Topic: Drobo problems (Read 14916 times)

tived · « **on:** May 21, 2009, 09:47:17 pm »

Hi Guys,

we have one of these lovely Drobo Robot, with 4x 1TB drives (got the Network attachment as well).

However, when I move the actual box from on location to another. All the lights starts to flash and It has to rebuild, which can take anywhere from a few hours to 30+ hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions to what could be wrong, or it this normal? I have to admit I have started to love this unit less and less.

thanks

Henrik

ddk · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2009, 10:13:48 pm »

Quote from: tived

Hi Guys,

we have one of these lovely Drobo Robot, with 4x 1TB drives (got the Network attachment as well).

However, when I move the actual box from on location to another. All the lights starts to flash and It has to rebuild, which can take anywhere from a few hours to 30+ hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions to what could be wrong, or it this normal? I have to admit I have started to love this unit less and less.

thanks

Henrik

It doesn't sound right, why don't you contact their support team?

tived · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2009, 10:42:57 pm »

Thanks for replying

I have 2.4TB of used space on my 4TB, It has just asked me to replace one disk, which I have now done, and in the Data Protection (in Progress) approx. 52 hours remaining.

I have just tried to copy some files off the drobo which I can still access, but it is either extremely slow or have stalled on 33mb of 640mb.... I think this unit is going to be replaced with something else, I am just not happy with this unit.

My problem is that I recommended it, and it just haven't lived up to our expectations. Before buying it, I had heard nothing but good things about the Drobo, but my experience is not very impressed

thanks

Henrik

Lab Magician · « **Reply #3 on:** May 22, 2009, 04:27:25 am »

Henrik - No Drobo expert I'm afraid, so just some general comments.

When you say 'move' is the Drobo powered up? If so then the movement could be affecting the head positioning and throwing up errors which the Drobo management will see as disk failure.

If the Drobo is powered down, have you gone through the correct unmounting and power down procedure for the unit as attached to the DroboShare? If not then there could be some corruption that it has to recover from.

Drobo will also slow down if the physical disk capacity is close to being used up, the closer it gets the slower it gets. Remember that Drobo can report a much larger virtual disk size to the OS than the physical. You say you have 2.4TB on 4TB (with 4 x 1TB drives). Using the Drobo space calculator on their website, 4 x 1TB drives will give you 2.7TB for data (the rest is used for protection and recovery) - so around 88% and I think the Drobo starts slowing at 85%. I think you can use the Drobo Dashboard app to check.

Although I haven't got a Drobo I know a consultant who has lots out in his customers and they have no problems with them. It isn't a fast RAID system though, it's designed for resilience not speed.

HTH

ddk · « **Reply #4 on:** May 22, 2009, 07:23:55 am »

Quote from: tived

Thanks for replying

I have 2.4TB of used space on my 4TB, It has just asked me to replace one disk, which I have now done, and in the Data Protection (in Progress) approx. 52 hours remaining.

I have just tried to copy some files off the drobo which I can still access, but it is either extremely slow or have stalled on 33mb of 640mb.... I think this unit is going to be replaced with something else, I am just not happy with this unit.

My problem is that I recommended it, and it just haven't lived up to our expectations. Before buying it, I had heard nothing but good things about the Drobo, but my experience is not very impressed

thanks

Henrik

Well, I did put up a detailed warning regarding the rebuild issue not so long ago.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....83&hl=drobo

Drobo has a long rebuild cycle, mine took about 30 hrs for a few hundred gig of data. I'm surprised that you even have access to the drobo during the rebuild period.

The other issue that you might be having is old firmware, I found out afterwards that I installed a new larger disk for nothing and only because drobo dashboard was reading my disk space incorrectly. I had to wrestle with them for the latest firmware back in January to fix this bug since my unit was just over a year old in November and was unwilling to pay their ridiculous annual fees. Over all I'm not happy with my drobo experience either, I was an early adopter and had to go through many bugs and still its very slow in use.

Jack Flesher · « **Reply #5 on:** May 22, 2009, 10:38:28 am »

What brand/size drives are you using? I put up some comments too that specifically, Samsung 1TB and Seagate 1.5's were problematic, where WD or Seagate 1TB's worked fine. The problem with Samsungs is they appeared to act as though ejected if you even bumped the box, and needed to then do the total rebuild like when you insert a new drive. Has to be something to do with their physical shape not being perfectly compatible with the screwless enlosure...

Contrary to David's experience, mine has been excellent apart from the Samsung drive experience.

Tim Gray · « **Reply #6 on:** May 22, 2009, 12:44:59 pm »

Quote from: Jack Flesher

What brand/size drives are you using? I put up some comments too that specifically, Samsung 1TB and Seagate 1.5's were problematic, where WD or Seagate 1TB's worked fine. The problem with Samsungs is they appeared to act as though ejected if you even bumped the box, and needed to then do the total rebuild like when you insert a new drive. Has to be something to do with their physical shape not being perfectly compatible with the screwless enlosure...

Contrary to David's experience, mine has been excellent apart from the Samsung drive experience.

Jack, I have one empty slot in mine and am about to plug in a new 1tb (I'll go with either WD or Seagate) - when I add the drive (I assume everything powered off, or does it matter?) how long would I expect to wait until the new drive has been digested? currently I have 2x 1tb and 1x 500gig with about 1tb total data stored.

