Drobo 5D3 User manual

Drobo 5D3 User Guide

Drobo 5D3 User Guide 2
1Drobo 5D3 User Guide.......................................................................................................6
2Before You Begin................................................................................................................7
2.1 Product Features at a Glance.....................................................................................7
2.2 Checking Box Contents ..............................................................................................8
2.3 Checking System Requirements ................................................................................9
2.3.1 Operating Systems Supported .............................................................................9
2.3.2 Connectivity Interfaces Supported for Drobo 5D3 ..............................................9
2.4 Checking the Hardware You Need ...........................................................................12
2.4.1 Selecting Drives..................................................................................................13
2.4.2 Determining Drive Space Requirements............................................................15
2.4.3 Using Power Protection .....................................................................................16
3Setting Up Your Drobo 5D3..............................................................................................17
3.1 Downloading and Installing Drobo Dashboard........................................................17
3.1.1 Installing Drobo Dashboard on Windows ..........................................................18
3.1.2 Installing Drobo Dashboard on Mac ..................................................................21
3.2 Inserting Drives ........................................................................................................27
3.3 Connecting Cables on Your Drobo 5D3....................................................................28
3.3.1 Connecting Directly to Your Drobo 5D3 ............................................................29
3.3.2 Connecting Your Drobo in a Daisy Chain ...........................................................30
3.4 Powering On Your Drobo 5D3..................................................................................33
3.5 Initializing and Updating Your Drobo 5D3 to the Latest Firmware .........................34
3.6 Formatting the Drives for Your Drobo 5D3..............................................................37
3.6.1 Selecting a File System and Volume Size for Your Drobo 5D3 ..........................37

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3.6.2 Turning On Your Drobo 5D3 and Formatting the Drives ...................................38
3.7 Registering Your Drobo 5D3 ....................................................................................42
3.8 Migrating a Disk Pack from Another Drobo Device .................................................45
3.9 Using Drobo 5D3 with Time Machine or Backup Software .....................................47
4Where To Go Next ...........................................................................................................51
4.1 Using Best Practices for Protecting Data .................................................................51
4.2 Keeping Your Software Up to Date..........................................................................51
4.2.1 Checking for Software Updates .........................................................................52
4.3 Using the Online User Guide....................................................................................52
4.4 Using Context-Sensitive Help...................................................................................53
4.5 Using Knowledge Base .............................................................................................54
4.6 Registering Your Drobo 5D3 ....................................................................................54
4.7 Getting Support........................................................................................................57
5Using and Managing Your Drobo 5D3 .............................................................................59
5.1 Using Drobo Dashboard...........................................................................................59
5.1.1 Keeping Your Software Up to Date ....................................................................59
5.1.1.1 Checking for Software Updates..................................................................60
5.1.2 Manually Updating Firmware from Drobo Website..........................................60
5.1.3 Touring Drobo Dashboard .................................................................................61
5.2 Renaming Your Drobo 5D3 ......................................................................................65
5.3 Formatting Your Drobo 5D3.....................................................................................66
5.4 Safely Shutting Down Your Drobo 5D3....................................................................71
5.4.1 Safely Shutting Down Your Drobo 5D3 Using Drobo Dashboard ......................71

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5.5 Resetting Your Drobo 5D3 .......................................................................................73
5.6 Blinking Lights to Test Connectivity .........................................................................74
5.7 Enabling or Disabling System Tray...........................................................................75
6Modifying Device Settings for Your Drobo 5D3...............................................................77
6.1 Enabling or Disabling Dual Disk Redundancy...........................................................77
6.2 Modifying the Disk Drive Spin Down Time ..............................................................79
6.3 Dimming the Lights on Your Drobo 5D3 ..................................................................80
7Managing Capacity (Drive Space) ....................................................................................81
7.1 Calculating Capacity to Use......................................................................................81
7.2 Adding Capacity (or Drives)......................................................................................82
7.3 Removing Capacity (or Drives).................................................................................84
7.4 Inserting an mSATA SSD...........................................................................................85
7.5 Removing an mSATA SSD.........................................................................................87
8Checking Storage Usage and Device Status Information ................................................89
8.1 Checking Storage Usage...........................................................................................89
8.1.1 Viewing Capacity Chart ......................................................................................90
8.1.2 Viewing Storage Usage ......................................................................................91
8.2 Checking the Status of Your Drobo 5D3 ..................................................................93
8.3 Checking Your Drobo 5D3's Serial Number .............................................................94
8.4 Checking Your Drobo 5D3's Firmware Version........................................................95
8.5 Checking the Current Version of Drobo Dashboard ................................................96
8.6 Checking System Information..................................................................................98
8.7 Checking Drive Information .....................................................................................99

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8.8 Checking Performance Information.......................................................................101
8.9 Getting Diagnostics on Your Drobo 5D3................................................................102
8.10 Understanding the Indicator Lights .......................................................................104
9Using On-Screen and E-mail Alerts ................................................................................106
9.1 Setting Up or Modifying E-mail Alerts ...................................................................106
9.2 Modifying When to Send E-mail Alerts..................................................................112
9.3 Disabling E-mail Alerts ...........................................................................................113
9.4 Modifying When to Send On-Screen Alerts...........................................................114
9.5 Disabling On-Screen Alerts ....................................................................................115

