Situation
We bought my mom a new 32GB Asus Transformer tf300t tablet recently for Christmas, and I wanted to pre-copy all the photos from the past year onto it. I found a solution for shrinking my videos down in size to enable me to fit 1+ years worth of videos onto the tablet (see my previous blog posting), but the problem wasn't only with the video sizes, it was with the photo sizes too. That's when I knew I needed a fast and easy way to re-size my collection of photos, one that can convert batches. As you can imagine, we took hundreds of photos in the past year.
Search Criteria
There were a number of free Image Re-sizers, but this time I was looking for one similar to the one I used in Windows XP. Windows XP had one from Microsoft that you can download separately from the initial installment of Windows, that plugged into Windows Explorer, and worked with the right-click menu.
Solution
I did some searching around on Google, and to my surprise, I found a third party application/plug-in that worked the same as the one for Windows XP. It's located on Codeplex's website named...
"Image Resizer for Windows"
Link: http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/
Conclusion
The application works well, and I was able to quickly shrink all my photos from the past year so that they would all fit into the tablet. File sizes went from 1.5 MB-3.5MB to 100KB-250KB, which was awesome, and the pictures remained clear.
Note
If you convert large batches of photos, it will appear as though Windows Explorer has timed-out, but allow it to finish, and Windows Explorer will start responding again. I have a fast computer, and so the time-outs weren't so bad.
Try it out, and see if you like it.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Free Batch Video Resizer and Converter
I was looking for a batch video converter recently because I had a need to re-size a lot of my home videos that I had recorded with my digital camera at 1080p. In short, the files were very large. For Christmas we got my mom an 32GB Asus Transformer tf300t tablet, and I wanted to precopy the pictures, and videos I recorded throughout the year onto the tablet for her, since she likes looking at them.
Problem 1
My camera records in MOV format. The Asus Transformer was only able to fit about a weeks worth of videos onto it, which I didn't think was good enough. So, I needed something to shrink them (i.e. resize them), because I had planned to copy a whole years worth of videos, and pictures.
Problem 2
The other problem I found was that the Asus Transformer tablet's built in 'Gallery' application wasn't able to fully decode the sound in the MOV formatted videos, which means, they will need to be converted to a compatible format. By trial and error, I found that .wmv files work within the 'Gallery'.
Problem 3
The pictures took up a lot of space too, each being anywhere from 1.5 MB to 3 MB in size. (I'll write another story later to tell you about what I found to solve this problem) It's a nice free third party library.
Software Search Criteria
1. Convert a batch of videos at a time (lots of videos to convert, and one at a time doesn't cut it)
2. Convert to a format that the 'Gallery' software can decode
* I know I could install Dice, or VLC, but I wanted to keep things simple for my non-tech savvy mom
3. Allow me to set the output settings
Google Search
* I found a number of applications that you can pay for, some not so bad in pricing
* Wonderware: it worked well, but only converted one video at a time, and it was more for creating a long movie from several clips which wasn't what I needed (not a good fit, but the software seemed pretty nice)
** watch out, Wonderware installs a number items that don't seem to all be related to the program. I was not happy with that, so I uninstalled the application shortly after testing it
* ACDSEE was one that liked, and it had everything I was looking for, except I still didn't want to pay for it. Link: http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-video-converter
* I was just about to buy the ACDSEE application, when I decided to look some more, and luckily I did, because I came across something quite similar, and was everything I was looking for. It was...
"PRISM"
Link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
It's easy to use, and free. You don't have to install any of the adware that it comes with, so that's pretty great, and so far it hasn't bothered me with any popup ads, so I'm happy.
Note
You can upgrade the application to allow you to do some additional things like burning the videos to disc, among other features. They also have a Pro Version. Since the free basic version did everything I needed it to, I didn't bother to upgrade, and used the free version only.
Conclusion
Prism was the answer to my problems. I ended up converting all my 1080p videos to 480p, which made my whole years worth of videos (a few from the year before) fit nicely on the tablet. The size of all videos went from 100GB to 20GB or so.
PRISM Application Settings - Issues and Solutions
* Issue: there was one option I had to enable, otherwise the software didn't fully convert my videos correctly. If you don't check the option, it will only convert the first 10 sec (approx), and last 10 sec (approx), and the middle part will only have sound, displaying only a frozen picture.
* Solution: In the options check the option that specifies that you should check it if you have playback problems
Problem 1
My camera records in MOV format. The Asus Transformer was only able to fit about a weeks worth of videos onto it, which I didn't think was good enough. So, I needed something to shrink them (i.e. resize them), because I had planned to copy a whole years worth of videos, and pictures.
Problem 2
The other problem I found was that the Asus Transformer tablet's built in 'Gallery' application wasn't able to fully decode the sound in the MOV formatted videos, which means, they will need to be converted to a compatible format. By trial and error, I found that .wmv files work within the 'Gallery'.
Problem 3
The pictures took up a lot of space too, each being anywhere from 1.5 MB to 3 MB in size. (I'll write another story later to tell you about what I found to solve this problem) It's a nice free third party library.
Software Search Criteria
1. Convert a batch of videos at a time (lots of videos to convert, and one at a time doesn't cut it)
2. Convert to a format that the 'Gallery' software can decode
* I know I could install Dice, or VLC, but I wanted to keep things simple for my non-tech savvy mom
3. Allow me to set the output settings
Google Search
* I found a number of applications that you can pay for, some not so bad in pricing
* Wonderware: it worked well, but only converted one video at a time, and it was more for creating a long movie from several clips which wasn't what I needed (not a good fit, but the software seemed pretty nice)
** watch out, Wonderware installs a number items that don't seem to all be related to the program. I was not happy with that, so I uninstalled the application shortly after testing it
* ACDSEE was one that liked, and it had everything I was looking for, except I still didn't want to pay for it. Link: http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-video-converter
* I was just about to buy the ACDSEE application, when I decided to look some more, and luckily I did, because I came across something quite similar, and was everything I was looking for. It was...
"PRISM"
Link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
It's easy to use, and free. You don't have to install any of the adware that it comes with, so that's pretty great, and so far it hasn't bothered me with any popup ads, so I'm happy.
Note
You can upgrade the application to allow you to do some additional things like burning the videos to disc, among other features. They also have a Pro Version. Since the free basic version did everything I needed it to, I didn't bother to upgrade, and used the free version only.
Conclusion
Prism was the answer to my problems. I ended up converting all my 1080p videos to 480p, which made my whole years worth of videos (a few from the year before) fit nicely on the tablet. The size of all videos went from 100GB to 20GB or so.
PRISM Application Settings - Issues and Solutions
* Issue: there was one option I had to enable, otherwise the software didn't fully convert my videos correctly. If you don't check the option, it will only convert the first 10 sec (approx), and last 10 sec (approx), and the middle part will only have sound, displaying only a frozen picture.
