What are /r/drobo's favorite Products & Services?

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I use this for my nightly and weekly full disk image backups to my Drobo 5N. Works great!

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Mega easy to schedule and go. I've had to restore a backup to a blank drive when I messed up a drive, no problems at all.

Something like that should work: https://www.amazon.com/UpBright-Data-Robotics-Drobo-DRO4D-D/dp/B078Z87WVJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=drobo+2nd+gen+power+supply&qid=1621923082&sr=8-3

For exact specs, just check your original PSU. I believe it's 12V and around 80W (so around 7 amps). Check the positive and negative contacts arrangement on the jack, unlike many common power supplies, Drobo had the positive one inside, IIRC. If you can get a power supply with a higher rated current (say, 10A) that would be awesome, as some HDDs can pull as much as 25W on peak - the more powerful PSU will be able to better cope with that.

You can get a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter here. But that is a Thunderbolt 2 device, and your MacBook most likely has Thunderbolt 3 ports which are not backward compatible. So you need a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter like this one.

That should work but I can't guarantee that it will or how reliably. Good luck.

>I checked voltage at the barrel connector months ago, seemed to be fine - EDIT: Just checked again, solid 12VDC

It's possible it failed not because it isn't producing 12VDC at no-load, but that the PS can't supply sufficient AMPs when the unit powers up. These things use most of their original power supply's rated capacity and over time the PS sometimes fails to meet that spec.

One thing to try before giving up is replace the PS with a new, higher capacity brick.

I bought one of these and it got me up and running: https://www.amazon.com/DR-P500-2P11-Replaceable-Storage-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B005EV27PQ

I have a 5Dt with a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter that I use with my 2017 iMac with Catalina. Is this the adapter you have? https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Thunderbolt-USB-C-Adapter/dp/B01MQ26QIY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=thunderbolt+2+to+thunderbolt+3&qid=1595702175&sr=8-3

Yep. They tend to just run indefinitely. The most common failure is the power supply, which is easily replaced with a better quality one like this:

KFD 150W 12V AC Adapter for Drobo DroboFS, S, 5D, 5Dt, 5N, 5N2, 5C 5D3 5-Bay 4 Bay Storage Array Network Storage DR-5X-1P11 DAS Hard Disk Drive HDD NAS Charger Heavy Duty Power Supply

I just got this one and put it in the empty bay and it works.....

I will probably get a few more as needed, unless this one craps on me.

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1BUBSO?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details

Those OEM power supplies are notorious for failing.

I've been very happy with the replacement I bought from Amazon so far:

KFD 150W 12V AC Adapter for Drobo DroboFS, S, 5D, 5Dt, 5N, 5N2, 5C 5D3 5-Bay 4 Bay Storage Array Network Storage DR-5X-1P11 DAS Hard Disk Drive HDD NAS Charger Heavy Duty Power Supply

I purchased this one on Amazon in November 2021 after the OEM one started intermittently getting really hot and shutting my Drobo 5D3 down, and it's been great:

KFD 150W 12V AC Adapter for Drobo DroboFS, S, 5D, 5Dt, 5N, 5N2, 5C 5D3 5-Bay 4 Bay Storage Array Network Storage DR-5X-1P11 DAS Hard Disk Drive HDD NAS Charger Heavy Duty Power Supply

I have always had my "main stuff" on offisite backup, and thanks to Backblaze offering to backup external drives, a few years ago I finally backed up all my digital photos -- taken since 1996! I sleep much better.

More recently, I backed up my entire Drobo (with 5 4TB drives) to Backblaze, so at least all that "stuff' is there if I ever need it, though I could lose most of it and just be sad, but move on.

From reading Synology data sheets, I see RAID still has the limits, but their "Hybrid RAID" sounds very much like Drobo, allowing drives to be added and upgraded over the years. I'l probably go that route, with the limitations it implies, just so I don't have to do "upgrade all X drives at a time, copy all data over" every year as I expand. Sounds much faster and cheaper.

I'll probably start with the new DS1522+ (that I don't think is out yet, but is at least showing up on B&H and Amazon):

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-5-Bay-DiskStation-DS1522-Diskless/dp/B0B4DFBRZV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=RRM0VHW00LLA&keywords=DS1522%2B&qid=1656880292&sprefix=ds1522%2B%2Caps%2C1434&sr=8-2

That should let me tip toe in to Synology territory (at well over 2X the cost of my Drobo 5C) and see how it works. Hopefully, I can end up with two of those 5 bay units and be similar to what I had with my two Drobo 5C 5-bay units.

