Introduction Drobo, the world's first storage robot, is a fully automatic data storage system that provides the only effortless, safe and expandable repository for all of your digital assets. Drobo connects easily to your Mac via FireWire 800 or USB 2.0, and appears like one large external drive to OS X, requiring no configuration for use. Drobo can also be easily shared over a network using DroboShare. For more information about DroboShare, see Sharing Drobo Between Computers .

Many of the key features delivered to enhance your user experience include:

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Sharing Drobo Between Computers Drobo connects directly to one computer at a time via the provided FireWire 800 or USB 2.0 cable. However, you may have a need to share your Drobo across your network. This is easily done using DroboShare, a unique companion to Drobo. Using Drobo with DroboShare, computers will ”see” Drobo in their list of network devices and allow for centralized storage or easy file sharing between computers. This unique design allows Drobo to be either directly attached to your Mac or shared over the network depending on your needs.

Related Topics

The Ins and Outs of DroboShare

Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare

DroboShare Settings

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The Ins and Outs of Drobo While Drobo does much of the work for you, there are still a few items that you will need to understand to take full advantage of its rich feature set. Take some time to familiarize yourself with your Drobo.

Related Topics

Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare

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The Ins and Outs of DroboShare DroboShare is a simple, plug and play companion to Drobo. Take some time to familiarize yourself with how Drobo and DroboShare connect.

Related Topics

Adding Hard Drives to Your DroboConnecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShareDroboShare Settings

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Adding Hard Drives to Your Drobo When you add hard drives to your Drobo, each individual hard drive becomes part of a large pool of storage where data is spread out across all of the hard drives in Drobo. As you add or replace hard drives to increase capacity, each new hard drive becomes identified as part of the storage pool. Drobo will keep track of which hard drive is part of this pool of storage.

Drobo has four data bays. Each one holds a single, 3.5" SATA hard drive. IDE, SCSI, and PATA hard drives are not compatible and should not be used.

Before connecting Drobo to your Mac, simply insert your hard drives into the empty data bays. You may use any capacity 3.5” SATA hard drive, from any manufacturer, having any rotation speed (5400 RPM, 7200 RPM, etc).

Tip: Start with at least two hard drives to provide data redundancy and protect against a single hard drive failure.

Tip: In the event that Drobo is almost full and all drives in Drobo are the same capacity, you will need to replace two drives (one at a time) in order to increase the overall amount of protected capacity. Replacing just one drive will not increase your overall protected capacity. Remember to replace one drive at a time and allow the data protection process (blinking green and yellow) to complete before removing another drive.

Warning: When adding hard drives to Drobo, ALL pre-existing data on those drives will be erased.

To Add a Hard Drive:

1. While holding the hard drive flat (horizontal), orient it so its connector is at the bottom.

2. Point the connector-end away from you.

3. Slide the hard drive into the desired data bay, with the connector-end entering first, until the drive latch locks the hard drive in place.

You are now ready to connect Drobo to your Mac or DroboShare.

Related Topics Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare

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Connecting Drobo to Your Mac or DroboShare After adding the hard drives, connect Drobo to your Mac or DroboShare.

To Connect Drobo to Your Mac:

1. You can choose to connect your Drobo using FireWire 800 or USB 2.0.

a. FireWire 800: Connect one end of the supplied FireWire 800 cable to one of the FireWire 800 ports on the back of your Drobo. Next, connect the other end of the FireWire 800 cable to an available FireWire 800 port on your Mac.

b. USB 2.0: Connect the square end of the supplied USB 2.0 cable to the USB 2.0 port on the back of your Drobo. Next, connect the other end of the USB 2.0 cable to an available USB 2.0 port on your Mac.

2. Plug the supplied AC power adaptor into the power port on the back of your Drobo.

3. Plug the power cord into a standard 110v power outlet.

4. Drobo does not have a power switch, so this will start the power-up sequence. During this time, the data bay indicators will turn red and all 10 blue lights will be displayed on the utilization meter.

