Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2024/05/18

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Subject: [Leica] [Leica} Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?
From: abridge at mac.com (Adam Bridge)
Date: Sat, 18 May 2024 10:38:07 -0700
References: <6a45704e-e507-4746-b767-9ad1795b6216@gmail.com> <6f916788-21d2-45cd-9855-b94fff55de67@gmail.com>

I have a memory that Lightroom doesn?t support NAS storage. I have no idea 
why that might be the case but I have a vivid memory that it?s the case.

After my Drobo started to go off about six years ago I replaced it with a 
Promise Pegasus RAID that is still working quietly well. I?ve had to replace 
one drive.

Since then I have used an OWC 4 drive box and populated with 4 drives to 
yield about 35 TB. I have a MacPro and have two internal very large single 
disks that I use as a local backup to the RAIDs. All of these are connected 
with Thunderbolt. And I have an OWC box with four very fast SSDs. I use 
SoftRAID to manage the disk arrays. I?m very pleased with the performance. I 
backup everything to the cloud using BackBlaze. I have 1Gig AT&T fiber so it 
makes good sense to me. I?ve never had to replace a whole drive using 
BackBlaze but it?s a terrific deal. And I backup my primary drive to an 
external drive with TimeMachine. My catalogs for both Capture One and 
Lightroom live on my Mac Pro?s internal SSD. I back those up additionally to 
the SSD RAID.

I?ll be interested to know how you?re connecting the NAS to Tina?s box.

Drobo was a good idea but it just didn?t perform well. It did make replacing 
drives incredibly easily when something went wrong.

Adam Bridge
Davis, CA

> On May 16, 2024, at 12:12?PM, Frank Filippone via LUG <lug at 
> leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Yes, I am helping Tina with her file system.  She is replacing her Drobos 
> with a Synology NAS.   I "am" her tech support person.
> 
> Why?  Because Drobo is out of business.  Who cares?  SHE AND YOU SHOULD 
> CARE!
> 
> How old is your Drobo, in terms of development..... look at this chart....
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drobo
> 
> It tells you when your Drobo model was first introduced to the marjket... 
> assume it took at least 1 year to design... Your Drobo was designed in 
> roughly 2010., or even earlier  That was the year Windows 7 was in 
> vogue..... Windows 7.  That was when the various software was written to 
> run the box and interface with Windows. Windows 7, not Windows 11.  Things 
> have changed....
> 
> /If you have a Drobo, it will eventually fail/.  Let me explain.... 
> Windows is not a fixed immovable O/S.  It changes ( somewhat at the whim 
> of Microsoft.).
> 
> Drobo Software ( yes, it does run on software) is not and will not change 
> to accommodate Windows changes. The company no longer exists.   The SW is 
> frozen.  ( probably some amateur code writer will fix this, but if you are 
> not willing to take this chance on code written by some 16 year old who 
> lives on Pizza and Energy-Caffeine drinks being responsible for taking 
> care of everything on your Dobo, read further....)..
> 
> An analogy is for SW written for Windows 3.1 and using that SW on Windows 
> 11....  Some of it just will not work.
> 
> Your computer gets Windows updates all the time, and implements them.  
> sometime, either now or "tomorrow", some change in Windows will not allow 
> your Drobo Software to perform as it did yesterday.  YOU WILL HAVE NO 
> WARNING>>>>. It will be a brick.  It will not be reversible ( almost).  
> EVERYTHING on your Drobo will be permanently inaccessible.
> 
> No you can not just remove the HDD from the Drobo and put them into 
> something else and they will work..... THEY WILL NOT.
> 
> Your data may be safely ON the Drobo, but unless you can get to it, 
> ....... and eventually you will not be able to,,,,,,   you own a brick.
> 
> It is time NOW to fix this situation you are in, before Windows and Drobo 
> no longer work together.
> 
> You do have choices.... replace the Drobo boxes with large external HDD 
> boxes that work on USB.  They can be bought for a few hundred dollars.  
> Probably the lowest cost and fully equivalent to what you have now, but 
> since the USB box is modern and built to work with WIndows, and uses no SW 
> on your computer, it will last a LONG time.....
> 
> Replace the Drobo with a LAN box... called NAS ( Network Attached 
> Storage).  Same as above only it works on a network connection to your 
> computer rather than USB.  There are a bunch of differences, but in 
> essence, for very large file systems ( Tina has about 1 MILLION images), 
> this solution will provide  faster response time for search and other 
> functions.  But you must deal with the LAN issues.... Not so easy.... not 
> terrible, but not easy.  They are more expensive.
> 
> There you go.... if you use Drobo HDD enclosures, do something NOW.
> 
> If you are running your BUSINESS on a Drobo, you are living a nightmare in 
> the making... You want the IRS to permanently live in your office, 
> demanding you get old records from your now dead computer because the 
> Drobo is dead?  Want/NEED the email address of that 16 year old that lives 
> on Pizza and Energy-Caffeine drinks?
> 
> I want to point out that this is NOT a hardware issue.... the HDD and the 
> box will probably work for a long time in the future,,,, it is an issue of 
> incompatible software.
> 
> But you will not be able to access it......
> 
> If you have questions, you may email me directly and I will help you to 
> make decisions and, to the extent I can, I will help you implement those 
> decisions.
> 
> No, I do not charge.
> 
> Frank Filippone
> BMWRed735i at Gmail.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information




Replies: Reply from bmwred735i at gmail.com (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] [Leica} Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?)
Reply from tmanley at gmail.com (Tina Manley) ([Leica] [Leica} Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?)
In reply to: Message from bmwred735i at gmail.com (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?)
Message from bmwred735i at gmail.com (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] [Leica} Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?)