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Archive 2013 · Drobo Failure?

  
 
RbrtPtikLeoSen
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Drobo Failure?


I have owned a Drobo for years now, and thoroughly enjoy the piece of mind it has provided me with. A question crossed my mind today though... If a hard drive fails, no problem! Slap in a new one, rebuilds the array, done.

What happens if the Drobo itself fails?



Sep 04, 2013 at 11:05 AM
BruceF99
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Drobo Failure?


Some food for thought: http://scottkelby.com/2012/im-done-with-drobo/


Sep 04, 2013 at 12:35 PM
leighton w
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Drobo Failure?


BruceF99 wrote:
Some food for thought: http://scottkelby.com/2012/im-done-with-drobo/


Interesting read, I wonder what he's using now.



Sep 04, 2013 at 03:00 PM
sjms
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Drobo Failure?


your data is still safe and you just slide it into the slots of your replacement drobo and start back up. its the same as if you upgrade to a newer model

Edited on Sep 04, 2013 at 05:00 PM · View previous versions



Sep 04, 2013 at 03:10 PM
Erik_J
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Drobo Failure?


You should have a backup even when using a Drobo


Sep 04, 2013 at 04:14 PM
sjms
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Drobo Failure?


as you would with any such device.


Sep 04, 2013 at 05:01 PM
BruceF99
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Drobo Failure?


leighton w wrote:
Interesting read, I wonder what he's using now.

http://scottkelby.com/2012/my-life-after-drobo/



Sep 04, 2013 at 05:32 PM
leighton w
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Drobo Failure?


BruceF99 wrote:
http://scottkelby.com/2012/my-life-after-drobo/


Thanks, I thought he may go that route.



Sep 04, 2013 at 05:50 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Drobo Failure?


There is no substitute for backups. Note though that Kelby had in place a backup solution - drobo's located offsite. The issue for him was primarily the poor reliability of the Drobo's he's bought and an obvious desire not to give them any more money. I completely agree. In truth, if i had hardware fail like that on me i would have left them behind after the second failure.

I've never been happy with proprietary solutions like Drobo. There really isn't a good excuse for having a proprietary RAID filesystem on these as they run a linux kernel and there are excellent open source linux RAID filesystems. Were it to run one of those you could just pull the drives, throw them in a PC and boot off a USB stick to get your data back. Having a proprietary filesystem is just a cynical trick designed to ensure that customers are forced to buy another Drobo if their box fails.



Sep 05, 2013 at 05:28 AM
DanBrown
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Drobo Failure?


leighton w wrote:
Interesting read, I wonder what he's using now.


His life, after Drobo.



Sep 05, 2013 at 08:16 AM
peter_n
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Drobo Failure?


15Bit wrote:
There is no substitute for backups.


Absolutely.

15Bit wrote:
I've never been happy with proprietary solutions like Drobo.


Me neither, or any other make either. Also I just don't trust dynamic formatted disks. I made a JBOD system in OWC enclosures and all of those basic formatted drives can be just put in a PC and are immediately accessible. And they are backed up.




Sep 05, 2013 at 08:27 AM
RbrtPtikLeoSen
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Drobo Failure?


Interesting that Scott had so many issues with Drobo. Every product is flawed I guess. Although, I have been in possession of mine for 5 years now, but that is probably why the question posed popped into my head. I do have backups, but is good to hear that there is at least some way of getting the data, as I knew their file system to be proprietary.

I had intended on simply purchasing another Drobo when this one dies. Especially if it could read the drives, but this thread has me looking at other options.



Sep 05, 2013 at 10:01 AM
sjms
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Drobo Failure?


RbrtPtikLeoSen wrote:
Interesting that Scott had so many issues with Drobo. Every product is flawed I guess. Although, I have been in possession of mine for 5 years now, but that is probably why the question posed popped into my head. I do have backups, but is good to hear that there is at least some way of getting the data, as I knew their file system to be proprietary.

I had intended on simply purchasing another Drobo when this one dies. Especially if it could read the drives, but this thread has me looking at other options.


