Comments on: Drobo: First Impressions http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/ Understanding the accumulation of data Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:58:00 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Jim http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-14376 Jim Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:14:02 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-14376 Very interested to read all of the comments re. the Drobo data storage system. Could anyone answer my question of how long the life expectancy of the Drobo would be (not the drives) or has anyone experienced problems with the systems circuitry after a given amount of time. Very interested to read all of the comments re. the Drobo data storage system. Could anyone answer my question of how long the life expectancy of the Drobo would be (not the drives) or has anyone experienced problems with the systems circuitry after a given amount of time.

]]> By: Rudy http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-14283 Rudy Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:27:26 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-14283 My drobo, first generation, and droboshare have been forgotten once I got it up and running and connected to my network. Recently for no reason decided to see what app were available for use on my drobo. I was delighted to see lighttpd was a small and fast web server app. So I down loaded it and followed the instructions. Unfortunately that was not enough for now some 12 plus hours later it fails the "start server" command. I have searched the web over trying to find someone that has gotten Lighttpd to work on their Droboshare. So found one small sentence from a guy who was happy with his app stored on this Droboshare. Awaiting his answer to my inquiry as to how to perform that miracle. Oh and of course this "Drobo: First Impressions". Any help getting this working would be greatly appreciated. My drobo, first generation, and droboshare have been forgotten once I got it up and running and connected to my network. Recently for no reason decided to see what app were available for use on my drobo. I was delighted to see lighttpd was a small and fast web server app. So I down loaded it and followed the instructions. Unfortunately that was not enough for now some 12 plus hours later it fails the “start server” command. I have searched the web over trying to find someone that has gotten Lighttpd to work on their Droboshare. So found one small sentence from a guy who was happy with his app stored on this Droboshare. Awaiting his answer to my inquiry as to how to perform that miracle. Oh and of course this “Drobo: First Impressions”. Any help getting this working would be greatly appreciated.

]]> By: ctakim http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-14093 ctakim Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:44:18 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-14093 Shane, thanks so much for your post. I thought my Drobo power supply was going bad then I read your post. I pushed the plug in extra hard until I heard a snap! It was much harder than I imagined you could push. But now it is behaving much more well. It sounds simple but it should be mentioned!!! Shane, thanks so much for your post. I thought my Drobo power supply was going bad then I read your post. I pushed the plug in extra hard until I heard a snap! It was much harder than I imagined you could push. But now it is behaving much more well. It sounds simple but it should be mentioned!!!

]]> By: sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-14013 sfoskett Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:09:32 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-14013 Like I said in the post: “designed in California, assembled in China”<br><br>But I don't think it's crap. It's just noisier than I would have liked. My last desktop PC was pretty darn noisy, too, and the fan stayed on all the time! I'm just spoiled by the silent Mac Mini sitting on the desk, too! Like I said in the post: “designed in California, assembled in China”

But I don't think it's crap. It's just noisier than I would have liked. My last desktop PC was pretty darn noisy, too, and the fan stayed on all the time! I'm just spoiled by the silent Mac Mini sitting on the desk, too!

]]> By: sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-13670 sfoskett Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:09:32 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-13670 Like I said in the post: “designed in California, assembled in China”<br><br>But I don't think it's crap. It's just noisier than I would have liked. My last desktop PC was pretty darn noisy, too, and the fan stayed on all the time! I'm just spoiled by the silent Mac Mini sitting on the desk, too! Like I said in the post: “designed in California, assembled in China”

But I don't think it's crap. It's just noisier than I would have liked. My last desktop PC was pretty darn noisy, too, and the fan stayed on all the time! I'm just spoiled by the silent Mac Mini sitting on the desk, too!

