FreakyKiwi: There is a grammar mistake in the competition entry form....they used the wrong their (their there the're) lol

reven: i have a drobo 2nd gen, with 4 drive bays.

ive had nothing but trouble with it, 1 drive bay just died on me, hdd issues (ok that was probably mostly seagates fault), extremely slow writes (5MBs) and its just been a headache and a waste of $1200, im now using it as a paperweight.

they're a really cool concept, i love the concept really, would like to try the newest model (drobo FS) but with all the problems ive had, the price/risk is too much.

but since this is free, go for it :)

FreakyKiwi: There is a grammar mistake in the competition entry form....they used the wrong their (their there the're) lol

ioquatix:

reven: i have a drobo 2nd gen, with 4 drive bays.

ive had nothing but trouble with it, 1 drive bay just died on me, hdd issues (ok that was probably mostly seagates fault), extremely slow writes (5MBs) and its just been a headache and a waste of $1200, im now using it as a paperweight.

they're a really cool concept, i love the concept really, would like to try the newest model (drobo FS) but with all the problems ive had, the price/risk is too much.

but since this is free, go for it :)

Hi, we are sorry to hear that you've had so much trouble. Have you contacted your reseller for warranty support?

(1) While it isn't unheard of for drive bays to fail (although it is pretty rare and in our experience is normally a DOA manufacturing defect), it does sound like the hard-drive has got issues. Have you tried testing the drive in a desktop computer? Most hard drives come with a 3 or 5 year warranty.

(2) The write speed does seem slow. Are you sure you are connecting via USB2.0 or FW800? If you are using USB1.0 it might be that slow. Or, your computer might have problems? Have you tested the write speed from a different computer?

(3) Have you installed the latest firmware and dashboard software?

Kind regards,
Samuel 

hi Samuel,

1. the drobo bay is dead, ive tried 6 hdds in it, those hdd work in all the other bays.  its dead

2. all over FW800 on my iMac, also tried USB2 on a windows xp/vista box.  the drobo had upto 4 1.5TB drives in it.

3. latest firmware installed.

i brought it from expansys.co.nz and was told i had to send it to hong kong to have serviced, as that is where i brought it from (apparently).  i decided it wasnt worth the shipping to get it fixed as a fixed drive would fix one issue, but not the performance issue and the headache.  i tried to get the NZ distributor listed on drobo site to look at it, but was informed that since i brought it from expansys (hong kong) i had to send it there (which was annoying since HK would just send it to the states any how).  there was no nz distributor at the time of my purchase

ioquatix:

hi Samuel,

1. the drobo bay is dead, ive tried 6 hdds in it, those hdd work in all the other bays.  its dead

2. all over FW800 on my iMac, also tried USB2 on a windows xp/vista box.  the drobo had upto 4 1.5TB drives in it.

3. latest firmware installed.

i brought it from expansys.co.nz and was told i had to send it to hong kong to have serviced, as that is where i brought it from (apparently).  i decided it wasnt worth the shipping to get it fixed as a fixed drive would fix one issue, but not the performance issue and the headache.  i tried to get the NZ distributor listed on drobo site to look at it, but was informed that since i brought it from expansys (hong kong) i had to send it there (which was annoying since HK would just send it to the states any how).  there was no nz distributor at the time of my purchase

Thanks for your detailed response.

We are sorry to hear the problems you've had. Essentially, the device shouldn't have failed, but it did, and the warranty was essentially non-existant.

Technically, if you bought it from a NZ based company, they would be required by law to honour a warranty. However, this is the risk you take when buying from a non-NZ based company.

One option may be to purchase DroboCare - this may give you international coverage... I've contacted DRI to find out if this is possible. I'm not sure if it can apply retrospectively - is the device still less than one year old?

Lucid Information Systems (our company) actively supports its customers:
(1) Spare units available in emergencies.
(2) Service level agreements including onsite spare units.
(3) Appropriate advice regarding storage and backup.
(4) Combined warranty covering both drives and enclosures.

Putting together a complete backups solution requires many different components, including both onsite and offsite replication of data. If your information is important, it is critical that it is in more than one place.

If you would like additional support please feel free to contact us lucid@lucidsystems.org and we will attempt to provide assistance, if possible.

Kind regards,
Samuel
 

freitasm: May you find peace with your Drobo. But seriously, this is the problem of buying things from overseas. Not much savings there...