Drobo

Forums › Desktop computing › Drobo

1 | 2 | 3

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#155391 9-Aug-2008 13:03

Great news - $30,000 worth is a big investment!

I am sure many of us here will be tempted - I am definitely up for it as soon as possible.

Do you have any idea what sort of timescale might be involved? I have over 20,000 images backed up on 3 drives - and one failed last week, so I am feeling nervous!!!

toshcomputers

52 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

ToshComputers

#155392 9-Aug-2008 13:25

Once they get their butt in gear, it would only be a few weeks to get the stuff over here and into local distribution. Remember, there are many other RAID-type housings for multiple drives, and we are also checking out other manufacturers. Drobo looks sharp, but is hardly technologically unique.

Mailorder seller of discounted Apple hardware, AppleCare warranties, Mac RAM and all Adobe products, in New Zealand, Australia, Pacific Islands, UK, Germany, France, South Africa, Ireland, Poland and Spain.

steveh7

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#155951 11-Aug-2008 16:52

Hi there, just letting you know I would definitely be keen on buying a Drobo guys if the price is competitive and a 12 month+ warranty is available. Cheers

gehenna

8668 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#155958 11-Aug-2008 17:09

steveh7: Hi there, just letting you know I would definitely be keen on buying a Drobo guys if the price is competitive and a 12 month+ warranty is available. Cheers

me +1

kiwitrc

4123 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 833
Inactive user

#155964 11-Aug-2008 17:25

We got ours from these guys, they were excellent and shipped pretty much the same day. However dont expect to use it as a NAS its way too slow. Good for storage but thats about all.

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#155981 11-Aug-2008 18:25

kiwitrc: We got ours from these guys, they were excellent and shipped pretty much the same day. However dont expect to use it as a NAS its way too slow. Good for storage but thats about all.

I have bought photographic gear from them before and yes, very good service.

Fortunately all I need it for is automated and easily swappable backups for Apple Aperture and my main documents etc, so it should be ideal.

Is your "way too slow" version using Firewire 800 or USB? If the latter, blame yourself not Drobo...!!

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

kiwitrc

4123 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 833
Inactive user

#156021 11-Aug-2008 20:49

Cant really blame myself as Firewire wasnt available when we bought ours. One thing I didnt mention, and you might want to be careful here, ours has lost whole folders and files. We are working with Drobo to try and figure out why. We also run it through droboshare but I wouldnt bother as its just another bottle neck. Also it goes to sleep after 16 minutes so as a NAS, it takes a while to wake and go.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41138

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#162418 5-Sep-2008 11:16

Any updates on bringing these in?

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

toshcomputers

52 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

ToshComputers

#162419 5-Sep-2008 11:20

No. After lengthy discussions it seems that they do not want to commit to warranty support for NZ customers, and so we have declined to handle the line. There is someone in Australia who sells for them, and although I do not know how warranty could be enforced against them, that might be the closest outlet. problem with anyone out of the country is that the Consumer Guarantees Act doesn't apply, so enforcement is a little iffy.

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#162428 5-Sep-2008 11:34

toshcomputers: No. After lengthy discussions it seems that they do not want to commit to warranty support for NZ customers, and so we have declined to handle the line. There is someone in Australia who sells for them, and although I do not know how warranty could be enforced against them, that might be the closest outlet. problem with anyone out of the country is that the Consumer Guarantees Act doesn't apply, so enforcement is a little iffy.

Curious why they are happy to commit to support in many other places but not here. California has far more draconian consumer protection than NZ - so does the UK for that matter - and they sell in both those markets.

I have taken the plunge and ordered one from Kayell in Sydney. Although it would be a fag to send the unit back to Oz or US if it failed, I think that ultimately the product would be supported, it would just cost more in courier charges!

If I have any problems down the line, rest assured that I will be mentioning them at GZ!

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#164666 15-Sep-2008 23:11

Drobo arrived today (after an excrutiatingly long trip from Sydney - it took 11 days!!).