]]> By: Shane http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-13669 Shane Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:37:27 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-13669 I had a few similar experiences to yours. I bought two Western Digital 1TB drives (plus a 500GB I had laying around) for my new Drobo and one failed within the first month (at least according to Drobo). I searched Google and found others stated that this "bad" drive would still be usable if I took it out of the Drobo and reformatted it for regular non-Drobo use. I found that was true. From what I read the Drobo will mark a drive unusable after fewer errors than Mac OS X because it is being a little over cautious. Even though I was able to reformat it I decided to replace it just in case and Western Digital was excellent in replacing the drive under warranty. It was scary that this happened so early on, especially because the Drobo slows to a crawl when this happens. I think it does this because it is slowly rebuilding the data from the missing drive onto your remaining drives until you get it replaced. And then when you replace the drive it definitely takes it a while to incorporate the replacement. But this just proved to me that the Drobo did its job exactly as expected.<br><br>I also had the same problem with the power connector and thought that the unit was flakey at first. It would lose power at random times or when I would move it around. This happened between ten and twenty times and I really started getting worried. Then one time I pushed the plug in harder than I normally would and realized that it is designed to snap in tight so that it won't fall out. You should notice that there is an indented ring near then end of the power connector. I am guessing that there is a couple of matching ball bearings inside the receptacle on the Drobo because when you push hard enough it snaps into place. It was rather disconcerting to push that hard because on cheaper electronics it probably would have broken the receptacle's internal connection to the motherboard. And nowhere in the printed documentation or on the website did it tell you about this. I would have made this one of the marketing points so you know it was designed to not easily get unplugged. Ever since then I have never had it drop power on me again.<br><br>I agree that it is noisy, especially when compared with a Mac Mini. However, when compared to an older first-gen Power Mac G5 it really isn't that bad. I had a few similar experiences to yours. I bought two Western Digital 1TB drives (plus a 500GB I had laying around) for my new Drobo and one failed within the first month (at least according to Drobo). I searched Google and found others stated that this “bad” drive would still be usable if I took it out of the Drobo and reformatted it for regular non-Drobo use. I found that was true. From what I read the Drobo will mark a drive unusable after fewer errors than Mac OS X because it is being a little over cautious. Even though I was able to reformat it I decided to replace it just in case and Western Digital was excellent in replacing the drive under warranty. It was scary that this happened so early on, especially because the Drobo slows to a crawl when this happens. I think it does this because it is slowly rebuilding the data from the missing drive onto your remaining drives until you get it replaced. And then when you replace the drive it definitely takes it a while to incorporate the replacement. But this just proved to me that the Drobo did its job exactly as expected.

I also had the same problem with the power connector and thought that the unit was flakey at first. It would lose power at random times or when I would move it around. This happened between ten and twenty times and I really started getting worried. Then one time I pushed the plug in harder than I normally would and realized that it is designed to snap in tight so that it won't fall out. You should notice that there is an indented ring near then end of the power connector. I am guessing that there is a couple of matching ball bearings inside the receptacle on the Drobo because when you push hard enough it snaps into place. It was rather disconcerting to push that hard because on cheaper electronics it probably would have broken the receptacle's internal connection to the motherboard. And nowhere in the printed documentation or on the website did it tell you about this. I would have made this one of the marketing points so you know it was designed to not easily get unplugged. Ever since then I have never had it drop power on me again.

I agree that it is noisy, especially when compared with a Mac Mini. However, when compared to an older first-gen Power Mac G5 it really isn't that bad.

]]> By: Gp http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-13668 Gp Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:37:52 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-13668 Too funny, spend a lot of cash, just to use it a holder for a paperweight? You have to put a block of wood on it to stop the fan noise? Doesn't that sound a little funny? It's called crap, probably made in the USA...or China. Good luck with it :-) Too funny, spend a lot of cash, just to use it a holder for a paperweight? You have to put a block of wood on it to stop the fan noise? Doesn't that sound a little funny? It's called crap, probably made in the USA…or China. Good luck with it :-)

]]> By: Anil Gupta http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/09/04/drobo-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-13666 Anil Gupta Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:16:11 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=2236#comment-13666 Stephen,<br><br>I am surprised you are experiencing issues with Drobo. I purchased my Drobo last December and installed two WD 1TB green disks. I prefer WD over other manufacturer for home use. It is connected to Time Capsule using USB cable, acting as archive device for both Windows and Mac. Knock on wood, I haven't had a single issue with Drobo, not even a drive failure since purchase.<br><br>I agree Drobo fans are noisy most probably due to hollow tin casing in the rear. I put Drobo on carpeted floor which dampened the noise. Putting a wood/heavy block on top of Drobo near the rear edge will further reduce the noise. After 8 months of owning, I don't even notice the noise or even Drobo. Since the initial install, I didn't need to use dashboard either. The front light indicators are good enough to indicate drive failures and show used capacity %.<br><br>Anil Stephen,

I am surprised you are experiencing issues with Drobo. I purchased my Drobo last December and installed two WD 1TB green disks. I prefer WD over other manufacturer for home use. It is connected to Time Capsule using USB cable, acting as archive device for both Windows and Mac. Knock on wood, I haven't had a single issue with Drobo, not even a drive failure since purchase.

I agree Drobo fans are noisy most probably due to hollow tin casing in the rear. I put Drobo on carpeted floor which dampened the noise. Putting a wood/heavy block on top of Drobo near the rear edge will further reduce the noise. After 8 months of owning, I don't even notice the noise or even Drobo. Since the initial install, I didn't need to use dashboard either. The front light indicators are good enough to indicate drive failures and show used capacity %.

Anil

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