But I wonder about recovery of their hybrid RAID disk packs if I ever need to -- may be the same problem!

I'm going to take the advice and order a new power supply. I saw another post where they used this one, so I've ordered it and will report back.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CSHTTRH/?coliid=I34DOWPIJXVX2U

T POWER 180W 12V Ac Adapter Charger Compatible with Drobo DroboFS S 5D 5Dt 5N 5N2 5C 5D3 5-Bay 4 Bay Storage Array Network Storage DR-5X-1P11 DAS Hard Disk Drive HDD NAS Charger Heavy Duty Supply https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSHTTRH/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_Z5SY63YAE0T7ZY0ACEH5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I have the 5C and it only supports 1 primary volume and then 1 backup volume. You also can not manage the Drobo 5C with any other RAID software, as BeyondRAID is configured on the device, allowing it to work independent of a computer. I too was in your position recently. My suggestion is to learn to live with it or checkout Orico on Amazon. They have a DAS that is nearly identical to Drobo 5C. I was actually looking at this one earlier: https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Enclosure-Aluminum-Tool-Free-Installation/dp/B08MJ77PN7/

Get something like this, basically just a USB drive enclosure with four bays.

Here is what I did so that my Windows 10 machine would be able to access my DroboFS.

https://winaero.com/blog/enable-smb1-sharig-protocol-windows-10/

>I was especially dismayed to learn Drobo's log files are encrypted so that only tech support can read them.

From what I've been able to discover going through my own hassles and dealing with their support, this is my guesswork:

1. The DRI software itself functions as the 'core' OS, and locks itself from modifications from the underlying systems. (evidenced by this comment thread in the Drobo forums.
2. The software that runs the Drobo shares and hosts them out appears to be Linux based (commands used like 'ls' to list files)
3. I think the logs are generated in the Linux software, but saved in the underlying DRI software.
   
4. When the Drobo Dashboard software makes a request for the logs, it has to query up the chain for the system logs but doesn't seem to be able to *do so* with any regularity when the device is malfunctioning already.
5. If you can get the logs collected by the Drobo Dashboard software, the zip can then be opened up and read in a text editor (I prefer Notepad++ for this) in plaintext.

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> To the OP, your letter was well written. I hope it helps make a difference.

Thanks! I hope so too, although I won't be waiting to see.

On sale now!

Deal of the day: Synology 4 bay NAS DiskStation DS920+ (Diskless), 4-bay; 4GB DDR4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087Z34F3R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_dl_DC57BR93840VZAP93WZA

If you want larger, I’d look at the DS1621+ or DS1821+.

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the drive cooperating with your Drobo box. If possible, it would be a good idea to grab our free diagnostic tool SeaTools and give that a whirl as far as seeing if something is wrong with the drive.

If you'd like to look into potential RMA info, you can find that on our Warranty Validation Tool.

Seagate Technology | Official Forums Team

The ReadyNAS is Linux though, there should be a way to make it work.

Strange.

You might be able to make one of these work when it's available: http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Super small, low power linux computer with USB ports and everything.

I use cloudberry backup which I have pushing to amazon S3 glacier. Depending on amount of data initial backup can take a long time but it is the cheapest per gig Backup Soloution I’ve found so far.

offsite, I use Backblaze.

$5/ month. they allow external drives to be backed up so I have my Drobo in there, and it backs it up.

beyond that... it's not automatic, but, I bought and extra 10Tb drive and use Frefilesync runs Mac win or Linux, and created a job that backs up everything, I keep the drive in my desk at work, bring it home once a month, and run the backup over the weekend and then return the drive to work.

does that help?

As others have mentioned, it's almost 100% the PSU. My Drobo 5N2 was instafixed by a new power supply someone here had recommended (see this one on Amazon). The symptoms were different - it was powering on and blinking lights and trying to spin up the drives (but failing - should've been a dead giveaway), but still it was the PSU.

This happened to me (drobo won't power up power supply light flashing) and the power supply went bad. The Drobo unit itself was fine.

You may be able to recover your data if you replace the external power brick. At the time they were out of stock at Drobo, but a third-party version seemed to work fine.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MGPPM6Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes, the power brick. I've never had to replace one myself so I can't provide personal experience, but this one should work.