* Solution: In the options check the option that specifies that you should check it if you have playback problems
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Drobo Pro Issues: Connection Interfaces are NOT Hot-Swappable
Story Leading into the Problem
Shortly after un-packaging my Drobo and hooking it up to my computer, I ran into this problem. I'm so use to using USB devices that are hot-swappable, and so I just made the assumption that my Drobo Pro's 3 connection interfaces were hot-swappable too.
Not knowing that it was not hotswappable, I would switch the connection with Drobo powered on, from USB, to iSCSI, and even to Firewire 400. At the time I didn't have my Firewire 800 card yet.
Anyways, at first, it appeared to be hot-swappable. I was able to switch from USB to iSCSI, and to Firewire 400, but after a while of switching the connections back and forth, what started happening scared me a bit. My Drobo stopped responding to any connections. It just wouldn't mount the drives in Windows anymore, even when connected on USB.
What made it worst was that this happened after I had transferred all my data from my internal computer drives into Drobo. I have no backups of the data anywhere else, and I had removed those drives from my computer, and inserted them into my Drobo. Which means Drobo had formatted them, and added the additional space to the total usable space available via Drobo. All of that went smoothly, but when Drobo stopped responding, I assumed the worst had happened, that it lost all my data!
Debugging
1. I tried connecting, and disconnecting the cable. It didn't work.
2. I tried changing the interface, without turning Drobo off first. That didn't work.
3. I searched the user manual for a solution, and searched online to see if anyone else had encountered this problem. From the manual, and a few online postings in the Drobo Knowledgebase, I found out that what I had to do every time I wanted to switch the connection cable on Drobo Pro was to first shut it down using the Drobo Dashboard (safest way to shut it down), then switch the connection, then turn it back on.
Conclusion
1. Drobo Pro is not hot-swappable. To change connections from USB, to iSCSI, to Firewire 800, you must first shut down Drobo. (See how to do it safely below)
2. Switch the connection cable
3. Power Drobo back on.
To Safely Shutdown Drobo
1. You should always use Drobo Dashboard to shutdown Drobo. You can access the software shutdown command by clicking on the Tools > Shutdown.
2. You can use the switch at the back of your Drobo Pro alone, but you have to make sure that Drobo is not busy by waiting until the busy light no longer flashes, and is off. The software shutdown is safest. Doing this prevents data corruption. Corruption happens when you shutdown Drobo while it is in the middle of writing data.
3. Power down your personal computer, which Gurantees that their won't be any data being written to your Drobo Pro from your computer. Wait until your Drobo Pro goes into standby, and then switch it off using the power switch.
Notes
Obviously, don't power off your Drobo if any of the lights on Drobo indicate that it's working on something, like those tasks listed on the inner side of the front panel. Use common sense.
Shortly after un-packaging my Drobo and hooking it up to my computer, I ran into this problem. I'm so use to using USB devices that are hot-swappable, and so I just made the assumption that my Drobo Pro's 3 connection interfaces were hot-swappable too.
Not knowing that it was not hotswappable, I would switch the connection with Drobo powered on, from USB, to iSCSI, and even to Firewire 400. At the time I didn't have my Firewire 800 card yet.
Anyways, at first, it appeared to be hot-swappable. I was able to switch from USB to iSCSI, and to Firewire 400, but after a while of switching the connections back and forth, what started happening scared me a bit. My Drobo stopped responding to any connections. It just wouldn't mount the drives in Windows anymore, even when connected on USB.
What made it worst was that this happened after I had transferred all my data from my internal computer drives into Drobo. I have no backups of the data anywhere else, and I had removed those drives from my computer, and inserted them into my Drobo. Which means Drobo had formatted them, and added the additional space to the total usable space available via Drobo. All of that went smoothly, but when Drobo stopped responding, I assumed the worst had happened, that it lost all my data!
Debugging
1. I tried connecting, and disconnecting the cable. It didn't work.
2. I tried changing the interface, without turning Drobo off first. That didn't work.
3. I searched the user manual for a solution, and searched online to see if anyone else had encountered this problem. From the manual, and a few online postings in the Drobo Knowledgebase, I found out that what I had to do every time I wanted to switch the connection cable on Drobo Pro was to first shut it down using the Drobo Dashboard (safest way to shut it down), then switch the connection, then turn it back on.
Conclusion
1. Drobo Pro is not hot-swappable. To change connections from USB, to iSCSI, to Firewire 800, you must first shut down Drobo. (See how to do it safely below)
2. Switch the connection cable
3. Power Drobo back on.
To Safely Shutdown Drobo
1. You should always use Drobo Dashboard to shutdown Drobo. You can access the software shutdown command by clicking on the Tools > Shutdown.
2. You can use the switch at the back of your Drobo Pro alone, but you have to make sure that Drobo is not busy by waiting until the busy light no longer flashes, and is off. The software shutdown is safest. Doing this prevents data corruption. Corruption happens when you shutdown Drobo while it is in the middle of writing data.
3. Power down your personal computer, which Gurantees that their won't be any data being written to your Drobo Pro from your computer. Wait until your Drobo Pro goes into standby, and then switch it off using the power switch.
Notes
Obviously, don't power off your Drobo if any of the lights on Drobo indicate that it's working on something, like those tasks listed on the inner side of the front panel. Use common sense.
Drobo Pro Issues: Not Detected/Not Mounted with Firewire 800
Story
When I first got my Drobo Pro the only Firewire connection I had on my computer to connect it to was a Firewire 400 interface. The Drobo works fine on this interface, but this interface transfers slower than using USB 2.0, so what's the point. I decided to invest some money in a good Firewire 800 PCIe card.
Problem
When I connect my Drobo to the Firewire 800 ports my PCIe card, Windows 7 makes 2 sounds, the connection sound, you know, the sound it makes whenever you connect new devices. The problem comes shortly after when Windows makes the disconnection sound. So, after that, it makes sense that the device is not mounted, and that nothing happens. What doesn't make sense is why it is disconnecting after connecting.
Debugging
1. I've tested the Firewire 800 ports with a different external hard drive that I have that runs on Firewire 800, and it works great. The drive gets mounted immediately after connecting it, and copying speeds are amazing for large files; not so amazing for lots of small files, but that's normal.
Debugging Status
So, that's where I am with this problem. I've done a number of searches on Google with no success. I keep getting unrelated results on Google and in the Drobo knowledge base.
Suspicions
I haven't put much more time into figuring this one out, but I suspect it must have something to do with my Firewire 800 card not working so well with my computer, or maybe not working so well with Drobo, since Drobo does work with my Firewire 400 connection interface. hmmm... I'll provide an update once I have more time to investigate.
