Drobo Storage system User manual

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Introduction
Drobo, the world's first storage robot, is a fully automatic data storage system
that provides the only effortless safe, and expandable repository for all of your
digital assets. Drobo connects easily to your Mac via USB 2.0, and appears like
one large external USB Drive to OS X, requiring no configuration to use. Many of
the key features delivered to enhance your user experience include:

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The Ins and Outs of Drobo
While Drobo does much of the work for you, there are still a few items that you
will need to understand to take full advantage of its rich feature set. Take some
time familiarize yourself with your Drobo.
Related Topics
Getting Started

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Getting Started
Getting Drobo ready for use only involves adding hard drives, connecting Drobo
to your Mac, and then formatting the drives. This procedure only has to be done
once. When you need to add or replace hard drives in the future, see "Adding,
Removing, and Replacing Hard Drives" for instructions.
Add Hard Drives to Your Drobo
Drobo has four data bays. Each one holds a single 3.5" SATA hard drive. PATA
hard drives are not compatible, so they can not be used. Before connecting
Drobo to your Mac, insert your hard drives into the empty data bays. You may
use any capacity hard drive, from any manufacturer, having any rotation speed.
Tip: Start with at least two hard drives to provide data redundancy and protect
against a single hard drive failure.
Warning: When adding hard drives to Drobo, any pre-existing data on those
drives will be erased.
To add a hard drive:
1. While holding the hard drive flat (horizontal), flip it so its connector is at the
bottom.
2. Point the connector-end away from you.
3. Slide the hard drive into the desired data bay, with the connector-end
entering first, until the drive latch locks it in place.
4. You are now ready to Connect Drobo to your Mac.
Connecting Drobo to Your Mac
After adding the hard drives, connect Drobo to your Mac.
To Connect Drobo to your Mac:
1. Connect one end of the supplied USB 2.0 cable to the USB socket at the
back of your Drobo.
2. Connect the other end of the cable to an available USB 2.0 socket on your
Mac.
3. Plug the supplied AC power adaptor into the power socket on the back of
your Drobo.
4. Plug the power cord into a standard 110v power outlet.
5. Drobo does not have a power switch, so this will startup Drobo. During this
time, the red data bay indicators will illuminate along with the blue capacity

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meter.
6. As the hard drives come online, the data bay indicators will turn to green.
7. You are now ready to Format Your Drobo.
Formatting Your Drobo
This formatting procedure must be done when you add hard drives to Drobo for
the first time. In the future, when you add new hard drives, or replace drives with
larger ones, Drobo will automatically format the new drives for you. Only your
new drives will be formatted, not the existing drives.
Do one of the following to Begin the Format Process:
yIf Drobo Dashboard is running, it will automatically show you the Drobo
Format dialog box. In this case, continue below at "To Format Drobo
Using the Drobo Dashboard."
yIf your Mac detects your unformatted Drobo, the Disk Insertion dialog box
will appear. In this case, you may continue at "To Format Drobo Using the
Mac OS Disk Utility."
yIf Drobo Dashboard or your Mac did not detect your unformatted Drobo,
then continue at "To Start Drobo Dashboard and Then Format Drobo."
To Format Drobo Using the Drobo Dashboard:
1. If your Mac had also detected your unformatted Drobo and is displaying

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the Disk Insertion dialog box, then click the Ignore button.
2. At the Drobo Format dialog box, click Yes to view the Drobo Format
Options dialog box.
3. Do one of the following.
yIf you plan on connecting Drobo to only a Mac, then select the HFS+
radio button.
yIf you plan on connecting Drobo to a Mac, and on some occasions to a
computer running Microsoft Windows, or to a NAS appliance (other
than Airport Extreme), then select the FAT32 radio button.
4. Click Format to begin formatting.
5. When formatting is finished, click OK and Drobo is ready for use. The
Drobo icon will appear on your desktop.