Now sat on my desk with 2 1Tb drives in and very happy. It has a few idiosyncrasies - for example, the OSX firewall interferes with the Drobo Dashboard software and you have to tell it specifically that DD is OK or else turn the firewall off. Also, if you sleep the Mac without specifically putting the Drobo in Standby, it gets cross when you wake the Mac and you get a message telling you it was not removed properly etc. Also the FW 800 plug is a bit easy to accidentally disconnect when moving the unit around.

Those minor niggles aside, it is doing exactly what it says on the tin so far. I have copied my entire Aperture library (over 150Gb) onto it which took about 2.5 hours - seems to work fine. I will run two copies for a week or so and if it continues OK I will delete it off my Mac internal disk which is seriously pushed for headroom now.

One other thing is that my La Cie FW 800 external HD is no longer recognised by the OS when daisy-chained off the Drobo. I will get a FW 800 hub and see if that helps.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#164669 15-Sep-2008 23:16

toshcomputers: No. After lengthy discussions it seems that they do not want to commit to warranty support for NZ customers, and so we have declined to handle the line. There is someone in Australia who sells for them, and although I do not know how warranty could be enforced against them, that might be the closest outlet. problem with anyone out of the country is that the Consumer Guarantees Act doesn't apply, so enforcement is a little iffy.

Interestingly I note that the EU have implemented regulation that now requires all products sold within the EU to have a 2 year minimum warranty!

Of course we will probably be pensioners before that comes to NZ, but we might benefit indirectly because the manufacturers that sell into the EU sell the same units to us and will (I assume) at least try to ensure that the products are designed to last 2 years without repair!

The Drobo warranty is 12 months unless your unit is purchased in the EU when it is 2 years.

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#164784 16-Sep-2008 12:38

Further update.

I transferred my Aperture library yesterday no problem - took about 2 hours to move 140 Gb.

Today I am using Apple Backup 3 to back up 6.5Gb of music. So far it has taken over an hour and is not even half way! I'm not sure if this is as a result of Backup, Drobo, Firewire or a combination. I would have thought transferring a copy of 6.5Gb size files to one HDD from another ought to take around 30 minutes tops though? System Profiler says that the Drobo is connected at 800 Mbits/s - but I don't know how to measure actual transfer rates whilst the operation is in progress.

Thoughts, anyone?

gehenna

8668 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#164793 16-Sep-2008 12:57

Geektastic: Further update.

I transferred my Aperture library yesterday no problem - took about 2 hours to move 140 Gb.

Today I am using Apple Backup 3 to back up 6.5Gb of music. So far it has taken over an hour and is not even half way! I'm not sure if this is as a result of Backup, Drobo, Firewire or a combination. I would have thought transferring a copy of 6.5Gb size files to one HDD from another ought to take around 30 minutes tops though? System Profiler says that the Drobo is connected at 800 Mbits/s - but I don't know how to measure actual transfer rates whilst the operation is in progress.

Thoughts, anyone?

Apple backup is painfully slow. Give SuperDuper! a go instead, it's the bee's knees

Geektastic

18012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#164803 16-Sep-2008 13:19

gehenna:
Geektastic: Further update.

I transferred my Aperture library yesterday no problem - took about 2 hours to move 140 Gb.

Today I am using Apple Backup 3 to back up 6.5Gb of music. So far it has taken over an hour and is not even half way! I'm not sure if this is as a result of Backup, Drobo, Firewire or a combination. I would have thought transferring a copy of 6.5Gb size files to one HDD from another ought to take around 30 minutes tops though? System Profiler says that the Drobo is connected at 800 Mbits/s - but I don't know how to measure actual transfer rates whilst the operation is in progress.

Thoughts, anyone?

Apple backup is painfully slow. Give SuperDuper! a go instead, it's the bee's knees

Funnily enough, I have just this minute downloaded that!

I am just exploring it and trying to work out the best way to proceed. Should I simply make it copy my entire Mac HDD to the Drobo?

1 | 2 | 3