The reason why I want to get Firewire 800 working is so that my network doesn't get bogged down when I do large file transfers. I've had times when I was copying a large number of files to my Drobo, and my internet nearly stopped responding, or started to time out. So, even though Firewire 800 might not be as fast as Gigabit Lan, it would allow the Drobo to operate on an isolated channel, so to speak. It won't be interfering with other things, and other things won't interfere with it, which is what I want.
When I first got my Drobo Pro the only Firewire connection I had on my computer to connect it to was a Firewire 400 interface. The Drobo works fine on this interface, but this interface transfers slower than using USB 2.0, so what's the point. I decided to invest some money in a good Firewire 800 PCIe card.
Problem
When I connect my Drobo to the Firewire 800 ports my PCIe card, Windows 7 makes 2 sounds, the connection sound, you know, the sound it makes whenever you connect new devices. The problem comes shortly after when Windows makes the disconnection sound. So, after that, it makes sense that the device is not mounted, and that nothing happens. What doesn't make sense is why it is disconnecting after connecting.
Debugging
1. I've tested the Firewire 800 ports with a different external hard drive that I have that runs on Firewire 800, and it works great. The drive gets mounted immediately after connecting it, and copying speeds are amazing for large files; not so amazing for lots of small files, but that's normal.
Debugging Status
So, that's where I am with this problem. I've done a number of searches on Google with no success. I keep getting unrelated results on Google and in the Drobo knowledge base.
Suspicions
I haven't put much more time into figuring this one out, but I suspect it must have something to do with my Firewire 800 card not working so well with my computer, or maybe not working so well with Drobo, since Drobo does work with my Firewire 400 connection interface. hmmm... I'll provide an update once I have more time to investigate.
The reason why I want to get Firewire 800 working is so that my network doesn't get bogged down when I do large file transfers. I've had times when I was copying a large number of files to my Drobo, and my internet nearly stopped responding, or started to time out. So, even though Firewire 800 might not be as fast as Gigabit Lan, it would allow the Drobo to operate on an isolated channel, so to speak. It won't be interfering with other things, and other things won't interfere with it, which is what I want.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Drobo Pro Issues: Drobo Dashboard Service Issue
Problem
I've encountered a new issue today. I booted up my computer as normal, and the Drobo Dashboard appeared to have loaded as normal, but when I went to switch my Drobo from USB 2.0 to iSCSI, nothing happened. I immediately double-clicked the Drobo icon in the taskbar/system tray, and that's when I got the following message:
Title of Messagebox: Drobo Dashboard Service
Error Message: A required portion of Drobo Dashboard is no longer running. Please relaunch Drobo Dashboard to correct the issue. If this problem persists, then re-install Drobo Dashboard. You can get the latest Drobo Dashboard at drobo.com/support
(See image below)
Debugging
1. First I tried to close the Dashboard, and then reopen it. Result, I got the same error message.
2. I shut Drobo down, and rebooted my personal computer, and then tried again. Same error message.
3. I went to http://drobo.com/support as instructed by the error message, and went to the download page.
i. I downloaded the latest copy of the dashboard.
ii. I ran the .exe file, and attempted to re-install it, but the only options were to repair or remove. So, I chose to repair it. It started progressing in repairing the software, but then it ran into a problem with the Drobo Dashboard Service, it was unable to start it back up after it stopped the service.
iii. I had to cancel the 'Repair', and from there the installer rolled back the changes.
iv. Now what?
4. Checked to see the status of the Drobo Dashboard Service via the Services windows module (which you can access via Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services).
i. I found the service under the same name "Drobo Dashboard Service".
ii. I right-clicked it and viewed it's properties, and saw that it's start up type was 'Disabled', which is weird. It should be set to automatic.
iii. I attempted to start it up by setting the 'Startup type' to 'Automatic', after which I was going to click 'Apply', and then click the 'Start' button, but when I went to click 'Apply' button after setting it to 'Automatic' there was a warning box which said that the Windows Service was marked for deletion. This prevented me from making any changes whatsoever.
iv. Now what?
5. I decided that I would try uninstalling the 'Drobo Dashboard', and then reinstall it. So,
i. I rebooted my computer to clear out anything left from my previous attempt to repair the software.
ii. When my computer finished booting, I uninstalled the 'Drobo Dashboard' by going into 'Start > Control Panel > Features and Programs > Click 'Drobo Dashboard'' and then clicking 'Uninstall'. I allowed it to finish.
iii. Then rebooted my computer again before reinstalling the 'Dashboard' from the setup .exe file that I downloaded. (i.e. it was saved to my downloads folder with the name: drobodashboardinstaller_2.1.2.exe). I allowed the computer to complete the installation
iv. Then I opened 'Drobo Dashboard'. Since my device was on iSCSI, I had to reset the 'Discover Settings' so that it would look at a manual IP address which I specified, and not use 'Automatic Discovery'.
v. After setting this up, I waited, and waited, and waited for Drobo to be discovered for about 3-5 minutes, but it never was discovered.
vi. Okay, now what's wrong?
6. I tried to shutdown Drobo, and reboot my computer. It didn't work, Drobo was not being initiated, it kept going into 'Standby' after I powered it up, and it completed it's boot process.
Solution Found
7. I decided to check the 'iSCSI Initiator' module, and saw in the main tab (Targets tab) that it was showing the status of Disconnected. I thought, that's weird, and so I clicked 'Connect'. It worked! Right away, my computer mounted the drives, and I saw my Drobo appear in the 'Drobo Dashboard'.
It's odd to me that 'Drobo Dashboard' wasn't able to initiate the 'Connect' command when it was opened after the installation.
How to Open iSCSI Initiator
Again, to get to the iSCSI Initiator go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator.
Conclusion
When you see this error message, it's best to uninstall 'Drobo Dashboard', and 'Reinstall' it. If you are using iSCSI like I am, and your Drobo does not mount, make sure to open the 'iSCSI Initiator', select Drobo from the targets listing, and click the 'Connect' button to connect your computer to Drobo.