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To Format Drobo Using the Mac OS Disk Utility:
1. If your Mac detects your unformatted Drobo, the Disk Insertion dialog box
will appear.
2. Click Initialize to launch the Disk Utility application. If the application does
not appear, it can be started from Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.

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2. From the left panel, select 2.0 TB Drobo USB Mass.
Warning: Be sure to select 2.0 TB Drobo USB Mass (the new drive), and not
another drive that may contain data.
3. From the button bar (at the top of the right panel), select the Erase.
4. From the Volume Format drop-down list, accept Mac OS Extended
(Journaled) unless you have a specific need for a different option.
5. In the Name text box, type a name for your Drobo; for example, Drobo.
6. Click the Erase button to view the Erase warning message.
7. Click Erase to wipe clean the new drives in Drobo.

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8. In less than a minute, Drobo will complete the formatting job, and the
Drobo icon will appear on your desktop and be ready for use.
Tip: Once Drobo has been formatted, you do not need to perform this format
procedure again for any other drive you add or replace in Drobo. Drobo takes
care of that for you. Any new capacity created by adding a new hard drive will be
available within seconds.
Warning: The Erase command erases all data on only new hard drives added to
Drobo.
To Start Drobo Dashboard and Then Format Drobo:
1. If you want to start the Drobo Dashboard from the Doc, do the following, or
skip to Step 2 to start it from the Applications Folder.
yFind the Drobo icon in your dock.
yClick on the icon to open the Dashboard.
yContinue at Step 3.
2. To start the Dashboard from the Applications Folder, do the following.
yGo to your Applications Folder.
yClick on the Drobo folder.
ySelect Drobo Dashboard to open the Dashboard.
yContinue at Step 3.
3. Click on Advanced Controls.
4. Click on Tools.
5. Click the Format button to view the format Format Options dialog box.

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6. Do one of the following.
yIf you plan on connecting Drobo to only a Mac, then select the HFS+
radio button.
yIf you plan on connecting Drobo to a Mac, and on some occasions to a
computer running Microsoft Windows, or to a NAS appliance (other
than Airport Extreme), then select the FAT32 radio button.
7. Click Format to begin formatting.
8. When formatting is complete, click OK and Drobo is ready for use, and the
Drobo icon will appear on your desktop.

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Related Topics
My Mac Says Drobo has 2 Terabytes of Capacity
Adding New Capacity to My Drobo
Launching the Drobo Dashboard
Basic Drobo Dashboard

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My Mac Says Drobo has 2 Terabytes
of Capacity
When you look at the properties for your Drobo using any of your Mac tools such
as Finder or Get Info, you will find that your Mac sees Drobo as a 2 Terabyte
(TB) drive. This property allows Drobo to easily expand, without forcing very
complex management and configuration.
Drobo lets you add capacity in seconds, whenever you need it. We have
designed Drobo to appear as 2 TBs so that you can easily grow your capacity.
As larger capacity hard drives become available every year, so when you have
added capacity that exceeds 2 TB, Drobo will create an additional disk for your
Mac. It will be an additional "virtual" hard drive for your Mac, where both virtual
drives become the total capacity in Drobo.
If you want to know the current used capacity on your Drobo, you can get a quick
idea with a glance at the capacity meter on the front.
As a monitoring feature, Drobo will always warn you if you are starting to run low
on available space. If you want detailed information about the space, see the
Drobo Dashboard.
Related Topics
Adding New Capacity to My Drobo
Launching the Drobo Dashboard
Basic Drobo Dashboard
Advanced Drobo Dashboard

