Drobo: Very disappointed to learn of the demise of Drobo. Has anyone on this site dealt with them regarding updates to work with new OS software for Apple iMac Pro machines? I have the...

monroeb58 Loc: Virginia Beach

Very disappointed to learn of the demise of Drobo. Has anyone on this site dealt with them regarding updates to work with new OS software for Apple iMac Pro machines? I have the Drobo model 8d. Has anyone on this site thrown in the towel on Drobo and replaced their machine with another backup system? If so, what did you choose to replace it with? Thanks for help.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's too bad. I hate to see an established company going out of business. Maybe bankruptcy will save it.

https://petapixel.com/2022/07/18/storage-company-drobo-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/#:~:text=Data%20storage%20company%20Drobo%20has,restructure%20and%20discharge%20some%20debt.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...well, shoot. I guess that one in the box I've never opened might as well stay there.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Hard to make money as a small aftermarket RAID or NAS manufacturer. The commercial/enterprise IT customers are not going to risk a small company for storage, and the market for amateur users and very small companies is small and heavily congested with competitors.

As an alternative, you can always create your own RAID using the tools native to Windows or Mac OS, and if you’re still using rotating media and need more drives than your case will accommodate, there are plenty of inexpensive drive enclosures available - just get one with a fan and a decent power supply and a fast interface.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

monroeb58 wrote:

Very disappointed to learn of the demise of Drobo. Has anyone on this site dealt with them regarding updates to work with new OS software for Apple iMac Pro machines? I have the Drobo model 8d. Has anyone on this site thrown in the towel on Drobo and replaced their machine with another backup system? If so, what did you choose to replace it with? Thanks for help.

I switched to MediaSonic Pro raid + mainly because my local store no longer carried The Drobo line.
I still use the Drobo even though the front cover was broken during my move four years ago, because it I have images stored on it.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

monroeb58 wrote:

Very disappointed to learn of the demise of Drobo. Has anyone on this site dealt with them regarding updates to work with new OS software for Apple iMac Pro machines? I have the Drobo model 8d. Has anyone on this site thrown in the towel on Drobo and replaced their machine with another backup system? If so, what did you choose to replace it with? Thanks for help.

I had two Drobo's fail on me and as I did not pay their exorbitant support fees they refused to offer any assistance. If you are extremely IT literate you could loan a version of Linux on it and try to run a RAID.

I threw in the towel. I not have a pair of 42 TB OtherWorldComputing's (OWC or macsales.com) Thunderbay 8s connected to my Mac M1 Ultra Studio Pro with fiber optic cables, one being the primary storage and one for a continuous update using SyncFoldersPro +. Many smaller ThunderBay sizes are available: ThunderBay 8.

Johanna Loc: Albuquerque, NM

My Drobo 5N with ~8TB of data died. I reseated all the drives and maybe it will work as it sent a note that 3 of the drives were not seen or making contact when powered up! Have not tried to access any files yet. Waiting on a Snyology with 4 each 12 TB drives from B&H. After the new raid is set up I'll give the Drobo a chance to xfer all contents to the Synology.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Johanna wrote:

My Drobo 5N with ~8TB of data died. I reseated all the drives and maybe it will work as it sent a note that 3 of the drives were not seen or making contact when powered up! Have not tried to access any files yet. Waiting on a Snyology with 4 each 12 TB drives from B&H. After the new raid is set up I'll give the Drobo a chance to xfer all contents to the Synology.

Hopefully you have a local or cloud backup of your data…

Johanna Loc: Albuquerque, NM

TriX wrote:

Hopefully you have a local or cloud backup of your data…

Nope! Some files that I want to share are on Drop box. I guess I am too cheap ao not felling secure about off site places. Perhaps I need to rethink things.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Johanna wrote:

Nope! Some files that I want to share are on Drop box. I guess I am too cheap ao not felling secure about off site places. Perhaps I need to rethink things.

Maybe consider a cloud based disaster recovery copy from a major cloud provider. Storing data without some kind of backup is courting disaster as a RAID system will NOT protect you from All types of failures. I really hope you can recover your 8TB of data - losing most or all of that is a MAJOR disaster. If you do, consider the experience a warning and take immediate action to protect your data by a secondary backup copy and preferably an off-site disaster recovery copy as well.

In the event you still can’t get the Drobo to mount all the drives, contact them immediately (if their support is still active) and come back here with details for possible help. Good luck!

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

TriX wrote:

Maybe consider a cloud based disaster recovery cop... (show quote)

Even when still a going entity, Drobo refused to offer any support unless you paid their horrendous maintenance fee.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you own a Drobo, you might consider reading the first few paragraphs and then moving to other storage. Drobo’s implementation of RAID is VERY complex and really requires long term factory support, especially in cases such as mentioned above. Considering the way that data is laid down on disk, the combination of RAID levels and the way the metadata (the “map”) is handled, trying to recover data from a failing Drobo would be a nightmare and unlikely for anyone except the factory (if you can afford the support AND they are still in business). I’d run, not walk, away from this storage.
https://www.reclaime-pro.com/manual/drobo-specifics.aspx