Drobo pro connected via iSCSI

[Rob Grauert]

Mark,

For Dashboard we are on 1.6.8 (we updated the other day because we were having problems again) and for our Drobo Pros we are on 1.1.5

I appreciate your offer to help, but my boss has already decided a few days ago that he’s going to look for a new solution. We’ve contacted tech support many times for many different problems (connecting via iSCSI has been the least of our problems), but the Drobos never seems to work any better.

What difference is it going to make if our case is reopened? What will tech support tell us that they haven’t told us already? We’ve been through all the troubleshooting that is listed in the manual, which always seems to be what your Tier 1 tech support wants to do. We’ve given many diagnostic reports to your Tier 2 tech support guys. I think I’ve even been in contact with someone who said he was on Tier 3.

We’re not mishandling our Drobos. We know to shut them down with Drobo Dashboard or by shutting down the computer.

On paper the Drobo sounds like a great solution, and I wish it worked, but in the real world it just doesn’t.

I’m not just trying to be a jerk by bashing on the Drobo Pro. Like I said, I appreciate your offer to help. I just don’t see how reopening our case will suddenly help us.

Thanks anyway though, Mark.

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Andy Mees]

I always though the Drobo Pro/Elite held great potential for small edit operations, with the iSCSI connectivity good for nearly Firewire800 speeds. Have recommended it as such often, so its a real shame to hear such negative feedback.

[Rob Grauert]

ha ha…the footage on my Drobo is suddenly littered with digital hits, Every video file i have looked at so far has digital hits.

great.

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Steve Knattress]

Hi All,

I have a drobo pro at home to use as general backup and somewhere to transfer hours of cycle head cam footage.
I have a fw800 g-raid2 and small sata raid 5 array for “real” editing on my macbook pro.

The drobo pro was successfully connected to my macbook pro using iscsi on my home network ( iscsi and internet via a time capsule. In a separate room),
I gave the Drobo a manual Ip address outside those allocated by the TC)
I was able to edit DV from the drobopro without any problems over my home wired network.

until.. I loaded drobo dashboard onto my wifes’s imac, to do a backup via isci
Now the drobo pro is reluctant to connect to my macbook pro. (does not connect when my wife’s mac is on. (drobo dashboard (which was given same drobo ip address as mbp, )is NOT being run on boot. more often than not will not connect when the imac is off.)
How do I select which of my computers on my network talks to the drobo pro via iscsi. (I know its not NAS and that only one computer at a time can be “connected” by iscsi

I assumed that the drobo would connect to the machine that had the drobo dashboard running ( I assume this is what loads the iscsi mac agent? …but this does not seem to be the case.

A lot of assumptions I know. Has any one else experienced this?

Thanks Steve

[Volo Ganca]

Hi Mark

I am currently editing off a Drobo. My boss keeps getting frustrated because of Dropped Frames in FCP affecting his viewing of our video’s, could this be the Drobo’s fault? I am using the 4drive drobo.

Thanks

[Rob Grauert]

[Volo Ganca] “could this be the Drobo’s fault?”

It could be since Dropped Frames are caused by FCP not being able to retrieve data fast enough from the storage device.

We only use our Drobos for storage/backup, we don’t edit off them. Use something like a G-RAID or G-Speed for editing.

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Dan Herrick]

The DroboPro has been a disaster for me. I am on my second DroboPro in 1.5 years. I thought the system would be great as I am no techno guru. Unfortunately I have spent more hours searching for solutions on how to fix it than I can count.

The first DroboPro was running very slowly even though all the propaganda online said that it was perfect for HD video editing. When a new firmware update came out the DroboPro crashed hard. No problem I thought a quick call and I will get tech support to help me out.

2 hours later I was told there was nothing I could do. Just give them my credit card number and they would ship a new one out in 2 weeks! AGGHHHHH Having 8 drives of redundancy doesn’t help when they are not in the machine!

I ranted and raved at the store I bought it from (and bought an in-store warranty thank goodness) and they managed to get one in 5 days. I put the drives in and there were my files!

I have since had problems with the DroboPro cycling off and yesterday when a drive was humming I took it out to be safe. Now the DroboPro is unable to protect the data as it rebuilds the drives. No problem except that it has been 24hrs and it says it need 50 hours more! Until then I don’t touch my computer!

I know it is my fault as I am new to video production and the advice I received about this product was flawed so I warn others. GO AND GET A PROFESSIONAL STORAGE SOLUTION

DroboPro
iSCSI

MacPro
2×2.8GHz Quad Core Intel
10GB Ram
Adobe CS5

Recording DVCPRO-HD

Dan Herrick
Creative Director
Sleepingbeagle Studios
(780) 700-0937
Edmonton, AB
Canada