5. As the hard drives come online, the data bay indicators will turn to green.

6. You are now ready to format your drives.

To Connect Drobo to Your DroboShare:

1. Connect the provided Ethernet cable between DroboShare and your network router or switch.

2. Connect the square end of the provided, short (~1 ft.) USB 2.0 cable to the USB 2.0 port on the back of your Drobo.

3. Connect the other end of that USB 2.0 cable to an USB 2.0 port on your DroboShare.

4. Connect the two ends of the supplied Y-cable to Drobo and DroboShare.

5. Connect Drobo’s power supply to the single end of the Y-cable.

6. Plug the power cord into a standard 110 volt power outlet.

7. Drobo and DroboShare do not have a power switch so this will start the power-up sequence. During this time, the data bay indicators will turn red and all 10 blue lights will be displayed on the utilization meter.

8. As the hard drives come online, the data bay indicators will turn green.

9. You are now ready to format your drives.

Tip: DroboShare requires an assigned IP address on your network in order to be recognized by Drobo Dashboard and shared automatically on your network. If it cannot obtain an IP address, it will be assigned the default 169.254.213.234 IP address.

Related Topics

Formatting Drives Using Drobo DashboardFormatting Drives Using the Mac OS Disk Utility

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Formatting Drives Using Drobo Dashboard Using virtualization technology, Drobo does not require you to format each and every drive added to Drobo. When you add or upsize drives in Drobo after the initial formatting, you will get immediate access to any additional capacity. After the initial format, you will not need to format added drives until an additional pool of storage is create and Drobo will walk you through that process when the time comes.

If Drobo Dashboard is running, it will automatically show you the Drobo Format dialog box.

If your Mac had also detected your unformatted drives and is displaying the Disk Insertion dialog box, then click Ignore.

Note: If Drobo Dashboard or your Mac did not detect your unformatted drives, then see Starting Drobo Dashboard.

Note: For instructions about using the Mac OS Disk Utility, see Formatting Drives Using Mac OS Disk Utility.

1. From the Drobo Format dialog box, click Yes to view the Drobo Format Options dialog box.

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2. From the Format Options dialog box you will be presented with different format options depending on whether your Drobo is directly attached to your Mac or attached to your local network via DroboShare. Do one of the following and then click Continue:

o If you plan to connect Drobo to Macs and DroboShare, select HFS+. This is the default selection.

o If you plan to connect Drobo to a PC running any Windows operating system, including older supported operating systems such as Windows XP or earlier, and DroboShare, select NTFS (Legacy). Note: In order to remain compatible with older versions of Windows, the volume size will be limited. This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.

o If you plan to connect Drobo to a PC running Windows Vista or Server 2003 and DroboShare, select NTFS for Vista and Server 2003. Note: This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.

o If you plan to connect Drobo to Linux machines and DroboShare , select EXT3. Note: This option is only displayed if you are formatting via DroboShare.

o If you plan to connect Drobo to computers with different operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux), select FAT32. Note: FAT32 is an older file system technology that is generally less protective of your data than modern (journaled) files systems such as HFS+. It also has some performance and file size limitations.

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3. By default, Drobo will format itself as a 2TB volume regardless of the capacities of the drives inserted into Drobo. This property allows Drobo to easily expand, without forcing complex Windows management and configuration. The Volume Size Selection tool allows you to modify the volume size based on what is available depending on your operating system. There are some tradeoffs to consider when selecting a volume size. As you drag the slider across the different volume size options, the text below will detail these tradeoffs. Make your selection and click Continue.

Note: You may notice that some volume size selections are grayed out. Some operating systems cannot support greater than 2TB volumes. Depending on what operating system you inform Drobo you are using, it will provide you with the available volume sizes to select from.

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4. Depending on your volume selection and the total raw capacity of the drives in Drobo, you will be presented with the opportunity to select a name for your volume(s). When done, click Continue.

5. You will be asked to confirm your selections. Click Format to begin formatting.

Warning: The Format command erases ALL data on all hard drives and is not reversible.

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6. A progress bar will be shown during the formatting process.

7. You will receive a confirmation dialog when formatting is complete, click OK and Drobo is ready for use.

Tip: When you add or upsize drives to Drobo after initial formatting, you will get immediate access to any additional capacity. Once formatted, Drobo will handle formatting any new hard drives that you may add to it until the actual capacity is greater than the volume size. When this occurs, an additional pool of storage is created with an equal size to the previous volume. When this new pool of storage is created, Drobo will guide you through the process of formatting this new volume. Be sure to only format the newly created volume to ensure your existing data is retained.