+1



Sep 05, 2013 at 10:12 AM
leethecam
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Drobo Failure?


To be honest most RAID systems are proprietary in some way or other.

I have two Drobo 4-bay systems (so they're about 6 years old) and they're working well. I did have an issue where one refused to mount but their tech guys were very helpful and a quick purchase of Disk Warrior brought it all back to health.

I have had issues with their software management system and we never got to the bottom of it - so now I just run without and all is fine.

I guess because I have two systems I worry less about needing to have a working system to run a set of drives from - but I also have a regular, non-RAID back-up drive (managed with SuperDuper) just in case.



Sep 09, 2013 at 01:28 PM
sjms
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Drobo Failure?


just ordered a 5D and a 120GB mSATA drive for it.


Sep 12, 2013 at 10:47 PM
Lasse Eriksson
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Drobo Failure?


15Bit wrote:
There is no substitute for backups. Note though that Kelby had in place a backup solution - drobo's located offsite. The issue for him was primarily the poor reliability of the Drobo's he's bought and an obvious desire not to give them any more money. I completely agree. In truth, if i had hardware fail like that on me i would have left them behind after the second failure.

I've never been happy with proprietary solutions like Drobo. There really isn't a good excuse for having a proprietary RAID filesystem on these as they run a linux kernel and there
...Show more

If you have a backup for your Drobo, which you should have. Then you are not forced to buy another Drobo if the box fails.
If it fails within 2-3 years here in Europe. Then Drobo will replace it for free. After that the have Drobocare which is a kind of insurence against this. But you have to pay



Sep 13, 2013 at 04:54 AM
AlephOne
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Drobo Failure?


If the Drobo fails, you could lose its contents. You'd hope not, but it can happen.

That's why you must have backups. I do recommend having at least two NAS units, plus backups on some suitable media - I generally use external drives.



Sep 13, 2013 at 06:07 AM
Erik_J
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Drobo Failure?


The Drobo system is great. Most problems with those is because many people don't understand that you still need backup.


Sep 14, 2013 at 01:09 AM
tuschinski
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Drobo Failure?


Drobo is okay, but their are faster and cheaper solutions of companies which are much higher rated than Drobo. Drobo is known for the funny movies where drives are swapped n the fly, but all in all that's just a gimmick. and a nice story ("It's so easy"). A Qnap, Thecus or Synology does the same job but simply much better and honestly not much harder (indeed, it's pretty much plug in you HDD and go through the wizard).

Just buy TWO Synology 413J and 8 disks and let one make an incremental backup each night. It's faster than Drobo FS, better software, cheaper, available everywhere.

Another "fan" of Drobo:
http://chrismarquardt.com/blog.php?id=3479829780650106213

Another switcher:
http://www.whizzosoftware.com/forums/blog/1/entry-52-goodbye-drobo-hello-synology/

And another:
http://jmichelmetz.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/cagematch-synology-vs-drobo/

Do a google: "drobo or synology?" and within ten minuites you will just run into spades of these stories. No other way around so far... that should be a real eyeopener.



Sep 14, 2013 at 11:16 AM
Erik_J
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Drobo Failure?


tuschinski wrote:
Drobo is okay, but their are faster and cheaper solutions of companies which are much higher rated than Drobo. Drobo is known for the funny movies where drives are swapped n the fly, but all in all that's just a gimmick. and a nice story ("It's so easy"). A Qnap, Thecus or Synology does the same job but simply much better and honestly not much harder (indeed, it's pretty much plug in you HDD and go through the wizard).

Just buy TWO Synology 413J and 8 disks and let one make an incremental backup each night. It's faster than Drobo
...Show more

1. With the Drobo you can pull 2 drives at the same time and still look at the movie. Even the 5 bay Drobos. And you can pull and mix all different kind of drives and sizes
2. Faster than the Drobo FS is nothing to brag about. That Drobo is way slower than the other Drobo's also.
3. The Company that makes Drobo's is much larger and have sold a lot more than the others you mention. So there will be more bad stories abot Drobo. But also more good stories and good Reviews.



Sep 14, 2013 at 01:06 PM
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