Comments on: Reformatted the Drobo http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo The Weblog of Erik J. Barzeski Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:40:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: latchkey http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50771 latchkey Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:50:49 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50771 I'm the author of BackMyFruitUp (aka: DroboCapsule) mentioned above. You will need to add a DroboShare into the mix, but it will solve your problems. :smile: I believe that your other alternative is to create a properly named/sized sparsebundle and back up to that instead of targeting the entire Drobo. That will limit the size of the backups so your Drobo doesn't appear full all the time. You can download my Create Backup Volume automator action application (say that 10 times fast heh) to simplify creating the sparsebundle. Don't blame the Drobo. It is great. I'm very happy with it. I'm the author of BackMyFruitUp (aka: DroboCapsule) mentioned above. You will need to add a DroboShare into the mix, but it will solve your problems. :smile:

I believe that your other alternative is to create a properly named/sized sparsebundle and back up to that instead of targeting the entire Drobo. That will limit the size of the backups so your Drobo doesn't appear full all the time. You can download my Create Backup Volume automator action application (say that 10 times fast heh) to simplify creating the sparsebundle.

Don't blame the Drobo. It is great. I'm very happy with it.

]]> By: Formatting the Drobo for Time Machine Backups | NSLog(); http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50699 Formatting the Drobo for Time Machine Backups | NSLog(); Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:54:14 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50699 [...] few days ago I reformatted my Drobo because it was acting up. I was also made aware of the fact that the Drobo, like virtually all [...] [...] few days ago I reformatted my Drobo because it was acting up. I was also made aware of the fact that the Drobo, like virtually all [...]

]]> By: Alex Robinson http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50665 Alex Robinson Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:55:45 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50665 These might help you out: http://drobo.com/droboapps/downloads/index.php?id=16 http://code.google.com/p/drobocapsule/ Alternatively, the official way is to make two partitions on the drobo. These might help you out:

http://drobo.com/droboapps/downloads/index.php?id=16

http://code.google.com/p/drobocapsule/

Alternatively, the official way is to make two partitions on the drobo.

]]> By: Marc Charbonneau http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50662 Marc Charbonneau Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:33:41 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50662 Well, that's really just how devices that provide virtualized storage space work. It's the same deal with high-end SANs as well as other products comparable to the Drobo, as far as I know. Drobo is actually more intelligent than other products; instead of just giving an error when it runs out of space, it drops the transfer speed down to a few MB per second when it's about to run out, giving you a better chance to notice or add a new drive. The only other alternative is to re-partition the storage space every time you add or change a drive... not a good option. The best option with Time Machine is to partition the fresh Drobo into two partitions, with one partition sized to the maximum amount of space you want to give to Time Machine. You have to be a little careful with the partition map though, read the article I wrote a while ago: http://blog.mbcharbonneau.com/post/56856715/thoughts-on-the-drobo Well, that's really just how devices that provide virtualized storage space work. It's the same deal with high-end SANs as well as other products comparable to the Drobo, as far as I know. Drobo is actually more intelligent than other products; instead of just giving an error when it runs out of space, it drops the transfer speed down to a few MB per second when it's about to run out, giving you a better chance to notice or add a new drive.

The only other alternative is to re-partition the storage space every time you add or change a drive... not a good option.

The best option with Time Machine is to partition the fresh Drobo into two partitions, with one partition sized to the maximum amount of space you want to give to Time Machine. You have to be a little careful with the partition map though, read the article I wrote a while ago:

http://blog.mbcharbonneau.com/post/56856715/thoughts-on-the-drobo

]]> By: Michael Tsai - Blog - Drobo and Time Machine http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50661 Michael Tsai - Blog - Drobo and Time Machine Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:15:54 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50661 [...] Erik Barzeski: [...] [...] Erik Barzeski: [...]

]]> By: Erik J. Barzeski http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50659 Erik J. Barzeski Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:07:17 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50659 I'm going to write an email to the Drobo folks, because frankly this is awfully disappointing. Why doesn't a freshly formatted Drobo say "I'm 2 TB in size, but 650 GB is already used" (to get to the 1.35 TB size)? Then Time Machine would work perfectly. How is this not a glaring, huge problem? What will happen when I fill the thing up all the way? I'm going to write an email to the Drobo folks, because frankly this is awfully disappointing. Why doesn't a freshly formatted Drobo say "I'm 2 TB in size, but 650 GB is already used" (to get to the 1.35 TB size)? Then Time Machine would work perfectly.

How is this not a glaring, huge problem? What will happen when I fill the thing up all the way?

]]> By: Zach http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50657 Zach Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:26:36 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50657 Yes, it does suck for Time Machine. That's the downside to being able to easily add storage without any repartitioning, etc. Yes, it does suck for Time Machine. That's the downside to being able to easily add storage without any repartitioning, etc.

]]> By: Clark Cox http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50656 Clark Cox Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:59:21 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50656 [quote comment="50654"]If that's the case, Drobos kind of suck, and I suspect we'd have probably heard about this by now.[/quote] Zach is correct. As far as the OS knows, you've got a 2GB drive attached, and it will behave as such. :neutral: Erik J. Barzeski said on November 10, 2008:

If that's the case, Drobos kind of suck, and I suspect we'd have probably heard about this by now.

Zach is correct. As far as the OS knows, you've got a 2GB drive attached, and it will behave as such. :neutral:

]]> By: Erik J. Barzeski http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50654 Erik J. Barzeski Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:31:24 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50654 [quote comment="50653"]If it's formatted as 2GB but only has 1TB of space, Time Machine won't know that it's getting low on space when it gets close to 1TB, so it won't know to do the pruning. I think.[/quote] If that's the case, Drobos kind of suck, and I suspect we'd have probably heard about this by now. But on the other hand, I have 400 GB of data on the drive now and the Finder's "Get Info" reports 1.6 TB free space, so who knows… It'd be a pretty pathetic piece of engineering if everything somehow just fails when it approaches the actual storage capacity (1.35 TB). So pathetic that, again, I suspect it's probably not the case. P.S. And even if it did report the problem, going with the 16 TB option certainly wouldn't help things. Unfortunately you can't say "1.35 TB" - your choices are 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB, or 16 TB. :-P Zach said on November 10, 2008:

If it's formatted as 2GB but only has 1TB of space, Time Machine won't know that it's getting low on space when it gets close to 1TB, so it won't know to do the pruning. I think.

If that's the case, Drobos kind of suck, and I suspect we'd have probably heard about this by now.

But on the other hand, I have 400 GB of data on the drive now and the Finder's "Get Info" reports 1.6 TB free space, so who knows… It'd be a pretty pathetic piece of engineering if everything somehow just fails when it approaches the actual storage capacity (1.35 TB).

So pathetic that, again, I suspect it's probably not the case.

P.S. And even if it did report the problem, going with the 16 TB option certainly wouldn't help things. Unfortunately you can't say "1.35 TB" - your choices are 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB, or 16 TB. :-P

]]> By: Zach http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50653 Zach Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:57:09 +0000 http://nslog.com/2008/11/08/reformatted_the_drobo#comment-50653 If it's formatted as 2GB but only has 1TB of space, Time Machine won't know that it's getting low on space when it gets close to 1TB, so it won't know to do the pruning. I think. If it's formatted as 2GB but only has 1TB of space, Time Machine won't know that it's getting low on space when it gets close to 1TB, so it won't know to do the pruning. I think.

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