Tip: Use the Drobo Dashboard Format button when you wish to erase all the data on the drives in Drobo. This should only be used when you are confident you want to erase all data on the drives in Drobo.

8. Depending on how you set up your Drobo, Drobo will appear on your desktop as either a direct drive or a network drive.

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Tip: Once formatted, Drobo will handle formatting any new hard drives you may add. Any new capacity from adding a new hard drive will be available within seconds.

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Formatting Drives Using the Mac OS Disk Utility Using virtualization technology, Drobo does not require you to format each and every drive added to Drobo. After the initial format, when you add new hard drives, or upsize existing drives with larger ones, Drobo will automatically format the new drives for you until the actual capacity is greater than the volume size. When this occurs an additional pool of storage is created. When this new pool is created, Drobo will guide you through the process of formatting this new volume. Only the added drives will be formatted, not the existing drives already in Drobo.

1. If your Mac detects your unformatted Drobo, the Disk Insertion dialog box will appear.

2. Click Initialize to launch the Disk Utility application. If the application does not appear, it can be started from Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.

3. From the left panel, select 2.0 TB Drobo (Drobo connected via FireWire) or 2.0 TB TRUSTED USB Mass Storage Media (Drobo connected via USB).

Warning: Be sure to select 2.0 TB Drobo or 2.0 TB TRUSTED USB Mass Storage Media (the new drive), and not another drive that may contain data.

4. From the button bar (at the top of the right panel), select Erase.

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5. From the Volume Format drop-down list, accept Mac OS Extended (Journaled) unless you have a specific need for a different option.

6. In the Name text box, type a name for your Drobo; for example, Drobo.

7. Click the Erase button to view the Erase warning message.

8. Click Erase to wipe any data and format the new drives in Drobo.

9. Drobo will complete the formatting job, and a Drobo drive icon will appear on your desktop and be ready for use.

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Tip: Once Drobo has been formatted, you do not need to perform this format procedure again for any other drive you add or upsize in Drobo until you add enough capacity where the actual capacity is larger than the volume size. When that happens, follow the steps above to format the newly created volume. Any new capacity created by adding a new hard drive will be available within seconds.

Warning: The Erase command erases ALL data on all hard drives in Drobo.

Related Topics

My Mac Says Drobo Has More Capacity Than it Actually DoesStarting Drobo Dashboard

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My Mac Says Drobo Has More Capacity Than It Actually Does When you look at the properties for your Drobo using any of your Mac tools such as Finder or Get Info, you will find that your Mac reports that Drobo has more capacity than it actually does. Depending on the volume size you choose to format your Drobo with, what is reported by Mac OS will vary. By default, Drobo will be presented as a 2 Terabyte (TB) drive. This property allows Drobo to easily expand, without forcing complex management and configuration.

Drobo lets you add capacity in seconds, whenever you need it. We have designed Drobo to appear larger so that you can easily grow your capacity. As larger capacity hard drives become available every year, when you add enough hard drive capacity for your Drobo to exceed the set volume size, Drobo will simply create a new volume on your Mac resulting in an additional "virtual" drive, where both virtual drives share the total capacity available on your Drobo.

For example, by default, the Drobo is presented as a 2TB drive by the Mac OS. When you add enough drive capacity to exceed 2TB (for example, inserting four 1TB drives in Drobo), Drobo will create an additional drive. In this case, the Mac OS will present two 2TB drives. Although they are presented as separate volumes on Mac, the capacity for both volumes is combined into one large storage pool in Drobo. You can avoid multiple volumes from being created by selecting a larger volume size during the format process. See Formatting Drives Using Drobo Dashboard.

If you want to know the current used capacity on your Drobo, you can get a quick idea with a glance at the utilization meter on the front. Additionally, Drobo will always warn you if you are starting to run low on available space. If you want detailed information, Drobo Dashboard provides any information you may require.

Related Topics

Formatting Drives Using Drobo DashboardAdding New Capacity to DroboStarting Drobo DashboardBasic Drobo DashboardAdvanced Drobo Dashboard

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Adding New Capacity to Drobo To add or expand storage capacity, simply insert a hard drive into an empty data bay, or upsize a smaller capacity hard drive with a larger capacity one. You may remove a hard drive at any time as long as the data bay indicators are not blinking green and yellow.