Revised Conclusion
When you see this error message, it's best to
1. Stop 'Drobo Dashboard' Service
2. Quit out of the 'Drobo Dashboard' application running in your task bar (system tray)
3. Open 'iSCSI Initiator Properties', check to see if it has disconnected, if not disconnect
Then
4. Start 'Drobo Dashboard' Service
5. Start 'Drobo Dashboard' application
6. In 'iSCSI Initiator Properties', make sure the entry for Drobo under the 'Targets' tab shows a 'Status' of 'Connected', if not, click the 'Connected' button
* the entry for mine says:
"iqn.####-##.com.datarobotics:drobopro.############.node#
- I'm not sure if that is private info, so I've typed in # signs where the numbers are
I've encountered a new issue today. I booted up my computer as normal, and the Drobo Dashboard appeared to have loaded as normal, but when I went to switch my Drobo from USB 2.0 to iSCSI, nothing happened. I immediately double-clicked the Drobo icon in the taskbar/system tray, and that's when I got the following message:
Title of Messagebox: Drobo Dashboard Service
Error Message: A required portion of Drobo Dashboard is no longer running. Please relaunch Drobo Dashboard to correct the issue. If this problem persists, then re-install Drobo Dashboard. You can get the latest Drobo Dashboard at drobo.com/support
(See image below)
Debugging
1. First I tried to close the Dashboard, and then reopen it. Result, I got the same error message.
2. I shut Drobo down, and rebooted my personal computer, and then tried again. Same error message.
3. I went to http://drobo.com/support as instructed by the error message, and went to the download page.
i. I downloaded the latest copy of the dashboard.
ii. I ran the .exe file, and attempted to re-install it, but the only options were to repair or remove. So, I chose to repair it. It started progressing in repairing the software, but then it ran into a problem with the Drobo Dashboard Service, it was unable to start it back up after it stopped the service.
iii. I had to cancel the 'Repair', and from there the installer rolled back the changes.
iv. Now what?
4. Checked to see the status of the Drobo Dashboard Service via the Services windows module (which you can access via Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services).
i. I found the service under the same name "Drobo Dashboard Service".
ii. I right-clicked it and viewed it's properties, and saw that it's start up type was 'Disabled', which is weird. It should be set to automatic.
iii. I attempted to start it up by setting the 'Startup type' to 'Automatic', after which I was going to click 'Apply', and then click the 'Start' button, but when I went to click 'Apply' button after setting it to 'Automatic' there was a warning box which said that the Windows Service was marked for deletion. This prevented me from making any changes whatsoever.
iv. Now what?
5. I decided that I would try uninstalling the 'Drobo Dashboard', and then reinstall it. So,
i. I rebooted my computer to clear out anything left from my previous attempt to repair the software.
ii. When my computer finished booting, I uninstalled the 'Drobo Dashboard' by going into 'Start > Control Panel > Features and Programs > Click 'Drobo Dashboard'' and then clicking 'Uninstall'. I allowed it to finish.
iii. Then rebooted my computer again before reinstalling the 'Dashboard' from the setup .exe file that I downloaded. (i.e. it was saved to my downloads folder with the name: drobodashboardinstaller_2.1.2.exe). I allowed the computer to complete the installation
iv. Then I opened 'Drobo Dashboard'. Since my device was on iSCSI, I had to reset the 'Discover Settings' so that it would look at a manual IP address which I specified, and not use 'Automatic Discovery'.
v. After setting this up, I waited, and waited, and waited for Drobo to be discovered for about 3-5 minutes, but it never was discovered.
vi. Okay, now what's wrong?
6. I tried to shutdown Drobo, and reboot my computer. It didn't work, Drobo was not being initiated, it kept going into 'Standby' after I powered it up, and it completed it's boot process.
Solution Found
7. I decided to check the 'iSCSI Initiator' module, and saw in the main tab (Targets tab) that it was showing the status of Disconnected. I thought, that's weird, and so I clicked 'Connect'. It worked! Right away, my computer mounted the drives, and I saw my Drobo appear in the 'Drobo Dashboard'.
It's odd to me that 'Drobo Dashboard' wasn't able to initiate the 'Connect' command when it was opened after the installation.
How to Open iSCSI Initiator
Again, to get to the iSCSI Initiator go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator.
Revised Conclusion
When you see this error message, it's best to
1. Stop 'Drobo Dashboard' Service
2. Quit out of the 'Drobo Dashboard' application running in your task bar (system tray)
3. Open 'iSCSI Initiator Properties', check to see if it has disconnected, if not disconnect
Then
4. Start 'Drobo Dashboard' Service
5. Start 'Drobo Dashboard' application
6. In 'iSCSI Initiator Properties', make sure the entry for Drobo under the 'Targets' tab shows a 'Status' of 'Connected', if not, click the 'Connected' button
* the entry for mine says:
"iqn.####-##.com.datarobotics:drobopro.############.node#
- I'm not sure if that is private info, so I've typed in # signs where the numbers are
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Drobo Pro Issues: Not Detected on iSCSI
Story Leading Up to the Problem
I encountered this very early on. It was during my setup of the device. I had connected the device via USB 2.0, and was inserting the new hard drives into the bays. Everything was going really well, the Drobo was acting as described. It detected that I inserted new drives, and it automatically formatted them.
I installed the Dashboard software as the quick start up guide instructed, and then updated the Firmware and Dashboard itself using the 'Check Updates' button. Everything was so easy at this point.
I decided to try setup iSCSI while I was connect via USB, since I read the manual, and it said I would have to setup a static IP for the Drobo on the network. I did that, it was pretty easy using Drobo Dashboard. I setup 'Drobo Discovery Settings' to disable the 'auto-discovery' feature, and to enter a direct 'Manual Device Discovery' IP address, thinking that this would be a lot faster, since the software wouldn't have to scan the IP Address to find Drobo, it can go directly to the IP Address I entered.
I shutdown Drobo, and changed the connection to iSCSI, and it detected Drobo.
Wonderful, I thought, but then, I decided I didn't like the IP address I assigned Drobo to, so I reconnected via USB, and change it. I ended up changing it another 3-4 times before settling on an IP address. At the same time, I had setup 'Manual Device Discovery' IP Addresses, and removed them for each of the 3-4 IP Addresses. (i.e. 192.168.10.48, 192.168.10.47, 192.168.10.2, 192.168.10.3, I settled on 192.168.10.48)
Something happened, because when I reconnected Drobo via iSCSI it wasn't detected by the Dashboard, and it didn't mount. Uh, oh, I thought. I broke my Drobo, what's wrong now? I tried a reboot of Drobo, and it still didn't connect. I connected it back on USB to make sure it wasn't broken, and it connected, and mounted the volumes. Oh good.
Debugging
1. Okay, now I decided to change the IP, maybe something is wrong with that one, so I tried that. Nope, it didn't work.
2. I remember there was a delay in Drobo being detected on iSCSI after it is turned on, so I rebooted it, and waited, and waited patiently for 5 minutes, and nothing.
* At this point, I thought I broke the iSCSI interface, but thought, it can't be that fragile.
3. Not knowing much about the iSCSI initiator, I decided to search my computer to see if I can locate it, or if it was built into the Dashboard. I searched the Dashboard, and wasn't able to do anything, I changed settings, and nothing helped. I then searched my control panel, but wasn't able to locate it. I then did a general search from the 'Start' button (Search Programs and Files box), and typed in 'iSCSI', and there it was in the search results. I pinned it to the task bar so I can more easily access it.
To Access iSCSI Initiator
Later on I did find it in the 'Control Panel' > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator.