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Adding New Capacity to Drobo
To add or expand storage capacity, simply insert a hard drive into an empty data
bay, or replace a smaller capacity hard drive with a larger one. You may remove
a hard drive at any time as long as all data bay indicators are showing a green
status.
If data bay indicator appears as red or yellow, Drobo is informing you to insert a
hard drive or replace a smaller capacity hard drive with a larger one into the data
bay for that indicator.
Tip: To assist you in determining what size drive you need to add in order to
reach a specific capacity, use Drobolator, an online Drobo simulator which lets
you drag and drop drives into a virtual Drobo to determine what your protected
capacity will be.
To remove a hard drive:
Warning: Do not remove a hard drive when you see blinking green and yellow
lights. This indicates that Drobo is moving data between hard drives for data
protection, so removing a hard drive during this process could result in data loss.
1. Press the data bay latch to the left to eject the hard drive.
2. Carefully remove the hard drive.
Warning: Hard drives in Drobo will retain heat when removed from Drobo.
Please use caution when handling drives. Give the drives at least ten minutes to
cool before handling them.
Tip: You do not need to format a hard drive you are adding to a Drobo that is
already up and running. Drobo does all the work for you. Just add a hard drive
and immediately take advantage of your new capacity.
Tip: A hard drive removed from Drobo cannot not be read by other storage
systems.
Related Topics
Adding, Removing, and Replacing Hard Drives
Buying Drives for Drobo

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No Drobo Connected
If the Drobo Dashboard appears with a message saying "Ready For Connection,"
then check that that USB cable is securely connecting your Mac to Drobo, and
also that Drobo is connected to its power source.
If the USB cable is connected and Drobo has power, but Drobo Dashboard is not
recognizing Drobo, eject Drobo to put it into Standby. You can do this by
dragging the Drobo icon from your desktop to the Trash, or by using the Mac OS
Safe Eject Utility. Once the power indicator on Drobo turns orange, disconnect
the power and then reconnect it to restart Drobo.
Related Topics
Troubleshooting

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Data Bay Indicators
Drobo utilizes status indicators found to the right of each Data Bay. These
indicators will always let you know the status of your Drobo. When all lights are
green "everything is okay." If there is a yellow light, you are running low on
protected capacity and you should add or replace a hard drive with one of greater
capacity at your convenience. A red indicator means you need to take action as
soon as possible, because you are critically low on space or not protected
against single drive failure. A blinking red indicator means that a hard drive has
failed.
Reference the following chart to best understand what your Drobo is telling you:
Color and Light
Behavior What It Means Action to Take
Green Healthy system. None.
Yellow Drobo is getting full. Add a hard drive or
replace the existing one
with a greater capacity
hard drive.
Red Protected space is
critically low, or data
protection against single
drive failure is no longer
available.
Add a hard drive or
replace the existing one
with a greater capacity
hard drive ASAP.
Blinking Green and Yellow Drobo is protecting your
data by duplicating and
spreading it across all of
the available hard drives.
Don't remove any hard
drives power-down Drobo.
Tip: You can continue to
access your data while
Drobo is protecting your
data. Just don't remove a
hard drive!
Warning: Removing a
hard drive while green and
yellow lights are blinking
may cause data loss.
Red blinking A hard drive has failed. Replace this hard drive
ASAP.
Four Red Indicators Drobo is starting-up, or
there have been too many
hard drives removed or
replaced at the same time.
Wait a minute to make
sure Drobo is done
rebooting. If the indicators
don't change to green,
then you may have

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removed or replaced too
many hard drives from
your Drobo at the same
time. Identify the last hard
drive removed and
reinsert it into your Drobo.
If you need further
assistance, refer to the
User's Guide.
Tip: When removing or
replacing hard drives,
make sure you remove or
replace them one at a
time, time and never
remove a drive when the
data bay indicators are
blinking green and yellow.
Related Topics
Adding New Capacity to My Drobo
Launching the Drobo Dashboard
Basic Drobo Dashboard
Advanced Drobo Dashboard