If you have a data bay indicator showing a yellow or red status, Drobo is informing you to insert a hard drive or upsize a smaller capacity hard drive with a larger capacity one into the data bay that is lit.

Tip: For assistance with choosing which drive size is needed to reach a specific capacity, use Drobolator, an online Drobo simulator that lets you drag and drop drives into a virtual Drobo to determine your protected capacity with a specific mix of drives.

Related Topics

Removing and Replacing Hard DrivesBuying Drives for Drobo

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No Drobo Connected Message

If the Drobo Dashboard appears with a message saying "No Drobo is detected. Please check my connections.", check to see if the FireWire 800 or USB 2.0 cable is still connected between your Mac and Drobo. Additionally, check to be sure Drobo is connected to its power source.

If the FireWire or USB cable is connected and Drobo has power, but Drobo Dashboard is not recognizing Drobo, eject Drobo to put it into Standby. You can do this by dragging the Drobo drive icon on your desktop to the Trash, using the Mac OS Eject function in Finder or clicking on the Standby button on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Control Panel. Once you have properly ejected Drobo, you can disconnect the USB or FireWire cable. When Drobo is in Standby, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange. Once the power indicator on Drobo turns orange, disconnect the power and then reconnect it to reboot your Drobo.

If your Drobo is connected to your network via DroboShare, you may encounter this message because DroboShare did not receive a DHCP-assigned IP address. Most home network routers and modems come with the DHCP server enabled by default. If this is the case for your network, try to restart your DroboShare while it is connected to your network by disconnecting and then reconnecting your DroboShare power cable.

If you do not have a DHCP server on your home network, DroboShare will be assigned its default IP address of 169.254.213.234. You will need to first assign a Mac running Drobo Dashboard with an IP address on the same default network that the DroboShare uses (for example, 169.254.213.210) in order for Drobo Dashboard to detect DroboShare.

Once detected, you can configure the IP address of DroboShare in the DroboShare Settings section.

Related Topics

DroboShare SettingsTroubleshooting

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Data Bay Indicators Drobo utilizes status indicators found to the right of each Data Bay. These indicators will always let you know the status of your Drobo. When all lights are green "everything is okay." If there is a yellow light, you are running low on protected capacity and you should add or upsize a hard drive with one of greater capacity at your convenience. A red indicator means you need to take action as soon as possible, you are critically low on space or not protected against a single drive failure. A blinking red indicator means that a hard drive has failed.

Reference the following chart to best understand what your Drobo is telling you:

Color and Light Behavior What It Means Action to Take

Green Healthy system. None.

Yellow Drobo is getting full. Add a hard drive or upsize the existing one with a larger capacity hard drive.

Red Protected space is critically low, or data protection against a single drive failure is no longer possible.

Add a hard drive or upsize the existing one with a larger capacity hard drive ASAP.

Blinking Green and Yellow Do not remove drives.

Drobo is protecting your data by duplicating and spreading it across all of the available hard drives.

Don't remove any hard drives or power-down Drobo.

Warning: Removing a hard drive while green and yellow lights are blinking may cause data loss.

Tip: You can continue to access your data while Drobo is protecting your data. Just don't remove a hard drive!

Blinking Red A hard drive has failed. Replace this hard drive ASAP.

Four Red Indicators Drobo is starting up, there have been too many hard drives removed, or too many hard drives have been replaced at the same time.

Wait a minute to make sure Drobo is done booting-up. If the indicators don't change to green, then you may have removed or replaced too many hard drives from your Drobo at the same time. Identify the hard drives removed and re-insert them into Drobo. If you need further assistance, refer to the User Guide.

Tip: When removing or replacing hard drives, make sure you remove or replace them one at a time. Never remove a drive when the data bay indicators are blinking green and yellow.

Related Topics

The Ins and Outs of DroboAdding Hard Drives to Your DroboRemoving and Replacing Hard Drives

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Removing and Replacing Hard Drives When removing or replacing hard drives, make sure you remove or replace them one at a time.

Warning: Do not remove a hard drive when you see blinking green and yellow lights. This indicates that Drobo is currently moving data between hard drives for data protection. Removing a hard drive during this process could result in data loss.

If you remove or replace too many hard drives at once, Drobo will light all 4 data bay indicators with red lights and request that you reinsert the last drive removed.

