backup set.  Is it possible that is why the files have a different type?

I was havng the same problem as you are in that the sofware was unable to perform a recovery from RDB. the backup software we were using was the backup software that came with an extrenal IOMEGA drive. The software that was used to backup and create RDB files was Retrospect Express 2.5. After a ton of time and no joy we called Retrospect and their sollution was to upgrade to to the professional software. Interesting enough the backup software that was included with the the external drive, created backup files that the software cannot use to recover the data. You must upgrade and purchase the professional software to do so. And so I downloaded the new version of Retrospect with a 14 day trial and VOILA... I can now see RDB files and use them recover the backed up data. I hope this was helpful. Cheers!

The backup and attempted recovery are both using the same version of Retrospect - Professional, 7.6.  I am nopt surprised to hear your story, though; I am getting less respect for this software the more I use it.

If you are still having trouble, I can provide remote assistance.

Mark

Thank you Mark.  It took some finagling - I had to move the backup files to a drive where I could use the UNC path.  All in all, I would like to meet the testers who passed on Retrospect.  There are some huge usability bugs in this app.  Good solution, bad design on EMC's part.

Additional Comments:

Bouncing and copying your backup data around via the Operating System Move and Copy features is a bad idea for ANY backup software.

Before you start using Retrospect again for backup, go into options and change the location for the storage of the catalog files to a location other than the boot drive.

Consider the Disaster Recovery addon which will give you the capability of making a bootable CD that will completely restore your entire system from a blank hard drive to its most recently backed up state.  This feature adds the functionality comparable to disk imaging products like Acronis and Norton Ghost (not quite as convenient or fast as either imaging product).  It will eliminate the Format/Install OS/Activate/Install App/Update(x3)/Restore Data cycle down to about 2 or 3 steps.