Debugging Cont'd
4. Okay, so now I browsed the iSCSI Initiator window, and tabs, and found something to be strange. Under the 'Discovery' tab, it had all 3 of the IPs I entered, maybe more (ones I forgot to mention), but I thought I had deleted all but one of them from the Drobo Dashboard. So, why are they still in the iSCSI initiator? hmmm...
5. I noticed the iSCSI initiator was running heavily, it was even causing my computer to slow down, which is weird, because my computer is so fast, and with so many cores. So, I read the text in the window and thought, if there are less addresses in there, my computer wouldn't have to initiate so many devices. So, I started selecting each one that I knew was not in use, and clicked the 'Remove' button. I removed all but 1 from the list box labeled "The system will look for Targets on following portals:". I left the IP 192.168.10.48, which was what I set my Drobo IP address to.
6. I then disconnected my Drobo, shutdown, and connected the iSCSI cable back on. When I turned my Drobo back on, Guess what?! That fixed the problem! My Drobo was discovered almost instantly. Okay, it wasn't instant, but it was discovered, and the drives mounted.
Conclusion
So, lesson here is to check the 'iSCSI Initiator' > Discovery Tab, and make sure that it only has the IP Address you set your Drobo to have for iSCSI operation. If you have more than one iSCSI device, that requires the iSCSI initiator, then you will see more addresses, but you should make sure that this tab contains only the addresses that are in use. You should remove addresses that are not in use. It would seem 'Drobo Dashboard' doesn't cleanup after itself! Drobo, Drobo, when will you learn?!
I encountered this very early on. It was during my setup of the device. I had connected the device via USB 2.0, and was inserting the new hard drives into the bays. Everything was going really well, the Drobo was acting as described. It detected that I inserted new drives, and it automatically formatted them.
I installed the Dashboard software as the quick start up guide instructed, and then updated the Firmware and Dashboard itself using the 'Check Updates' button. Everything was so easy at this point.
I decided to try setup iSCSI while I was connect via USB, since I read the manual, and it said I would have to setup a static IP for the Drobo on the network. I did that, it was pretty easy using Drobo Dashboard. I setup 'Drobo Discovery Settings' to disable the 'auto-discovery' feature, and to enter a direct 'Manual Device Discovery' IP address, thinking that this would be a lot faster, since the software wouldn't have to scan the IP Address to find Drobo, it can go directly to the IP Address I entered.
I shutdown Drobo, and changed the connection to iSCSI, and it detected Drobo.
Wonderful, I thought, but then, I decided I didn't like the IP address I assigned Drobo to, so I reconnected via USB, and change it. I ended up changing it another 3-4 times before settling on an IP address. At the same time, I had setup 'Manual Device Discovery' IP Addresses, and removed them for each of the 3-4 IP Addresses. (i.e. 192.168.10.48, 192.168.10.47, 192.168.10.2, 192.168.10.3, I settled on 192.168.10.48)
Something happened, because when I reconnected Drobo via iSCSI it wasn't detected by the Dashboard, and it didn't mount. Uh, oh, I thought. I broke my Drobo, what's wrong now? I tried a reboot of Drobo, and it still didn't connect. I connected it back on USB to make sure it wasn't broken, and it connected, and mounted the volumes. Oh good.
Debugging
1. Okay, now I decided to change the IP, maybe something is wrong with that one, so I tried that. Nope, it didn't work.
2. I remember there was a delay in Drobo being detected on iSCSI after it is turned on, so I rebooted it, and waited, and waited patiently for 5 minutes, and nothing.
* At this point, I thought I broke the iSCSI interface, but thought, it can't be that fragile.
3. Not knowing much about the iSCSI initiator, I decided to search my computer to see if I can locate it, or if it was built into the Dashboard. I searched the Dashboard, and wasn't able to do anything, I changed settings, and nothing helped. I then searched my control panel, but wasn't able to locate it. I then did a general search from the 'Start' button (Search Programs and Files box), and typed in 'iSCSI', and there it was in the search results. I pinned it to the task bar so I can more easily access it.
To Access iSCSI Initiator
Later on I did find it in the 'Control Panel' > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator.
Debugging Cont'd
4. Okay, so now I browsed the iSCSI Initiator window, and tabs, and found something to be strange. Under the 'Discovery' tab, it had all 3 of the IPs I entered, maybe more (ones I forgot to mention), but I thought I had deleted all but one of them from the Drobo Dashboard. So, why are they still in the iSCSI initiator? hmmm...
5. I noticed the iSCSI initiator was running heavily, it was even causing my computer to slow down, which is weird, because my computer is so fast, and with so many cores. So, I read the text in the window and thought, if there are less addresses in there, my computer wouldn't have to initiate so many devices. So, I started selecting each one that I knew was not in use, and clicked the 'Remove' button. I removed all but 1 from the list box labeled "The system will look for Targets on following portals:". I left the IP 192.168.10.48, which was what I set my Drobo IP address to.
6. I then disconnected my Drobo, shutdown, and connected the iSCSI cable back on. When I turned my Drobo back on, Guess what?! That fixed the problem! My Drobo was discovered almost instantly. Okay, it wasn't instant, but it was discovered, and the drives mounted.
Conclusion
So, lesson here is to check the 'iSCSI Initiator' > Discovery Tab, and make sure that it only has the IP Address you set your Drobo to have for iSCSI operation. If you have more than one iSCSI device, that requires the iSCSI initiator, then you will see more addresses, but you should make sure that this tab contains only the addresses that are in use. You should remove addresses that are not in use. It would seem 'Drobo Dashboard' doesn't cleanup after itself! Drobo, Drobo, when will you learn?!
Drobo Pro Issues: Additional Volumes Not Detected (Not Mounted) on iSCSI
Problem
After I was able to figure out how to add additional volumes using the USB 2.0 connection, instead of iSCSI, I ran into another problem when I decided to change the connection back to iSCSI to take advantage of the higher transfer speeds, the new volume didn't mount. I did see the new volume mount when I was connected via USB, but when I changed the connection to iSCSI, it wasn't there. Only the first volume mounted.
Debugging
1. I didn't know why, and so I thought the first volume was dead. I switched the connection back to USB to check to see if the new volume I added was still there or not. I shutdown Drobo, made the connection switch, and powered it back on. Via USB, my computer detected both volumes, and mounted them both. I was quite puzzled at this point. Some thoughts came to mind, which needed answering:
i. What's wrong with iSCSI?
ii. Can iSCSI handle more than 1 volume?
iii. What's wrong with the initiator? Why is it not initiating the 2nd volume?
2. At this point, I was thinking, I need to learn more about iSCSI initiator in order to narrow down the problem. I did a Google Search using various keywords, and found a bunch of iSCSI articles, none of which were related to Drobo, but I skimmed through them anyways to learn more about iSCSI and the iSCSI initiator. I learned about iSCSI and a bit about the initiator, and from what I learned, I was able to start looking around for the problem on my computer.