To Remove a Hard Drive:

1. Press the data bay latch to the left to physically eject the hard drive.

2. Carefully remove the hard drive from the data bay.

Warning: Hard drives in Drobo will retain heat after being removed. Please use caution when removing drives. Allow drives to cool for ten minutes before handling them.

Note: Data stored on hard drives removed from Drobo cannot be read by other systems.

Tip: To safely remove all hard drives at one time from Drobo, first Eject Drobo. You can do this by dragging the Drobo drive icon on your desktop to the Trash, locating the Drobo icon in the Finder and choosing Eject from the file menu, or clicking on the Standby button on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Control Panel.

Once you have initiated the Standby command, it is safe to remove the USB or FireWire cable. When Drobo is in Standby, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange. You may now safely remove all of the hard drives from your Drobo.

Warning: Failure to properly put Drobo into Standby before removing a set of drives from your Drobo can cause loss of data.

Warning: Never remove more than one hard drive at a time so that your Drobo has an opportunity to rearrange your data into the safest configuration across the remaining hard drives. If you want to remove all hard drives from your Drobo, first put Drobo into Standby as described earlier.

The Standby operation should only take a few seconds. When in Standby, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange. Only then, can you safely remove the hard drives from Drobo.

Related Topics

Adding New Capacity to Drobo

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Clearing Hard Drives In the event you may want to completely reset your Drobo, clear all data from the hard drives and start anew, you may do so using the following procedure:

Warning: This procedure will clear ALL existing data on the hard drives inside of your Drobo.

To Clear All Hard Drives:

1. Disconnect the power from your Drobo.

2. Locate the Clear Hard Drives pinhole in the back of your Drobo.

3. Find a thin, firm piece of metal similar to a straightened paper clip.

4. Insert the metal into the hole and depress the button.

5. While holding the button depressed, connect the power back to your Drobo.

6. Hold the metal in place depressing the button until the data bay indicators turn green (approximately 30 seconds).

7. You are now ready to format your Drobo.

Related Topics

Formatting Drives Using Drobo DashboardTroubleshooting

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Disconnecting Your Drobo from Your Mac Before disconnecting Drobo from your Mac or disconnecting the power from your Drobo, always properly put Drobo into Standby Mode by safely ejecting your Drobo first. You can do this by dragging the Drobo drive icon from your desktop to the Trash, locating the Drobo icon in the Finder and choosing Eject from the file menu, or clicking on the Standby button located on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Controls Panel. Once you have initiated the Standby command, it is safe to remove the USB or FireWire cable.

Warning: Failure to properly eject Drobo from your Mac can cause loss of data.

This standby operation should take only a few seconds. Once Drobo is in Standby Mode, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange. Only then can you safely disconnect Drobo from your Mac or disconnect the power from your Drobo.

Warning: Always properly put Drobo into Standby Mode before disconnecting it from its power source or your Mac. When the power light turns orange, it is safe to remove the power from Drobo or disconnect it from your Mac.

Related Topics

Disconnecting Your Drobo from Your DroboShareAdvanced Drobo Dashboard

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Disconnecting Your Drobo from Your DroboShare Before disconnecting Drobo from DroboShare or disconnecting power from Drobo or DroboShare, always put Drobo into Standby first. You can do this by clicking on the appropriate Standby button on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Control Panel. Clicking on the Standby button in the Commands section will put a single Drobo into Standby. Clicking on the Standby button in the DroboShare section will put any Drobo connected to DroboShare into Standby.

Warning: Failure to properly remove Drobo from DroboShare can cause loss of data.

The Standby operation should take only a few seconds. Once Drobo is in Standby, all lights will turn off except for the power indicator, which will turn orange. Only then, can you safely disconnect your Drobo from DroboShare or disconnect the power from your Drobo.

Related Topics

Disconnecting Your Drobo from Your MacAdvanced Drobo Dashboard

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Buying Drives for Drobo Drobo uses any 3.5” SATA hard drive, from any manufacturer, of any capacity, and of any rotation speed (5400 RPM, 7200 RPM, etc). You are able to mix and match hard drives in Drobo and it will take full advantage of the capacity on the hard drives you add to the system.

Drobo has been successfully tested with the most popular hard drives on the market. However, in the event that we should discover any particular issue with a specific brand of drive, these will be listed on the support website: www.drobo.com/support.aspx

Tip: To help you determine what hard drive size you need to add in order to reach a specific total storage capacity, use Drobolator. Drobolator is an online Drobo simulator that lets you drag and drop hard drives into a virtual Drobo to determine your protected capacity with a specific mix of drives.