Thanks.

andyptak · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2009, 02:42:59 pm »

After almost a year of frustration and numerous contacts to Customer Service, I threw this piece of crap in the garbage this morning. Shame, the idea is good.

kaelaria · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2009, 06:20:44 pm »

V1 was very good - v2 has a lot of production issues, including yours - the drives themselves can fit loose and be jostled around. Bear in mind the drobo is not designed to be moved around. If you want to do so they suggest putting it in standby, powering it down, and removing the drives before moving.

Contact support, you probably need a replacement unit.

They also have issues with the power cord being loose and you might be experiencing that, if you get intermittant power in certain positions. The firewire ports are also an issue, with some having the wrong position tot eh body and being too tight.

Jack Flesher · « **Reply #9 on:** May 23, 2009, 01:15:36 am »

Quote from: Tim Gray

Jack, I have one empty slot in mine and am about to plug in a new 1tb (I'll go with either WD or Seagate) - when I add the drive (I assume everything powered off, or does it matter?) how long would I expect to wait until the new drive has been digested? currently I have 2x 1tb and 1x 500gig with about 1tb total data stored.

Thanks.

Nope, leave the power on and just plug the new drive in. In about two minutes you'll get a notification the new drive has been found and your data is being re-organized, but is safe and you can continue using the DROBO normally It will stay all green since your data isn't at risk and just being re-organized.

Cheers,

tived · « **Reply #10 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:07:32 am »

Quote from: ddk

Well, I did put up a detailed warning regarding the rebuild issue not so long ago.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....83&hl=drobo

Drobo has a long rebuild cycle, mine took about 30 hrs for a few hundred gig of data. I'm surprised that you even have access to the drobo during the rebuild period.

The other issue that you might be having is old firmware, I found out afterwards that I installed a new larger disk for nothing and only because drobo dashboard was reading my disk space incorrectly. I had to wrestle with them for the latest firmware back in January to fix this bug since my unit was just over a year old in November and was unwilling to pay their ridiculous annual fees. Over all I'm not happy with my drobo experience either, I was an early adopter and had to go through many bugs and still its very slow in use.

Thanks for replying.

The weekend has passed, and everything is back to normal, it has rebuild itself and I can use it. but it is very slow, so it looks like we have to replace 1TB with 1.5 or 2TB drives if we are going to keep this baby. I am really not all that impressed with this Drobo. I suppose the fact that it could rebuild itself is something.

I have the latest firmware :-)

thanks

Henrik

tived · « **Reply #11 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:10:45 am »

Quote from: Jack Flesher

What brand/size drives are you using? I put up some comments too that specifically, Samsung 1TB and Seagate 1.5's were problematic, where WD or Seagate 1TB's worked fine. The problem with Samsungs is they appeared to act as though ejected if you even bumped the box, and needed to then do the total rebuild like when you insert a new drive. Has to be something to do with their physical shape not being perfectly compatible with the screwless enlosure...

Contrary to David's experience, mine has been excellent apart from the Samsung drive experience.

Hi Jack,

thanks for replying,

I do have Samsung 1TB disk in, and at the time that we purchased the unit and disks, there were no issues. But it could very well be the issue I have. My disks are the Samsung F1

cheers

Henrik

tived · « **Reply #12 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:15:27 am »

Thanks to all who replied,

The unit have only been moved around when it has been disconnected and powered off, it has been happening between office renovations where the Drobo has been moved from room to room as the places has been done up, but always after it has been disconnected and powered off.

It may just be that I have filled it to its limit and it is acting slow because of that. The Samsung drives can be the one's that are not compatible with it anymore. I am not sure, what I do know it that it isn't working to meet my expectations YMMV.

thanks all :-) your knowledge here is gold

Henrik

Phil Indeblanc · « **Reply #13 on:** June 18, 2009, 11:07:57 am »

Most pro level units for raid or NAS on 4 bay units start at around $800 without drives.... Something with speed and better management will not be cheap. Don't be surprised to see them in the $1500-2k range for more bays with drives.
Drobo, is like the ones from Dell, or Netgear....rather limited, and slow. Like mentioned above, on RAID, you dont want to use more than (75% is my limit) 3/4 of the drive space.
Ones from ReadyNAS, Synology, and the pro level stuff have built in OS's that manage everything, and are very fast as well as easy to use. Also, depending on environment temps, I would keep these in proper temp location, as they can get warm with lots of read/write. Sometimes it is much worth paying a little extra for server level drives vs basic retail home use, or "green" drives. WD has some 1TB drives that are better rated for 24/7 on use, although the black caviar drives are decent so far. If you can build a NAS(or have someone do it for you) with FreeNAS using an old PC setup, you will have the highend performance for very little.

Jon Maxim · « **Reply #14 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:58:31 pm »

I feel I must comment. Anyone considering buying a Drobo, please be warned. I had mine fail in the middle of a Mac migration and now continuously reboots. I have used quality drives (2x500GB and 2x1TB Seagate) Despite escalation they have still not been able to fix the problem. Am now on my third unit. Please, please, please do not use a Drobo for critical backup. I luckily had three other types of backup including DVD. (My wife used to complain about the cost but now understands.) I have now had too many other people tell me about problems with Drobos to think that this is just anecdotal evidence. Caveat emptor.

Author Topic: Drobo problems (Read 14916 times)