Aside
iSCSI initiator is included in Windows 7, I believe, but when I installed the Dashboard on my Windows XP machine, it had to install the initiator as a part of installing the Dashboard.
To access the iSCSI initiator, Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator
Debugging Cont'd
3. So, I started fiddling around with the iSCSI initiator, and seeing what the problem was. I was able to identify from looking at the iSCSI initiator main screen that it was only initiating Node 0, which according to the Drobo Dashboard was volume 1. I attempted to add another line to the initiator using a similar address as the first one, except changing Node 0 to Node 1. It didn't work. The iSCSI initiator didn't accept the new address. I tried a few other things, but none of it was working.
4. I continued my Google Search, and came across a very long article on how to setup iSCSI drives, or something like that. I was skimming the screen captures, when I came across a screen capture of the 'Computer Management' tool, which I have used before. I skimmed the description, and it said that it was possible for the computer drives to have volumes that were not online.
To Access 'Computer Management'
* Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
* > Storage > Disk Management
I opened the tool, and Bingo! I saw the problem. The 2nd volume was offline. Though the messaging said it was due to a Group Policy on the computer. I know of group policies, but I don't know what I would do to fix the problem.
5. So, next, I searched Google for group policies, specifically for Windows 7. I also had installed a network monitoring program recently, where I remember the program installed some Group Policies for my computer, and so I opened that program, and deleted the group policies. I tried a reboot of Drobo, and my computer, and it didn't work! Google wasn't much help either. Now what?
Discovery of Solution
6. Just out of curiosity, I right clicked the part where it said 'Offline' in the 'Computer Management' tool beside the drive volume that was showing 'Offline' to see if I could get more information, or options, and Guess What?!! In the right-click menu that popped-up, it had an 'Online' option. That's all I had to do. I click 'Online', and voila, the volume mounted!
Conclusion/Solution
So, the lesson here is to go into 'Computer Management', and right click on the grey section beside the volume that is showing up as 'Offline', and bring it online by selecting 'Online' from the right-click menu.
(Sorry, I don't have any screen captures, I didn't take any when I had the problem, but I'll try to add some later when I have some time just to show you the general windows I'm talking about in my blog. I really wanted to share this because it was yet, another headache which I hope I can help others avoid.)
After I was able to figure out how to add additional volumes using the USB 2.0 connection, instead of iSCSI, I ran into another problem when I decided to change the connection back to iSCSI to take advantage of the higher transfer speeds, the new volume didn't mount. I did see the new volume mount when I was connected via USB, but when I changed the connection to iSCSI, it wasn't there. Only the first volume mounted.
Debugging
1. I didn't know why, and so I thought the first volume was dead. I switched the connection back to USB to check to see if the new volume I added was still there or not. I shutdown Drobo, made the connection switch, and powered it back on. Via USB, my computer detected both volumes, and mounted them both. I was quite puzzled at this point. Some thoughts came to mind, which needed answering:
i. What's wrong with iSCSI?
ii. Can iSCSI handle more than 1 volume?
iii. What's wrong with the initiator? Why is it not initiating the 2nd volume?
2. At this point, I was thinking, I need to learn more about iSCSI initiator in order to narrow down the problem. I did a Google Search using various keywords, and found a bunch of iSCSI articles, none of which were related to Drobo, but I skimmed through them anyways to learn more about iSCSI and the iSCSI initiator. I learned about iSCSI and a bit about the initiator, and from what I learned, I was able to start looking around for the problem on my computer.
Aside
iSCSI initiator is included in Windows 7, I believe, but when I installed the Dashboard on my Windows XP machine, it had to install the initiator as a part of installing the Dashboard.
To access the iSCSI initiator, Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator
Debugging Cont'd
3. So, I started fiddling around with the iSCSI initiator, and seeing what the problem was. I was able to identify from looking at the iSCSI initiator main screen that it was only initiating Node 0, which according to the Drobo Dashboard was volume 1. I attempted to add another line to the initiator using a similar address as the first one, except changing Node 0 to Node 1. It didn't work. The iSCSI initiator didn't accept the new address. I tried a few other things, but none of it was working.
4. I continued my Google Search, and came across a very long article on how to setup iSCSI drives, or something like that. I was skimming the screen captures, when I came across a screen capture of the 'Computer Management' tool, which I have used before. I skimmed the description, and it said that it was possible for the computer drives to have volumes that were not online.
To Access 'Computer Management'
* Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
* > Storage > Disk Management
I opened the tool, and Bingo! I saw the problem. The 2nd volume was offline. Though the messaging said it was due to a Group Policy on the computer. I know of group policies, but I don't know what I would do to fix the problem.
5. So, next, I searched Google for group policies, specifically for Windows 7. I also had installed a network monitoring program recently, where I remember the program installed some Group Policies for my computer, and so I opened that program, and deleted the group policies. I tried a reboot of Drobo, and my computer, and it didn't work! Google wasn't much help either. Now what?
Discovery of Solution
6. Just out of curiosity, I right clicked the part where it said 'Offline' in the 'Computer Management' tool beside the drive volume that was showing 'Offline' to see if I could get more information, or options, and Guess What?!! In the right-click menu that popped-up, it had an 'Online' option. That's all I had to do. I click 'Online', and voila, the volume mounted!
Conclusion/Solution
So, the lesson here is to go into 'Computer Management', and right click on the grey section beside the volume that is showing up as 'Offline', and bring it online by selecting 'Online' from the right-click menu.
(Sorry, I don't have any screen captures, I didn't take any when I had the problem, but I'll try to add some later when I have some time just to show you the general windows I'm talking about in my blog. I really wanted to share this because it was yet, another headache which I hope I can help others avoid.)
Drobo Pro Issues: Setting Up Additional Volumes
Problem
The first time I added an additional volume, I had a lot of problems! Though it's quite possible that it's because I didn't read the manual.
Aside
Due to my Drobo Pro not mounting the drive when I connect it on Firewire 800, I use iSCSI on gigabit Ethernet. (Windows 7 Ultimate)
Problem Cont'd
With that being said, on my Ethernet connection, I attempted to add a new Volume using the DroboPro dashboard. Everything appeared to be running fine, I filled in the forms to set the volume format, and size of drive I wanted to setup. I setup the new volume for 16TB, which is possible due to Drobo supporting thin provisioning. I don't actually have that space, but since it allows for such volume settings, I decided to set it. Note, this was not the problem.
After I finished filling in the forms, and confirmed that I wanted the process to proceed, the problem came when the dashboard reported that it could not format the drive because it was in use. It instructed me to close down any programs that may be using it, and then said it would reboot Drobo and resume with formatting. It seemed to be going well, but then the dashboard just hung... it later timed out, and reported that it needed to cancel the operation because Drobo was being accessed by a program.
