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: tmanley at gmail.com (Tina Manley)
Date: Sat, 18 May 2024 13:55:54 -0400
References: <3129A994-8017-45D2-B6B7-3F9343EAF4DA@mac.com>

My LR catalogs are on separate SSD external hard drives connected to my 
computer by USB, so that should not be a problem. The Synology box will be 
used for storage of my more than 1,000,000 photo files.

Tina

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 18, 2024, at 1:38?PM, Adam Bridge via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> ?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
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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?)
In reply to: Message from abridge at mac.com (Adam Bridge) ([Leica] [Leica} Drobos... If you have them what can you expect?)