Drobo

Car magazines often run long-term road tests of some of the vehicles that they review, thus providing updates at certain times during the life of a car. Similarly, my first generation Drobo just turned 18 months, so I thought it’s time to provide a quick update on how it is performing.

When I purchased my Drobo, I intentionally bought the first generation Drobo (USB only) and not the second generation, which features Firewire support and claims to be 30% faster. Since my Drobo is connected to a backup and media server via USB, I did not think I needed the speed improvements and was proven right.

Server Environment

Drobo is used as a backup and file/media server

I run a pretty standard server environment: A bunch of Mac and PC clients back up automatically to a file server, which also does double-duty as a media server throughout the house. While each client has its own storage (and in case of my photos, mirrored storage), I wanted to have every file on my server on three hard-drives. Thus the Drobo, which keeps a copy of each file on two drives, thus protecting against a physical hard drive failure. And frequent, automated backups of the Drobo to external hard-drives in case of a Drobo controller failure. Pretty simple set-up overall.

Here’s how the Drobo performed in this environment so far:

The Good

• Setup: Setup was very straight-forward. Install the drivers, connect the Drobo, put in at least two hard drives and copy your files. Done. Copying took quite some time, but once the files were on, I was all set
• Expanding storage: Initially, I started with two 1 TB drives, but have since added two more, for a total net capacity of 4 TB and an actual capacity of 2.6 TB. All drives are Western Digital Green drives. When adding drives, I simply slid them into the Drobo and it recognized the drives. It then spread all the data over the newly added drive which took quite some time (more than 24 hours), but the Drobo was operational during that time. I did not experience any problems with this process.
• Reliability: I’ve had zero problems with the Drobo. None. Even when I inserted a very old, non-supported hard-drive, the Drobo shut itself down to protect the existing hard-drives. Once I took out the old hard-drive, I powered the Drobo up and everything worked normally.
• Speed: I have not done any speed tests, because my Drobo is connected to a server, where the Wi-Fi throughput is the weakest (slowest) link in the chain. So the Drobo’s speed is fine with me.

The Bad

• Noise: The first generation Drobo is noisy and constantly emits a high-pitched vibration noise (I put 4 bricks on top to get rid of it). My assumption: Drives spinning at different speeds and times cause the noise due to insufficient shock absorption of the drives. I do not know whether this is fixed in the current Drobo, but I would not use the Drobo on my desk where I work. It’s simply too noisy. But no problem when connected to a server that is tucked away.
• Windows XP 2TB drive limit: Windows XP has a 2TB drive limit, where any drive with an assigned drive letter connected to an XP machine cannot be larger than 2TB. Since my Drobo’s capacity is 2.6 TB, Drobo dealt with the issue by spreading the content of the Drobo over two logical drives (D: and E:), even although everything resides on one Drobo. This is the worst that could happen – since I run automated backup routines, I need control over what goes where. The worst thing for automation is that Drobo randomly puts files all over the place. The partially good news is that my server, at over 7 years old, is on its last legs and will get replaced with something else (Mac, Win7 or Win Home Server machine) that is capable of handling drives with more than 2TB. Until then, I do everything to keep my data on my Drobo under 2 TB. I wish Drobo would give me a chance to override the way they deal with this Windows XP issue, though.
• Unattended driver upgrades: I performed multiple driver upgrades during the time I had my Drobo. All went well. However, their way to upgrade a driver is to run their InstallShield set-up program, so you have to effectively perform a re-install. This might work fine on a Drobo next to your desktop, but not when you are in a confined server space. I wish they would do upgrades as simple as most Apple programs do – launch the download, then auto-install and restart the driver. Two clicks, no more. Their way simply feels very consumerish.
• Support nag screen: This one was pretty galling. My Drobo came with one year of free support. Once that year was up, the Drobo software started to nag me with Support renewal screens, with no way for me to opt out. Given how much the Drobo cost, this is a no-no and drove me nuts. I finally stopped it by writing a batch that killed the screen – not sure whether it would still be around otherwise.

Overall, the Drobo works for me in my environment. Reliably, expandable and with adequate speed. Mileage may vary for you – I know that my co-editor Joe is a friend of less expensive RAIDs and thus would not even consider a Drobo. But the box works and so does its software (despite its consumerish feel). If you can live with its short-comings, you will definitely like what the Drobo will do for you.

Verdict: Recommended!

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