Debugging
1. I attempted a full reboot of my computer, and a reboot of Drobo. It didn't fix the issue.
2. I attempted to shutdown any process from Task Manager that didn't appear to need to be running. It still didn't work.
Suspicions of the Problem and Possible Solution
I started to suspect that the iSCSI initiator was the program that the Dashboard was talking about. I didn't have much knowledge of the iSCSI initiator, except that it is a program that runs on the computer that talks to Drobo. So, after 2 hours of failed attempts on iSCSI, I shut down Drobo, disconnected the iSCSI interface, and then connected Drobo to my computer via USB 2.0.
Solution Found
Guess what?! on USB 2.0, it worked!! I don't know if this was in the manual, and I still don't, but I'm really glad I found out what the heck was going on. They should have programmed a smarter Dashboard, that is, it should be able to detect what interface Drobo is connect by, and message to the user that they should be using USB in order to add new volumes. You would think this would be by default, seeing how Drobo is quite advance, but you'd be wrong. It sure would have saved me a lot time iand from getting a headache if they did.
Conclusion
So, lesson learned, when administrating volumes in Drobo Dashboard, one should be using the USB connection cable. :0)
The first time I added an additional volume, I had a lot of problems! Though it's quite possible that it's because I didn't read the manual.
Aside
Due to my Drobo Pro not mounting the drive when I connect it on Firewire 800, I use iSCSI on gigabit Ethernet. (Windows 7 Ultimate)
Problem Cont'd
With that being said, on my Ethernet connection, I attempted to add a new Volume using the DroboPro dashboard. Everything appeared to be running fine, I filled in the forms to set the volume format, and size of drive I wanted to setup. I setup the new volume for 16TB, which is possible due to Drobo supporting thin provisioning. I don't actually have that space, but since it allows for such volume settings, I decided to set it. Note, this was not the problem.
After I finished filling in the forms, and confirmed that I wanted the process to proceed, the problem came when the dashboard reported that it could not format the drive because it was in use. It instructed me to close down any programs that may be using it, and then said it would reboot Drobo and resume with formatting. It seemed to be going well, but then the dashboard just hung... it later timed out, and reported that it needed to cancel the operation because Drobo was being accessed by a program.
Debugging
1. I attempted a full reboot of my computer, and a reboot of Drobo. It didn't fix the issue.
2. I attempted to shutdown any process from Task Manager that didn't appear to need to be running. It still didn't work.
Suspicions of the Problem and Possible Solution
I started to suspect that the iSCSI initiator was the program that the Dashboard was talking about. I didn't have much knowledge of the iSCSI initiator, except that it is a program that runs on the computer that talks to Drobo. So, after 2 hours of failed attempts on iSCSI, I shut down Drobo, disconnected the iSCSI interface, and then connected Drobo to my computer via USB 2.0.
Solution Found
Guess what?! on USB 2.0, it worked!! I don't know if this was in the manual, and I still don't, but I'm really glad I found out what the heck was going on. They should have programmed a smarter Dashboard, that is, it should be able to detect what interface Drobo is connect by, and message to the user that they should be using USB in order to add new volumes. You would think this would be by default, seeing how Drobo is quite advance, but you'd be wrong. It sure would have saved me a lot time iand from getting a headache if they did.
Conclusion
So, lesson learned, when administrating volumes in Drobo Dashboard, one should be using the USB connection cable. :0)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Drobo Pro
I was looking for an external hard drive unit for the longest time, comparing them, and trying to find out what's currently available in the market, what each one offers, how hard it is to set each one up, what's affordable, which unit is the best bang for the buck, and also to figure out what I wanted in one of these units. I'm the kind of person who wants all the features, but I also like convenience.
The other units that I was considering include:
* D-Link
* IOMega
* Netgear
* QNAP
and a few others. Pretty much searched Google search engine, BestBuy.ca, FutureShop.ca, TigerDirect.ca, Amazon.ca, Staples.ca...
I was able filter most of the units out, because one of the criteria I had was to have a unit that was not fully enclosed. That is, one that you can install your own hard drives, and replace failed hard drives without needing to send it to the manufacturer. I think units that require that are crazy!
What I was looking for
* convenience
* easy of use
* as many bays as possible
* $1500 at most
* hard drives can be removed and installed by the user
* to be able to share files over the network by connecting to the device only, not requiring other computers to be on to do the sharing
After a couple years of looking I finally decided to buy one. It took so long because I didn't really need one, and well, even though I could make due without one now, I decided to buy one anyways. So, I bought a Drobo Pro! It turned out to be a very expensive unit, but for the features it offers, I'm hoping it was worth it. I actually got it on sale at TigerDirect.ca for about $1500 or so.
Pros
The features that I just liked so much about the Drobo is:
1. It's ability to handle the configuration of the hard drives in it for data redundancy, automatically.
2. I like how I don't have to have all the hard drives from the get-go for setting up RAID 5/6 with this unit, that I can add them as I need to.
3. It has a great feature that allows one to switch out smaller hard drives for larger ones as space runs out.
4. I also like that it works with any brand of internal hard drives, and any speed, and sizes.
5. I also like how the drives are hot-swappable (I know, this feature is common on most)
6. That there is no hard drive 'seat' that you have to screw the hard drive into before inserting it into the enclosure.
7. 8 drive bays for expansion
I'm a man of convenience, so I like things that are easy, and convenient to use, and that's pretty much why I got this unit, even though I know it is lacking in other areas, and is expensive compared to other units. It's price is anywhere from 2X to 4X the price of other units that offer the same number of bays, and possibly more features in other areas. Though, from what I've read, there may be a lot of units available out there, but many don't offer the unique features that this unit offers.
The Drobo Pro has 8 drive bays, which is just awesome for expansion. It has 3 hardware interfaces, which is nice, because it gives you more options on how you can connect it to your computer depending on what your computer offers. It has Firewire 800, USB 2.0, and iSCSI.
Drawbacks
1. What I didn't know when I bought the unit is that it is not easily shared on the network. I didn't know much about iSCSI, other than that I can connect it to a router on my network. I didn't know that I couldn't have more than 1 device accessing the files on the storage unit at one time via iSCSI. I think the only way to share your files is if you have a single computer connected to the Drobo, which in turn shares the Drobo as a resource on your network. I think this is a big drawback, because something I wanted to have was a Network-Attached-Storage device (NAS) that can run alone, and share files on the network without requiring another computer to be on. I wanted to be able to connect to the stored file from anywhere in the house, and backup to it from any computer on the network. This is not the case with the DroboPro, though I believe there are other Models that you can buy that have a gigabit Ethernet interface, and are built for sharing files over the network.
2. Even though it does offer the 3 interfaces, I've found file transfer to be really slow! To move 1 TB of data from my internal computer hard drive via Gigabit Ethernet took a full day. A little more because Windows Explorer kept stopping to confirm what to do with certain files, and if I wasn't at my computer than it would halt the whole copy process. The transfer speed was slow due to a large number of small files, it was transferring from 15 MB/s to 30 MB/s (Megabytes). It never got to 125 MB/s which is what I was hoping for.