Warning: Drobo cannot use IDE, PATA and SCSI hard drives.

Related Topics

Adding New Capacity to Drobo

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Starting Drobo Dashboard Drobo Dashboard is an optional tool for monitoring and managing any Data Robotics device, such as Drobo or DroboShare. Drobo Dashboard offers useful information and convenient tools and is required in order to update Data Robotics devices to the most recent released versions of firmware and software.

Drobo Dashboard provides an easy to read Menu Bar icon that shows you the status of your Drobo. So if you keep your Drobo in a location where the data bay indicators are not visible to you, you can use Drobo Dashboard to remotely monitor the status and capacity of Drobo and DroboShare.

There are three ways to start the Drobo Dashboard:

from the Applications folder

from the Dock

from the Menu Bar

To Start Drobo Dashboard from the Applications Folder:

1. Go to your Applications folder.

2. Click on the Drobo Dashboard folder.

3. Select Drobo Dashboard to launch Drobo Dashboard.

To Start Drobo Dashboard from the Dock:

1. Find the Drobo icon in your dock.

2. Click on the Drobo icon to open the Drobo Dashboard.

To Start Drobo Dashboard from the Menu Bar:

1. From the Menu Bar, double-click on the Drobo Dashboard Icon to launch Drobo Dashboard. You can also directly access specific Drobo Dashboard windows by clicking on the Drobo Dashboard icon.

To Exit Drobo Dashboard:

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1. Click on the Drobo Dashboard Menu.

2. Select Quit.

Related Topics

Basic Drobo DashboardAdvanced Drobo DashboardE-Mail Alerts

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Basic Drobo Dashboard

Each Drobo attached to your Mac will have a specific drive tab. If the Drobo is connected over the network via a

DroboShare, it is specifically identified by the DroboShare logo in the drive tab.

Item Description

Drive Tab Shows the volume name assigned to Drobo.

Note: Multiple volumes on a single Drobo will show up on a single tab separated by a comma.

Note: Multiple Drobos attached to a single computer will show up as separate tabs with unique volume names.

Storage Capacity Shows Drobo's total available protected capacity.

Used Capacity Portion of the total protected capacity currently in use.

Free Capacity Portion of the total protected capacity available for use.

Advanced Controls Click to access Drobo's Advanced Control Panel.

How is my storage being used? Click to view the Capacity Breakdown Bar.

Related Topics

The Capacity Breakdown Bar

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The Capacity Breakdown Bar Drobo divides your entire storage space into four types of storage areas. Use the Capacity Breakdown Bar to view information about how much space is allocated to those areas. To view the bar, click on How is my storage being used? in the Basic Drobo Dashboard.

Item Description

Available for data Total available protected storage space. The area where your data is stored

Reserved for Expansion Unusable space created when a single hard drive is larger than the rest. This space will become available when you add larger capacity hard drives, or upsize a smaller drive with a larger one.

Used for Protection Space used by Drobo for protecting your data. The area where Drobo backs-up your data.

Overhead Space used by Drobo for managing all the hard drives and how your data is stored.

Related Topics

Starting Drobo DashboardBasic Drobo DashboardAdvanced Drobo DashboardE-Mail Alerts

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Advanced Drobo Dashboard Data Tab You can access the Data Tab from the Advanced Controls Panel. You can also access the Data Tab by clicking on the Drobo Dashboard icon in the Menu Bar and selecting Data.

Depending on whether Drobo is directly connected to your Mac or connected through the network via DroboShare, the Data Tab will show a graphical depiction of Drobo or Drobo and DroboShare.

Drobo Directly Connected to Your Mac:

Drobo Connected Through the Network via DroboShare:

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Item Description

Status The status window provides an at-a-glance view of your Drobo or Drobo and DroboShare.

Each drive bay provides information about status and capacity for each drive in your Drobo. If there is no drive in a bay, it will remain empty in the status window.

The upper left corner of this frame will provide a system status, which normally will display "I am Healthy."

In the rare event that a drive has failed (or been removed) a "Data At Risk" status will be displayed in red letters while Drobo rearranges your data into a protected state.

