Drobo Storage User manual

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 FireWire 800 or USB 2.0, and
appears like one large external drive to OS X, requiring no configuration for use. Drobo can also be easily shared over a
network using DroboShare. For more information about DroboShare, see Sharing Drobo Between Computers .
Many of the key features delivered to enhance your user experience include:
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Sharing Drobo Between Computers
Drobo connects directly to one computer at a time via the provided FireWire 800 or USB 2.0 cable. However, you may
have a need to share your Drobo across your network. This is easily done using DroboShare, a unique companion to
Drobo. Using Drobo with DroboShare, computers will ”see” Drobo in their list of network devices and allow for centralized
storage or easy file sharing between computers. This unique design allows Drobo to be either directly attached to your
Mac or shared over the network depending on your needs.
Related Topics
The Ins and Outs of DroboShare
Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare
DroboShare Settings
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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 to familiarize yourself with your Drobo.
Related Topics
Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare
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The Ins and Outs of DroboShare
DroboShare is a simple, plug and play companion to Drobo. Take some time to familiarize yourself with how Drobo and
DroboShare connect.
Related Topics
Adding Hard Drives to Your Drobo
Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare
DroboShare Settings
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Adding Hard Drives to Your Drobo
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 drive is part of this pool of
storage.
Drobo has four data bays. Each one holds a single, 3.5" SATA hard drive. IDE, SCSI, and PATA hard drives are not
compatible and should not be used.
Before connecting Drobo to your Mac, simply insert your hard drives into the empty data bays. You may use any capacity
3.5” SATA hard drive, from any manufacturer, having any rotation speed (5400 RPM, 7200 RPM, etc).
Tip: Start with at least two hard drives to provide data redundancy and protect against a single hard drive failure.
Tip: In the event that Drobo is almost full and all drives in Drobo are the same capacity, you will need to replace two
drives (one at a time) 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 the data protection process
(blinking green and yellow) to complete before removing another drive.
Warning: When adding hard drives to Drobo, ALL pre-existing data on those drives will be erased.
To Add a Hard Drive:
1. While holding the hard drive flat (horizontal), orient 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 the
hard drive in place.
You are now ready to connect Drobo to your Mac or DroboShare.
Related Topics
Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare
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Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare
After adding the hard drives, connect Drobo to your Mac or DroboShare.
To Connect Drobo to Your Mac:
1. You can choose to connect your Drobo using FireWire 800 or USB 2.0.
a. FireWire 800: Connect one end of the supplied FireWire 800 cable to one of the FireWire 800 ports
on the back of your Drobo. Next, connect the other end of the FireWire 800 cable to an available
FireWire 800 port on your Mac.
b. USB 2.0: Connect the square end of the supplied USB 2.0 cable to the USB 2.0 port on the back of
your Drobo. Next, connect the other end of the USB 2.0 cable to an available USB 2.0 port on your
Mac.
2. Plug the supplied AC power adaptor into the power port on the back of your Drobo.
3. Plug the power cord into a standard 110v power outlet.
4. Drobo does not have a power switch, so this will start the power-up sequence. During this time, the data bay
indicators will turn red and all 10 blue lights will be displayed on the utilization meter.
5. As the hard drives come online, the data bay indicators will turn to green.
6. You are now ready to format your drives.
To Connect Drobo to Your DroboShare:
1. Connect the provided Ethernet cable between DroboShare and your network router or switch.
2. Connect the square end of the provided, short (~1 ft.) USB 2.0 cable to the USB 2.0 port on the back of your
Drobo.
3. Connect the other end of that USB 2.0 cable to an USB 2.0 port on your DroboShare.
4. Connect the two ends of the supplied Y-cable to Drobo and DroboShare.
5. Connect Drobo’s power supply to the single end of the Y-cable.
6. Plug the power cord into a standard 110 volt power outlet.
7. Drobo and DroboShare do not have a power switch so this will start the power-up sequence. During this time,
the data bay indicators will turn red and all 10 blue lights will be displayed on the utilization meter.
8. As the hard drives come online, the data bay indicators will turn green.
9. You are now ready to format your drives.
Tip: DroboShare requires an assigned IP address on your network in order to be recognized by Drobo Dashboard and
shared automatically on your network. If it cannot obtain an IP address, it will be assigned the default 169.254.213.234 IP
address.
Related Topics
Formatting Drives Using Drobo Dashboard
Formatting Drives Using the Mac OS Disk Utility
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Formatting Drives Using Drobo Dashboard
Using virtualization technology, Drobo does not require you to format each and every drive added to Drobo. When you
add or upsize drives in Drobo after the initial formatting, you will get immediate access to any additional capacity. After
the initial format, you will not need to format added drives until an additional pool of storage is create and Drobo will walk
you through that process when the time comes.
If Drobo Dashboard is running, it will automatically show you the Drobo Format dialog box.
If your Mac had also detected your unformatted drives and is displaying the Disk Insertion dialog box, then click Ignore.
Note: If Drobo Dashboard or your Mac did not detect your unformatted drives, then see Starting Drobo Dashboard.
Note: For instructions about using the Mac OS Disk Utility, see Formatting Drives Using Mac OS Disk Utility.
1. From the Drobo Format dialog box, click Yes to view the Drobo Format Options dialog box.
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2. From the Format Options dialog box you will be presented with different format options depending on whether your
Drobo is directly attached to your Mac or attached to your local network via DroboShare.
Do one of the following and then click Continue:
oIf you plan to connect Drobo to Macs and DroboShare, select HFS+. This is the default selection.
oIf you plan to connect Drobo to a PC running any Windows operating system, including older
supported operating systems such as Windows XP or earlier, and DroboShare, select NTFS
(Legacy).
Note: In order to remain compatible with older versions of Windows, the volume size will be limited.
This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.
oIf you plan to connect Drobo to a PC running Windows Vista or Server 2003 and DroboShare, select
NTFS for Vista and Server 2003.
Note: This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.
oIf you plan to connect Drobo to Linux machines and DroboShare , select EXT3.
Note: This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.
oIf you plan to connect Drobo to computers with different operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux),
select FAT32.
Note: FAT32 is an older file system technology that is generally less protective of your data than
modern (journaled) files systems such as HFS+. It also has some performance and file size
limitations.
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3. By default, Drobo will format itself as a 2TB volume regardless of the capacities of the drives inserted into Drobo.
This property allows Drobo to easily expand, without forcing complex Windows management and configuration.
The Volume Size Selection tool allows you to modify the volume size based on what is available depending on your
operating system. There are some tradeoffs to consider when selecting a volume size. As you drag the slider
across the different volume size options, the text below will detail these tradeoffs. Make your selection and click
Continue.
Note: You may notice that some volume size selections are grayed out. Some operating systems cannot support
greater than 2TB volumes. Depending on what operating system you inform Drobo you are using, it will provide you
with the available volume sizes to select from.
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4. Depending on your volume selection and the total raw capacity of the drives in Drobo, you will be presented with the
opportunity to select a name for your volume(s). When done, click Continue.
5. You will be asked to confirm your selections. Click Format to begin formatting.
Warning: The Format command erases ALL data on all hard drives and is not reversible.
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