Do you own a Drobo?

Drobo is a nice easy to set up storage device with hot swappable drives. And while all this is true, there are a few things that are not mentioned in the Drobo website.

I had my Drobo for a couple of years now, it has given me headaches every now and then. Yet I must say that I am overall happy with the unit.

One thing that I don't like and thought they should be more specific on the website is how long does it take for Drobo to re-arrange your data when you upgrade one of your hard drives. I have mainly video files on my Drobo, therefore a use up my space kind of fast. I had 4TB (1TB per slot) in my unit and wanted to upgrade one of my hard drives with a 2TB. While this won't increase the space I have for use, it will ease up the task by the time I upgrade my second HD, but is worth to point out that if you have about 70% of your space already filled, it will take about 30 hours for your data to realign and take advantage of redundancy in order to protect you in case of a HD failure. I think that this process is rather slow and is something they should mention. And while you are able to access the data stored in your Drobo while you do this, a noticeable increase of time will be displayed on the estimated time thru Drobo dashboard (An application made by data robotics to monitor your Drobo machine).

The second issue I have encountered are the updates on both Drobo and Drobo dashboard. They usually alter my machine and after boot up it still takes a few minutes before i can start using my computer (I use a Mac), a solution to this usually is to clear your cache and delete the Drobo plist file from the preferences folder on your library.

I also still have an issue with Drobo share, which is not fully recognized by my main computer. Drobo dashboard does display the information of my Drobo but I can't access the unit and retrieve my data. All other machines read my Drobo without problems. I have deleted all files related to the application but still can't quite get it to work. I have been thinking about going back with time machine (doesn't that sound cool!!!!) and restore the system before the installation of Drobo share, which wasn't too long ago.

The last issue I have seen is related to the addition of a new HD. When i upgraded to the 2TB one, I inserted the drive without formatting! (big mistake!!!) I assumed Drobo will do that for me, but it doesn't! and what is worse, it will make the unit behave like if you had a massive HD failure. All your lights will turn red and you will start to panic!! (I sure did!!).

A solution for this is quite simple, turn off your unit, remove all your hard drives and insert the new one (already formatted) along with a second one that you might be using for small stuff. I happen to have a 100GB 3.5" HD that I use to store information for small projects while i'm on the go. With those two drives inside, turn your unit and let it align your data. This will take no more then few minutes. Once you are done, turn your Drobo off and replace the hard drives with the ones you had originally. Turn it on, let it map the data and then proceed with your upgrade.

The Drobo unit is quite good, but it does have it's flows! I am happy with my unit, but I do feel like it will become small after another year or two of use. I have been reading a lot about servers and how to make your own. Most likely i will end up making my own case and buy all the parts to make a server running Linux that will accommodate my needs, have data redundancy and allows me to upgrade the storage capacity while making a back up!!

That should be a nice project!!