Storage Capacity This is the numerical representation of the pie chart found on the Basic Dashboard.

Data Protection Messages that appear in this area inform you about the status of your data. Messages that can appear are shown below:

Your data is protected: Confirms that all your files are protected.

In Progress: Data is being rearranged across all of the drives in order to maximize protection.

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Tip: During data protection you may continue to access your data.

Warning: Data is being rearranged across all of the drives in order to maximize protection.

Your data is at risk: Indicates insufficient free space. Your data is at risk until you add another drive or upsize an existing drive with one of larger capacity.

Warning: Add a new drive now or upsize an existing drive with one that has more capacity or you may lose data.

Drobo Suggests Provides further instructions when you need to perform a task.

Show Me How Click to view a short instructional video about how to perform the task described in the "Drobo Suggests" area.

Tools Tab You can access the Tools Tab from the Advanced Controls Panel. You can also access the Tools Tab by clicking on the Drobo Dashboard icon in the Menu Bar and selecting Tools.

Depending on whether Drobo is directly connected to your Mac or connected through the network via DroboShare, specific controls on the Tools Tab may or may not be accessible.

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Item Description

Standby Puts Drobo in a state which will allow you to disconnect Drobo from your Mac or power. It is safe to remove the USB or FireWire cable after clicking on the Standby button.

Note: Wait until all lights on Drobo go dark and the power light turns orange before removing drives or power from Drobo.

Format Erases all existing data on drives and reformats the hard drives in your Drobo.

Once the format process begins, you will have the option to choose a format type. See Formatting Drives Using Drobo Dashboard for more information.

Warning: The format process is irreversible and all data stored on the drives in Drobo will be erased.

Blink Lights Identifies the particular Drobo the Drobo Dashboard is reporting on. This is useful when multiple Drobos are connected to the same Mac. The data bay indicator lights will blink green and red for several seconds.

Rename Allows you to rename your Drobo volumes.

Drobo to send alert on all useful information

Select to display all alerts regarding the condition of Drobo.

Drobo to send alert when a situation is important

Select to only display alerts that warn of an important change that could lead to data loss in the near future.

This is the default setting.

Drobo to send alert on critical situations only

Select to only display alerts that warn of a critical status that could lead to immediate data loss.

Setup Click to access the DroboShare Settings page.

Standby Puts all DroboShare-attached Drobos in a state which will allow you to disconnect them from the DroboShare or power. It is safe to remove the USB or FireWire cable after clicking on the Standby button.

Note: Wait until all lights on Drobo go dark and the power light turns orange before removing Drobos or power from DroboShare.

Register Opens a web browser and takes you directly to the Data Robotics product registration website.

Tip: Register your Drobo and DroboShare to gain access to special offers and customer support.

DroboCare License Provides information on the status of your DroboCare License as well as where to find out how to extend your DroboCare License.

This is also where you insert your DroboCare License key.

Check for Updates Checks for newer versions of Drobo Dashboard and, Drobo and DroboShare firmware.

Note: Do not remove drives or power during the update process.

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Check for updates automatically Periodically checks the update server for newer versions of Drobo Dashboard, and Drobo and DroboShare firmware and notifies you when a newer version is available.

Installed Versions Lists the version numbers of the current Drobo Dashboard and, Drobo and DroboShare Firmware.

DroboCare License Provides your serial number as well as the expiration date of your DroboCare License.

Note: In order to download the latest versions of Drobo Dashboard and Drobo & DroboShare Firmware, you must have a valid DroboCare License.

Related Topics

Starting Drobo DashboardBasic Drobo DashboardDroboShare SettingsE-Mail Alerts

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DroboShare Settings Combined with Drobo, DroboShare enables Drobo to be shared across a local network via Ethernet. Typically DroboShare does not need any configuration, however, for unique network situations, you can access the DroboShare Settings page by clicking on Setup under the DroboShare section of the Tools Tab of the Advanced Drobo Dashboard.

Item Description

DroboShare Name Identifies the DroboShare on your network.

By default, the DroboShare name is: DroboShare

Note: This name must be unique on the network.

Workgroup Allows the user to designate an existing workgroup to which DroboShare will be added.

Automatically assign IP settings Requests a dynamically assigned IP address with which to communicate with on the network. This IP address can change at any given time. This IP address is typically provided by the router or switch on your network.

