The demise of DROBO?

[VickiD]

I'm hoping someone here has a solution for a potential problem. I've been using Drobo (currently the 5D3) for many years as an extension of my storage. It's been convenient as, when I buy a new computer, I just attach the drive and have all my storage. I have many terrabytes of data on my current one and just read that the company is filing Chapter 11 Bankrupcy. This really scares me and I'm looking for an alternative. I keep my Drobo attached all the time to have access to all my years of photos. It's backed up to the Cloud via Carbonite, but that is just a safety measure. It doesn't give me quick access to my photos.

Has anyone here found a RAID system similar to Drobo, and used it? Any suggestions? I'm just starting my investigation.

[pontiac1940]

Vicki
I like your idea of always using one huge external drive and also cloud backup.
Can't help you. I own ~17 hard drives from 250 GB (Maxtor) to 2, 3, 5 and 8TB drives. One 4-yo WD drive does not  work. But the drives are double and triple redundancies. 
Oh, BTW, I do manual back ups monthly. If I take critical photos they are double backed up immediately. It's a bit sketchy, but it is rare that I am unable to find a specific digital photo. They go back 20 years now.  
Good luck. 
Clive
    

[pete61]

Vicki, this recent article in PetaPixel may be of help: petapixel.com/best-drobo-alternatives/

[VickiD]

Sept 8, 2022 17:20:00 GMT pete61 said:

Vicki, this recent article in PetaPixel may be of help: petapixel.com/best-drobo-alternatives/

Thanks, Pete...I had seen that article while doing my own search, but didn't really look at it until you posted it. I kind of like the Sandisk solution, but don't have >$4000 to get the one I'd need. The base one is too small for what I already have on my Drobo. I'm going to do some research to see if Synology has a Direct Attached Storage option--I saw this product demonstrated at a trade show a few years ago and it looked good then..but I already had my Drobo set up and was happy with it.

Thanks for researching this for me.

[BuckSkin]

I am not at all familiar with DROBO or any RAID set-up; I have been steered clear of and warned away from any type RAID system and therefore have no experience at all in how they work.

That being said, I am curious; will your DROBO set-up just lock up and quit when the company goes belly-up ?

Surely the mechanics would be the same as any such system and I am assuming the actual storage consists of normal hard drives; my thinking is that, unless your system is online-controlled by DROBO, it will continue working until doomsday regardless of whether the parent company exists or not.

If that is the case, I wouldn't worry about it and soldier on as if nothing were amiss.

[VickiD]

Sept 9, 2022 4:48:30 GMT BuckSkin said:

I am not at all familiar with DROBO or any RAID set-up; I have been steered clear of and warned away from any type RAID system and therefore have no experience at all in how they work.

That being said, I am curious; will your DROBO set-up just lock up and quit when the company goes belly-up ?

Surely the mechanics would be the same as any such system and I am assuming the actual storage consists of normal hard drives; my thinking is that, unless your system is online-controlled by DROBO, it will continue working until doomsday regardless of whether the parent company exists or not.

If that is the case, I wouldn't worry about it and soldier on as if nothing were amiss.

Buckskin, No...the world won't end if/when the company goes belly-up. However, upgrades to the software and support will end. My concern is what to do if something fails and I have no support from the company. If this 're-organization' doesn't work and they go out of business, I might just start small with another system and gradually add to it. I'm not looking to replace it all at once. I do hope to use it for quite a while longer, but, since I only have sons, I was a boy scout (leader) and I like to 'be prepared'.

[BuckSkin]

Sept 9, 2022 4:59:12 GMT VickiD said:

I was a boy scout (leader)

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity about DROBO.

Mrs. BuckSkin was also a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, Troop 241; if she hadn't of been, there would have been no scouts.

When I was a scout, our leader was a three tour Vietnam veteran, unmarried with no children; he stepped in on behalf of his brother, who was my age --- believe me, with a leader like that, we had a Boy Scout Troop --- we were storm-the-beach ready.
He drilled us just as if we were in boot camp.
When he decided we were ready, he took us on an unforgettable trip to Fort Knox where we were turned over to a real drill sergeant and put through our paces; I heard him tell the sergeant not to cut us any slack.
We got a thorough tour of the base and barracks and had to make a bed that you could bounce a quarter on.
We got to eat in the mess hall and I will never forget it; the meal was wonderful; I never before in my life had so many wonderful choices to choose from and it didn't cost us a red cent; if my eyeglasses hadn't been thick as Coke bottles, I would have enlisted right then and there.
And, to top off the trip, we got a guided tour of the Patton Museum.
The indoor/outdoor Patton Museum is huge, wonderful, and FREE to anyone and we are very fortunate that it is right here in Kentucky and not somewhere 2,000-miles away; I have been three other times; but, that was the only guided tour.