I’d imagine you have a Dish receiver someplace in the house right? You know... a box that Dish gave you with their logo on it, maybe tucked in a utility closet or behind your TV? If you can find that, I’m going to bet there is a NIC in the back of that Dish receiver (or possibly 2). At that point you could:

1. Connect your NAS/Drobo/ any network device directly to the rear of that receiver for Internet.
2. OR! Get your own network switch and connect it to that port. Your switch will have multiple network ports you can use for your various devices you may need to hard ware.

Now assuming you have a long distance you’d need to travel and you don’t have a Cat5e/6 cable long enough, you can look at a Powerline Ethernet Adapter which will use your home’s electrical wiring to carry a network connection to devices in other rooms, without having to drill holes

I was in the same boat as you a few weeks ago, went with QNAP. QNAP TVS-672XT https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07JNLNHD1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4WHG1SBQADJK660VZJNV?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 So far so good. Liking the thunderbolt 3 speeds when connected to my Mac mini

I used to use Drobo and had some disasters. Never again. I switched to a very simple 8 bay hdd enclosure from Media Sonic (about $200), filled it full of giant hard drives and pooled them all with Drivepool. I love it. Drivepool will duplicate files if you want/need that and it uses ntfs, so if you need to try to recover data from an individual drive for some reason, you can. None of that striped Drobo stuff. I see a lot of people recommending Synology and maybe that's better. Never used it. All I can say is I love my setup. It's dirt cheap and dead simple. It's been running rock steady for at least five years now. If you do get Drivepool, buy it with Scanner. They work together and if Scanner detects a problem with a drive it can automatically start evacuating the data off of the drive so you can remove it from the pool.

I had a 5D and a 5C. Got so fed up with the exact type of issues you are taking about that I just sold both on eBay and went with OWC Thunderbays. The SoftRAID is so much better. Also it’s super standard. So if an enclosure ever died, I could literally put all the drives in several of these at once, and be back up and running. All the information needed to run the RAID 5 is on the drives.

I use "Private Internet Access" VPN - and after a recent update to their client software I found their software was blocking my Drobo 5N by default. Took a while to figure out that was the problem.

Long shot, but if you use a VPN, check that. On minw "allow LAN traffic" had to be enabled (seems dumb that it's blocked by default, but whatever...)

If I understand correctly, The most storage you will ever get is less than 60T and that is with 5x12T drives. Not worth it at the current price.

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Also, I am confused why you would want a Raid enclosure (your 5N) to function as an unprotected external hard drive. You only have 19.97T available as you are protected across your 5 drives from a single drive failure. If you could, switch to an unprotected setup and have the raw capacity of 25.46T available, you would lose everything if a single drive failure. Why would you want this?

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I prefer the Dual Disk Redundancy (allowing for 2 drive failures), which in your case would reduce you to 14.52T available. But it gives me time to order a drive with Amazon Prime and replace the bad/full drive in case a second drive goes as well, and only if a 3rd drive where to fail would I lose any data.

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In my opinion, you have a few options.

1. Buy normal External Drives, with no cloned safety (aka Non-RAID) and move your content to them. You could get a few $140 each ($17.50 per Tb) Seagate Expansion 8TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 and plug them into your Router.
2. Buy bigger drives for your 5N. Seagate 8TB IronWolf $240 each, you will need 2 to gain any storage.
3. Delete data you don't need.
4. Buy Cloud Storage (Google, DropBox, Amazon...) and store data you don't need at the moment.

Good luck.

This is the one I was looking at long ago. Crucial m4 64GB mSATA

Edit: New Egg is cheaper for ~$93, as of post.

I finally just got everything connected up to the network and configured last night and the 500GB mSATA drive does work just fine. This is the model I'm using Crucial MX200.

As far as your other questions, which are very good by the way, I haven't had enough usage to determine how much hot data is kept in the cache as I've only transferred over some software and a VMWare fusion VM (Win server 2003). I did fire up the VM from the Drobo and was able to run it, although there was some noticeable latency it was still usable.

I'm not sure about drives spinning up but I do hear the soft hum of the Drobo fans which I don't believe is any quieter than a Drobo without a mSATA. Hopefully over time the full 500GB will be utilized and reduce the frequency of the drives spinning up (I haven't noticed any hard drive sounds, just the fan). I'm running 2 WD Red 6TD drives at the moment.

Edit: a word