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1Drobo 5D3 User Guide
Congratulations on your new Drobo!
This Getting Started section will help you get your Drobo 5D3 set up and running in just a
few steps.
Topics:
Before You Begin
Setting Up Your Drobo 5D3
Where to Go Next

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2Before You Begin
Before you begin setting up your Drobo 5D3, it’s a good idea to check system and
hardware requirements.
Topics:
Product Features at a Glance
Checking Box Contents
Checking System Requirements
Checking the Hardware You Need
2.1 Product Features at a Glance
For a quick overview of features of the Drobo 5D3, refer to the following images.
Figure 1: Front of the Drobo 5D3 with the bezel (faceplate) removed.

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Figure 2: Back of the Drobo 5D3
2.2 Checking Box Contents
Check your product's box to ensure it contains all the components in the list below.
●Drobo 5D3
●1 m (3.3 ft) Thunderbolt 3 cable (compatible with USB Type-C as well)
●1.8 m (6.6 ft) power cord with power supply
●Quick Start Card
●Safety and Warranty Guide

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2.3 Checking System Requirements
Check to ensure your operating system and cable interface are supported.
Topics:
Operating Systems Supported
Connectivity Interfaces Supported for Drobo 5D3
2.3.1 Operating Systems Supported
For the most current list of supported operating systems, check the specifications for
your products online at www.drobo.com/products/index.php.
2.3.2 Connectivity Interfaces Supported for Drobo
5D3
Your Drobo 5D3 connects directly to your computer using one of the following
connectivity ports. We recommend that you use the fastest connection you have
available on your computer.
Your Drobo 5D3 device has Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.0 Type-C interface.

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Figure 1: Back of the Drobo 5D3
Notes:
You can only use one connection at a time.
Drobo provides Thunderbolt 3 cable with the device. Depending on the model of
your computer, it may have USB Type-A or Type-C interface. You have to buy a Type-
A to Type-C cable if your computer has a Type-A interface. Speed of data
communication is limited by the slowest interface of your computer and the Drobo
device.
Thunderbolt 3
The Drobo 5D3 has two Thunderbolt ports, enabling you to take advantage of
Thunderbolt's daisy-chaining capabilities. With Thunderbolt, you can daisy-chain up to
six peripheral devices and one display from a single computer. Note that because
Thunderbolt has dual-protocol support (with DisplayPort and PCI Express), you can
connect your computer to Thunderbolt devices or DisplayPort products. You can also
connect non-Thunderbolt devices at the end of a daisy-chain by using Thunderbolt
technology adapters.
Here is the illustrative examples of your Drobo 5D3 in a daisy-chain:

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There are three options for connecting your Drobo device using its Thunderbolt
interface.
1. Your Drobo device directly connected to a computer (with no daisy-chain).
2. Multiple Drobo devices connected in a chain with a DisplayPort monitor at the end.
3. Your Drobo device connected to an external Thunderbolt monitor that is then
connected to a computer (with the Drobo device at the end).

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USB 3.0 Type-C
Your Drobo 5D3 device has USB 3.0 Type-C interface. Drobo provides Thunderbolt 3
cable with the device, which is compatible with USB Type-C as well. Depending on the
model of your computer, it may have USB Type -A or Type-C interface. You have to buy a
Type-A to Type-C cable if your computer has a Type-A interface. Speed of data
communication is limited by the slowest interface of your computer and the Drobo
device.
2.4 Checking the Hardware You Need
To use your Drobo 5D3, you will need at least two drives. If you plan to use Dual Disk
Redundancy, which protects your data against two drive failures, you will need at least
three drives.
Topics:
Selecting Drives
Determining Drive Space Requirements
Using Power Protection

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2.4.1 Selecting Drives
The Drobo 5D3 supports both standard 3.5” SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) as well as
SATA solid state drives (SSDs) for added performance. For HDDs, these drives can be
from any manufacturer and with any capacity. For SSDs, please visit our web page for
compatible drive options.
In addition, the Drobo 5D3 has a Drobo Accelerator Bay, which accepts an industry-
standard mSATA SSD. When the mSATA SSD is installed, Drobo’s Data-Aware Tiering
feature is enabled, accelerating performance when reading data from your Drobo
device. Having an mSATA SSD installed leaves all drive bays available for high-capacity
hard disk drives (HDDs) so that you can get both high-capacity and accelerated
performance out of your Drobo device.
Using only SSDs in the main drive bays of your Drobo 5D3 provides the fastest
performance when reading and writing data to and from your Drobo device.
In summary, here are the recommended number and type of drives you can use with
your Drobo 5D3. Note that you need at least two drives in the drive bays to ensure your
data is protected in the event of drive failure.
●2 to 5 HDDs in the main drive bays - enables you to maximize capacity
●2 to 5 SSDs in the main drive bays with no mSATA SSD - enables you to maximize
read and write performance
●2 to 5 HDDs in the main drive bays plus an mSATA SSD installed - enables you to
maximize capacity and accelerate read performance
For a performance comparison of these options, see the image below:

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Important Notes:
If an incompatible SSD is inserted into the Drobo device, the drive light will blink
red, indicating the need to replace that drive. Please refer to our web page on
compatible drive options for more information.
The mSATA SSD is not part of the disk pack of your Drobo 5D3, allowing you to
leave it installed even if you transfer drives from the drive bays to another Drobo
device, for example.
To achieve better performance, we recommend to use high performance drives
in your device.
The Drobo 5D3 is not compatible with IDE, SCSI, PATA or SAS drives.
The Drobo 5D3 supports migrating entire disk packs from a Drobo 5C, Drobo
Gen3, Drobo 5D or Drobo S, preserving its data. For more information, and to ensure
a safe and successful migration of the drives, carefully follow the instructions in
Migrating a Disk Pack from Another Drobo Device.
Warning:
Any pre-existing data on the drives will be erased while formatting or resetting
your Drobo 5D3.

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2.4.2 Determining Drive Space Requirements
In order to protect your data from drive failure, your Drobo 5D3 requires more space
than what you will use for your data, sometimes as much as double or more the amount
of space.
The best way to determine how much usable, protected storage space you will have
available for your data, based on the number and capacity of your drives, is to use our
Capacity Calculator at www.drobo.com/calculator.
A shortcut to estimating the capacity available for your data is to omit the largest drive
and then add the capacity of the remaining drives. If you plan to use Dual Disk
Redundancy, omit the largest two drives. For example:
Single Disk (Default) Redundancy
Dual Disk Redundancy
Notes:
Actual capacity may vary from the value shown in the above example due to
different systems used for rating capacity. This has nothing to do with Drobo devices.
All the Drobo devices enable you to easily increase storage capacity at any time
by simply inserting additional drives or replacing smaller drives with larger ones.

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2.4.3 Using Power Protection
Drobo device has an internal battery to protect critical data during sudden or
unexpected power failures. The device will shutdown without any loss of data, so UPS
(uninterruptible power supply) is not required.
We recommend using the following power protection with your Drobo device:
●A power surge protector to protect against power surges

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3Setting Up Your Drobo 5D3
Once you have unpacked your Drobo 5D3 from its box and ensured you meet all system
and hardware requirements, it is time to set up your Drobo 5D3 for use. This can be
done in just a few easy steps!
1. Downloading and Installing Drobo Dashboard
2. Inserting Drives
3. Connecting Cables on Your Drobo 5D3
4. Initializing and Updating Your Drobo 5D3 to the Latest Firmware
5. Formatting the Drives for Your Drobo 5D3
6. Registering Your Drobo 5D3
7. Migrating a Disk Pack from Another Drobo Device
8. Using Drobo 5D3 with Time Machine Backup or Backup Software
9. Inserting an mSATA SSD (optional)
Note:
The Drobo 5D3 supports migrating entire disk packs from other devices,
preserving its data. To ensure a safe and successful migration of the drives, carefully
follow the instructions in Migrating a Disk Pack from Another Drobo Device
3.1 Downloading and Installing Drobo
Dashboard
The Drobo Dashboard application will help you to set up and manage your Drobo 5D3.
After installation of the Dashboard, you can configure the settings to automatically
install version updates, which is highly recommended.
Drobo software and firmware updates for Drobo 5D3 can be downloaded and installed
from Start Drobo 5D3 page.

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This section covers the following topics:
●Installing Drobo Dashboard on Windows
●Installing Drobo Dashboard on Mac
Note:
You need a full admin user account and internet access on the computer on which
you are going to install the Drobo Dashboard.
3.1.1 Installing Drobo Dashboard on Windows
To install the Drobo Dashboard on a Windows machine:
1. Go to the Start 5D3 page and download the Drobo Dashboard installation file for
Windows.
2. After downloading, double-click the Drobo Dashboard Installer to launch it.
3. A pop up will appear asking you to choose the language for installation. Select the
language of your choice and click OK.
4. The Drobo Dashboard Installer (or Installation Wizard) will appear.

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5. Click the Next button to proceed.
6. Follow the instructions of the Installation Wizard by clicking the Next button after
each page.
7. Once you reach the installation page, click the Install button.
8. In some Windows operating systems, the Windows Access Control dialog box
appears, asking if you want to allow changes to your computer. Click the Allow or Yes
button. This installs the Drobo Dashboard.
9. After the installation is complete, be sure that the Launch Drobo Dashboard
checkbox is selected and then, click the Finish button.

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10. The Drobo Dashboard application launches and you will be prompted to register
your Drobo 5D3. You can either register the Drobo 5D3 or skip the step and register it
later. Select an option based on your preference.
The serial number is printed on the compliance label at the bottom of the device. For
more information see Registering Your Drobo 5D3.