This is the default setting.

Manually assign IP settings Sets an IP address specifically for the DroboShare that will not change. DroboShare will always be identified on the network by this IP address.

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Make DroboShare volumes public Allows anyone on the network to access the data on the DroboShare-attached Drobos.

This is the default setting.

Make DroboShare volumes password-protected

Requires a username and password authentication for access to the data on the DroboShare-attached Drobos. If this is enabled, the user will be prompted for the username and password when they access this specific Drobo tab in Drobo Dashboard. The username and password will only have to be supplied once.

Related Topics

The Ins and Outs of DroboShareDisconnecting Your Drobo from Your DroboShareAdvanced Drobo Dashboard

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E-mail Alerts Drobo Dashboard can send e-mail alerts based on a selected alert level for all Drobos attached to your Mac. To access this option, launch Drobo Dashboard. Go to the Drobo Dashboard menu and select “E-mail Settings”.

Item Description

Disable E-mail Alerts E-mail alerts will not be sent

Enable E-mail Alerts E-mail alerts will be sent for all attached Drobos based on the specific alert level selected.

Send E-mail Alerts on all useful information

All alerts regarding the condition of Drobos will be e-mailed.

Send E-mail Alerts when a situation is important

Only alerts that warn of an important change to Drobos that could lead to a critical situation in the near future will be e-mailed.

Send E-mail Alerts on critical situations only

Only alerts that warn of a critical status with Drobos that could lead to potential data loss will be e-mailed.

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To E-mail Address E-mail address or addresses that the alerts should be sent to.

Multiple e-mail addresses should be separated by commas.

From E-mail Address E-mail address from which the alert is sent from.

Mail Server Server used to send e-mail from. This can be specified as a server name (ex. smtp.company.com) or a server’s IP address (ex. 127.0.0.1). If you are unsure, contact your network administrator or your e-mail service provider.

Port TCP/IP port your server expects SMTP submissions through. By default this is set to Port 25. If you are unsure, contact your network administrator or your e-mail service provider.

Authentication Required if your SMTP server requires authentication. If you are unsure, contact your network administrator or your e-mail service provider.

Username Username you use to retrieve incoming e-mail.

Password Password you use to retrieve incoming e-mail.

Use SSL Required if your SMTP server requires an encrypted connection. If you are unsure, contact your network administrator or your e-mail service provider.

Send Test E-mail Send a test e-mail based on your configuration.

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Troubleshooting Go through this checklist to troubleshoot:

Check to see if Drobo is plugged into your Mac's FireWire 800 or USB 2.0 port.

Check to see if Drobo is plugged into a power outlet.

Check to see if all of the hard drives are inserted properly into Drobo.

Check to see if Mac OS recognizes Drobo. Click on Finder to see if Drobo's volume appears.

Check to see if a hard drive has failed. Replace the failed hard drive with a healthy hard drive.

Check to see if DroboShare has an IP address. Click on the DroboShare Setup button located on the Tools Tab of the Advanced Controls window. DroboShare requires an assigned IP address on your network in order to be shared on your network. If it cannot obtain an IP address, it will be assigned the default 169.254.213.234 IP address.

Check to see if a hard drive was removed that shouldn't have been removed. Re-insert the drive you removed and wait until all the lights stop blinking green and yellow before you try to remove it again.

Check to see if a PATA, IDE, or SCSI hard drive was inserted into Drobo. Remove the drive and look at its label to see what type of drive it is. If it is a PATA, IDE, or SCSI drive, it won't work with your Drobo. Drobo can only use 3.5” SATA hard drives.

Check your e-mail settings to make sure they were specific to your E-mail service. Contact your e-mail provider to double-check this information. Additionally there are helpful websites such as the one listed here which may contain the information you need.

Check to see if a pre-1.1.0 Drobo firmware Drobo was connected to the DroboShare. Upgrade Drobo to 1.1.0 Drobo firmware before attaching it to DroboShare.

Check to see if your DroboCare License expired. Go to the Tools Tab of the Advanced Controls Panel to check the expiration date of your DroboCare License. You will only be able to obtain Drobo Dashboard and Drobo & DroboShare Firmware updates if you have a valid DroboCare License.

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Visit the Data Robotics™ Incorporated website, at www.drobo.com

Or contact Customer Support at support@drobo.com

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