Comments on: Drobo – nothing but problems http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/ Music + Technology + Random Nonsense from the Music Industry by Ethan Kaplan, VP Product, Live Nation Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:55:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Shrab http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-193746 Shrab Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:27:27 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-193746 We also have the first generation Drobo and it's not as good as the Hive unit we have. If you want total piece of mind and the knowledge that no matter what happens that your data is 100% safe then go for the Hive unit from United Digital! a little known fact if anything goes wrong you have an on-site service engineer that will come to you! its part of the HIVE not an extra it is included in the price! We also have the first generation Drobo and it’s not as good as the Hive unit we have.

If you want total piece of mind and the knowledge that no matter what happens that your data is 100% safe then go for the Hive unit from United Digital! a little known fact if anything goes wrong you have an on-site service engineer that will come to you! its part of the HIVE not an extra it is included in the price!

]]> By: jugernagt http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-193293 jugernagt Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:03:59 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-193293 I was using a FireWire Drobo unit for our Surveilence system with four 2TB drives. Within two weeks it said one drive had failed so did a hot swap with a new drive. The drobo said it was going to take 278 hours to rebuild the RAID!!!! It also said I was able to access the data but wouldn't mount the volume. I'm now looking into using something different. I was using a FireWire Drobo unit for our Surveilence system with four 2TB drives. Within two weeks it said one drive had failed so did a hot swap with a new drive. The drobo said it was going to take 278 hours to rebuild the RAID!!!! It also said I was able to access the data but wouldn’t mount the volume. I’m now looking into using something different.

]]> By: Ben http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-193279 Ben Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:43:15 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-193279 Well....you can't do anything wrong with the Drobo basically. I have 2 by now Gen 1 and Gen 2 and both work great. You can even switch complete arrays into another Drobo and it recognizes all the data on it. I wonder how anyone can have 2 defective units in a row and lose data. My only negative critic goes to the speed. If empty you get up to 20MB/s if 70-90% filled you get 1-4 MB/s. Sometimes not even enough to play an HD Movie lagless. So i'm using it mainly as a Data Safe...looking for a different solution with any software running on PC Hardware....promising myself more performance of that. Well….you can’t do anything wrong with the Drobo basically. I have 2 by now Gen 1 and Gen 2 and both work great. You can even switch complete arrays into another Drobo and it recognizes all the data on it. I wonder how anyone can have 2 defective units in a row and lose data.

My only negative critic goes to the speed. If empty you get up to 20MB/s if 70-90% filled you get 1-4 MB/s. Sometimes not even enough to play an HD Movie lagless.

So i’m using it mainly as a Data Safe…looking for a different solution with any software running on PC Hardware….promising myself more performance of that.

]]> By: Happy ex-Ddrobo user http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-193093 Happy ex-Ddrobo user Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:45:19 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-193093 I had a similar bad experience. Multiple USB devices (one at a time) without any problems. Drobo screwed up, over and over again. Lousy experience with support - everything was to blame apart from the device. I believed they wanted to just keep using my time trying non-drobo solutions until i gave up. I did give up. I gave up using the Drobo. No more hangs, locks, freezes. My machine works again. The Drobo is a great idea, but the implementation is awful. Based on my experiences, stay away. I had a similar bad experience. Multiple USB devices (one at a time) without any problems. Drobo screwed up, over and over again. Lousy experience with support – everything was to blame apart from the device. I believed they wanted to just keep using my time trying non-drobo solutions until i gave up.

I did give up. I gave up using the Drobo. No more hangs, locks, freezes. My machine works again.

The Drobo is a great idea, but the implementation is awful. Based on my experiences, stay away.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-192930 Jeff Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:18:37 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-192930 Just bought DROBO hooked up to WinXP with USB2.0. Now I can't even boot into WinXP. Nothing but problems. Even when it did work, file copying was very slow. Keep looking if you're in the market. Just bought DROBO hooked up to WinXP with USB2.0. Now I can’t even boot into WinXP. Nothing but problems. Even when it did work, file copying was very slow. Keep looking if you’re in the market.

]]> By: Jag http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-192774 Jag Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:09:03 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-192774 !! Always backup your data. NAS and RAID devices can NOT be used as your only file store !! If you want a fast and cheap NAS, built one using generic computers parts and a RAID controller. I got a 8 drive 6TB Raid 6 setup thats achieves 90MB/s on a gigabit network. No NAS device can beat that. !! Always backup your data. NAS and RAID devices can NOT be used as your only file store !!

If you want a fast and cheap NAS, built one using generic computers parts and a RAID controller. I got a 8 drive 6TB Raid 6 setup thats achieves 90MB/s on a gigabit network. No NAS device can beat that.

]]> By: Bruno Bertocci http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-192524 Bruno Bertocci Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:00:16 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-192524 Ready NAS 1100? Fuhgedabout it! I have had no end of problems. A firmware update that locked mine up. Lost a bunch of data. Good drives reported as bad. The web management software screws things up or behaves intermittently. It is anything but a stable platform, it is fine...until you make a change, update anything or replace a drive. When you do that, look out!! I am swapping mine for a Drobo. Ready NAS 1100? Fuhgedabout it! I have had no end of problems. A firmware update that locked mine up. Lost a bunch of data. Good drives reported as bad. The web management software screws things up or behaves intermittently. It is anything but a stable platform, it is fine…until you make a change, update anything or replace a drive. When you do that, look out!! I am swapping mine for a Drobo.

]]> By: Amos http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-191837 Amos Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:19:36 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-191837 My Drobo just lost an entire storage volume. Poof! Just like that, it now appears as RAW and unformatted. 1TB of family holiday videos and media files gone just like that. The drives are not dead, it just decided to lose all data. My Drobo just lost an entire storage volume. Poof! Just like that, it now appears as RAW and unformatted. 1TB of family holiday videos and media files gone just like that. The drives are not dead, it just decided to lose all data.

]]> By: Mark http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-191755 Mark Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:14:47 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-191755 You should check out the QNAP TS-509. It's a 5-bay very quiet NAS with lots of prosumer options for home and business. Available right now on Newegg for $899 diskless. You should check out the QNAP TS-509. It’s a 5-bay very quiet NAS with lots of prosumer options for home and business. Available right now on Newegg for $899 diskless.

]]> By: Brad Saguindel http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-191754 Brad Saguindel Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:33:26 +0000 http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/09/02/drobo-nothing-but-problems/#comment-191754 Check out the solutions from Adaptec/SNAP servers; old skool, but works like a charm. Adaptec also has an iSCSI NAS solution for under $2K called the 4500. Haven't tried it yet, but if it's anything like the 520 I would highly recommend it. SNAP server 520 also comes bundled with BakBone software for 500GB VTL license. Check out the solutions from Adaptec/SNAP
servers; old skool, but works like a charm. Adaptec also has an iSCSI NAS solution for under $2K called the 4500. Haven’t tried it yet, but if it’s anything like the 520 I would highly recommend it.

SNAP server 520 also comes bundled with BakBone software for 500GB VTL license.

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