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Adding, Removing, and Replacing
Hard Drives
When you add hard drives to your Drobo, each individual hard drive becomes
part of a large pool of storage where data is spread out across all of the hard
drives in Drobo. As you add or replace hard drives to increase capacity, each
new hard drive becomes identified as part of the storage pool. Drobo will keep
track of which hard drives are parts of this pool of storage.
When removing or replacing hard drives, make sure you remove or replace them
one at a time. If you remove or replace too many hard drives at once, Drobo will
light all 4 data bay indicators with red lights and request that you reinsert the last
drive removed.
Note: To safely remove all hard drives at one time from Drobo, first Eject Drobo.
You can do this by dragging the Drobo icon on your desktop to the Trash, using
the Mac OS Safe Eject Utility or clicking on the Standby button on the Tools Tab
of the Advanced Control Panel.
Once Drobo is in Standby, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator,
which will turn orange. You may now safely remove all of the hard drives from
your Drobo.
Warning: Failure to properly put Drobo into Standby before removing a set of
drives from your Drobo can cause loss of data.
Note: In the event that Drobo is almost full and all drives in Drobo are the same
capacity, you will need to replace two drives in order to increase the overall
amount of protected capacity. Replacing just one drive will not increase your
overall protected capacity. Remember to replace one drive at a time and allow
relay-out to complete before removing another drive.
Warning: Adding a hard drive to Drobo will erase all data on the new hard drive.
Existing drives in Drobo will not lose their data.
Warning: Never remove more than one hard drive at a time so that your Drobo
has an opportunity to relay-out your data into the safest configuration across the
remaining hard drives. If you want to remove all hard drives from your Drobo, first
put Drobo into Standby. You can do this by dragging the Drobo icon from your
desktop to the Trash, using the Mac OS Safe Eject Utility, or by clicking on the
Standby button in the Tools Tab of the Advanced Control Panel.
The standby operation should take only a few seconds. Once Drobo is in standby
mode, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange.
Only then can you safely remove the set of hard drives from Drobo.
Related Topics
Adding New Capacity to My Drobo

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Clear Hard Drives

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Clear Hard Drives
In the event you may want to completely reset your Drobo, clear all data from the
hard drives and start anew, you may do so using the following procedure:
Warning! This procedure will clear all existing data on the hard drives inside of
your Drobo.
To clear all hard drives:
1. Disconnect the power from your Drobo.
2. Locate the Clear Hard Drives pinhole in the back of your Drobo.
3. Find a thin, firm piece of metal, like a straightened paper clip.
4. Insert the metal into the hole to press the button.
5. While holding down the button, connect the power back to your Drobo.
6. Continue to hold down the button until the power indicator starts blinking
green. (approximately 30 seconds).
7. Now you are ready to Format Your Drobo
Related Topics
Adding, Removing and Replacing Hard Drives
Getting Started
Troubleshooting

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Disconnecting Your Drobo
If you need to disconnect Drobo from your Mac or disconnect the power from
your Drobo, always properly put Drobo into Standby Mode by safely ejecting your
Drobo first. You can do this by dragging the Drobo icon from your desktop to the
Trash, using the Mac OS Safe Eject Utility, or clicking on the Standby button
located on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Controls Panel.
Warning: Failure to properly eject Drobo from your Mac can cause loss of data.
This standby operation should take only a few seconds. Once Drobo is in
Standby Mode, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn
orange. Only then can you safely disconnect Drobo from your Mac or disconnect
the power from your Drobo.
Warning: Always properly put Drobo into Standby Mode before disconnecting it
from its power source or your Mac. When the power light turns orange, it is safe
to remove the power from Drobo or disconnect it from your Mac.

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Buying Drives for Drobo
Drobo uses any SATA hard drive, from any manufacturer, of any capacity, and of
any spindle speed (5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc). You are able to mix and match
hard drives in Drobo and it will take full advantage of the capacity on the hard
drives you add to the system.
Drobo has been successfully tested with the most popular drive manufacturer
drives on the market. However, in the event that we should discover any
particular issue with a specific brand of drive, these will be listed on the support
website: www.drobo.com/support.aspx
Tip: To assist you in determining what size drive you need to add in order to
reach a specific capacity, use Drobolator, an online Drobo simulator that lets you
drag and drop drives into a virtual Drobo to determine what your protected
capacity will be.
Warning: Drobo cannot use PATA or SCSI hard drives.