Issues
I did run into some issues which I will go into more detail about in another posting, and how I resolved them. In short they were:
1. iSCSI Configuration Issues
- it worked the very first time I added a new IP address, but after changing the IP address a few times, my computer stopped picking up the Drobo Pro for some reason. I had to switch back to using USB 2.0.
2. Over iSCSI - my computer didn't mount the 2nd volume I created in Drobo, for some reason it only mounted when I counted via USB 2.0
3. Connection interfaces are not hot-swappable
- if you try to swap from iSCSI to USB to Firewire, the manual instructs you to power down the unit each time. Being someone who doesn't read the manual until I have to, I didn't know this, and so I ran into many issues when I was hot-swapping the interface
4. Currently my Drobo Pro doesn't mount when connected via Firewire 800.
- I haven't figured this one out yet
[I did resolve #1 to #3, I'll be adding additonal posting to explain each issue in more detail.]
Conclusion
Anyways, I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and though I've had ups and downs with this unit. Now that I have gotten use to some of it's quirks, I understand how it works better, and I have found that I do like the unit! I recently got additional hard drives to add to it, and I was able to add them in without any effort, and the unit took care of the rest; formatting, and making the space available. All I had to do was open the hard drive packaging, and push them into the empty slots.
For more information on Drobo, and units available, visit their website at: drobo.com
Note: I'm not a reseller or anything like that.
The other units that I was considering include:
* D-Link
* IOMega
* Netgear
* QNAP
and a few others. Pretty much searched Google search engine, BestBuy.ca, FutureShop.ca, TigerDirect.ca, Amazon.ca, Staples.ca...
I was able filter most of the units out, because one of the criteria I had was to have a unit that was not fully enclosed. That is, one that you can install your own hard drives, and replace failed hard drives without needing to send it to the manufacturer. I think units that require that are crazy!
What I was looking for
* convenience
* easy of use
* as many bays as possible
* $1500 at most
* hard drives can be removed and installed by the user
* to be able to share files over the network by connecting to the device only, not requiring other computers to be on to do the sharing
After a couple years of looking I finally decided to buy one. It took so long because I didn't really need one, and well, even though I could make due without one now, I decided to buy one anyways. So, I bought a Drobo Pro! It turned out to be a very expensive unit, but for the features it offers, I'm hoping it was worth it. I actually got it on sale at TigerDirect.ca for about $1500 or so.
Pros
The features that I just liked so much about the Drobo is:
1. It's ability to handle the configuration of the hard drives in it for data redundancy, automatically.
2. I like how I don't have to have all the hard drives from the get-go for setting up RAID 5/6 with this unit, that I can add them as I need to.
3. It has a great feature that allows one to switch out smaller hard drives for larger ones as space runs out.
4. I also like that it works with any brand of internal hard drives, and any speed, and sizes.
5. I also like how the drives are hot-swappable (I know, this feature is common on most)
6. That there is no hard drive 'seat' that you have to screw the hard drive into before inserting it into the enclosure.
7. 8 drive bays for expansion
I'm a man of convenience, so I like things that are easy, and convenient to use, and that's pretty much why I got this unit, even though I know it is lacking in other areas, and is expensive compared to other units. It's price is anywhere from 2X to 4X the price of other units that offer the same number of bays, and possibly more features in other areas. Though, from what I've read, there may be a lot of units available out there, but many don't offer the unique features that this unit offers.
The Drobo Pro has 8 drive bays, which is just awesome for expansion. It has 3 hardware interfaces, which is nice, because it gives you more options on how you can connect it to your computer depending on what your computer offers. It has Firewire 800, USB 2.0, and iSCSI.
Drawbacks
1. What I didn't know when I bought the unit is that it is not easily shared on the network. I didn't know much about iSCSI, other than that I can connect it to a router on my network. I didn't know that I couldn't have more than 1 device accessing the files on the storage unit at one time via iSCSI. I think the only way to share your files is if you have a single computer connected to the Drobo, which in turn shares the Drobo as a resource on your network. I think this is a big drawback, because something I wanted to have was a Network-Attached-Storage device (NAS) that can run alone, and share files on the network without requiring another computer to be on. I wanted to be able to connect to the stored file from anywhere in the house, and backup to it from any computer on the network. This is not the case with the DroboPro, though I believe there are other Models that you can buy that have a gigabit Ethernet interface, and are built for sharing files over the network.
2. Even though it does offer the 3 interfaces, I've found file transfer to be really slow! To move 1 TB of data from my internal computer hard drive via Gigabit Ethernet took a full day. A little more because Windows Explorer kept stopping to confirm what to do with certain files, and if I wasn't at my computer than it would halt the whole copy process. The transfer speed was slow due to a large number of small files, it was transferring from 15 MB/s to 30 MB/s (Megabytes). It never got to 125 MB/s which is what I was hoping for.
Issues
I did run into some issues which I will go into more detail about in another posting, and how I resolved them. In short they were:
1. iSCSI Configuration Issues
- it worked the very first time I added a new IP address, but after changing the IP address a few times, my computer stopped picking up the Drobo Pro for some reason. I had to switch back to using USB 2.0.
2. Over iSCSI - my computer didn't mount the 2nd volume I created in Drobo, for some reason it only mounted when I counted via USB 2.0
3. Connection interfaces are not hot-swappable
- if you try to swap from iSCSI to USB to Firewire, the manual instructs you to power down the unit each time. Being someone who doesn't read the manual until I have to, I didn't know this, and so I ran into many issues when I was hot-swapping the interface
4. Currently my Drobo Pro doesn't mount when connected via Firewire 800.
- I haven't figured this one out yet
[I did resolve #1 to #3, I'll be adding additonal posting to explain each issue in more detail.]
Conclusion
Anyways, I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and though I've had ups and downs with this unit. Now that I have gotten use to some of it's quirks, I understand how it works better, and I have found that I do like the unit! I recently got additional hard drives to add to it, and I was able to add them in without any effort, and the unit took care of the rest; formatting, and making the space available. All I had to do was open the hard drive packaging, and push them into the empty slots.
For more information on Drobo, and units available, visit their website at: drobo.com
Note: I'm not a reseller or anything like that.
My New Blog
I've been wanting to create a Blog for a while now, but I'm only getting to actually create one for myself today. I heard about them, but this would be my first time using it. I decided to go with a Google Blog because I already have an account with them, and also because others I know are using them.
What I plan on using this blog for is to share anything I find interesting in my life, mostly revolving around solutions to problems I've run into at work, and home. Though, I may end up sharing other interesting things as well, such as sharing my experience with some of the gadgets I've purchased. Who knows, the possibilities are endless!
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