[VickiD]

Sept 9, 2022 5:37:38 GMT BuckSkin said:

Mrs. BuckSkin was also a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, Troop 241; if she hadn't of been, there would have been no scouts.

BuckSkin...that's why they finally let women wear tan shirts! When I first started, women could only be cub scout leaders and wear yellow shirts...but there weren't enough men volunteers, so we got our chance!

[Andy]

NAS solutions like the Synology are great, but they are expensive. I'm not sure they are worth it for just backup purposes.
There are two reasons to use RAID:
- To improve reliability and prevent data loss from a single drive failure
- You want to speed up your disks

With the increasing storage capacity of SSD drives, I'd rather invest in a fast SSD than do RAID striping (speeding up performance of your disks).

Your data is backed up via Carbonite, which is great - that gives you one backup, and one that isn't subject to any issues at your home. I would invest in one or two USB drives to use as a local backup. They are much more affordable than any RAID drive. Then you just need a software solution for the backup. Windows File History or Mac Timeshift will work. I also use a simple file copy utility called FreeFileSync.

[VickiD]

Andy, thanks for your thoughtful answer--you make a lot of sense and it might work...but there are a couple of issues specific to my situation.

First, my backup isn't NAS, it's Direct via USB (so no Synology).

Second, my Carbonite backup would disappear if I disconnected my Drobo (I'd get 30 days to reconnect, but the backup would start over if I connected a different drive). I'd have to start over with backing up the hard drives. I learned that lesson the hard way when I decided to rearrange some folders on my Drobo...and Carbonite took a couple of months to rewrite all the files in their new locations!

Third, I can only back up one external to Carbonite without going to a business/enterprise version (which I can't really afford). I actually have almost 15 TB of files stored on my Drobo. I haven't checked lately, but don't remember seeing a single external HD that can hold that much data (and still have room for more).

The above reasons are why I'm investivating a replacement for Drobo. I'd LOVE Synology, but they don't offer a direct connection solution.

:::sigh::: What's really sad is that I've always been very happy with my storage solution. Hopefully, Drobo will use this Chapter 11 opportunity to really reorganize and get back on its feet!

[BuckSkin]

Just some alternative ideas.

I use free Synchredible to handle all of my file backup tasks.

I do have a few plug-n-play external drives, but I much prefer self-powered external HDD enclosures; THIS is my preference; I have several.

I have two of THESE; very handy for working with HDDs that are not in an enclosure, such as periodic back-ups to HDDs that will be stored elsewhere.


I have a rock-solid home network (LAN) where Synchredible can back things up to other network locations, such as an older desktop located in a different building that has several USB-connected HDD enclosures; anything that is on any of the other machines and their externals is also on the externals of this machine --- same drive letters and everything.

[Andy]

15TB is a lot of data and does make the problem more challenging. I'm not sure there is an inexpensive way out of that problem.
Newegg has some DAS devices - QNAP looks like the primary option. www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=direct+attached+storage. Looks like that may require an interface card for the PC. You might have to move to a NAS device.

With that amount of data and Carbonite as your backup, you should look into Carbonite's policies for a full restore. If your Drobo were to melt down completely today, you would have to find a new backup solution then recover 15Tb from the internet. That is a lot of time. Carbonite may not be the right backup solution for your situation.

[VickiD]

Sept 12, 2022 22:45:45 GMT Andy said:

With that amount of data and Carbonite as your backup, you should look into Carbonite's policies for a full restore. If your Drobo were to melt down completely today, you would have to find a new backup solution then recover 15Tb from the internet. That is a lot of time. Carbonite may not be the right backup solution for your situation.

Andy...actually, that happened 4 years ago when we moved into this house. My office wasn't setup yet and I was working on a table that wasn't as stable as it should have been. My Drobo took a nose dive off the table and died! I had to buy a new Drobo and hard drives...it took a LOT of months to restore everything. So...you're right; only, this time, I'd have to find an entirely different solution.

If it turns out that Drobo can't reorganize, I'll have to look into a NAS solution. :::sigh:::

In the meantime, I'll look into Newegg's DAS devices that you mentioned. Thank you!