Is there any way to add a password or encryption to the Drives on my 5D to protect the info, for extra security in case someone steals the Drives/Drobo?
Yes, since the Drobo is just like an external drive you can use third party software to set up an encrypted volume or folder, it doesnt matter. To the Drobo it’s just data blocks. You will need some encryption software like TrueCrypt to set it up, as the Drobo itself doesnt do any encryption.
no no no!
DO NOT encrypt a Drobo Volume!!![hr]
Seriously thats the worst reply I have seen in the history of being on this forum!!!
Here:
https://myproducts.drobo.com/article/AA-01370
From the knowledge base:
If you encrypt a drobo volume…
"The Drobo array is a virtualized device and as such certain “common” operations one would use with non-virtualized arrays (i.e. JBODs, normal RAID arrays, drive enclosures), are likely to cause harm to the Drobo array and compromise data integrity.
The likely result when attempting to use one of these unsupported operations (below) is a “reboot-loop” of the Drobo device (only with drives installed), preventing access to the Drobo."
“Drobo Inc. wishes to apologize if you have already attempted one of the above operations on your Drobo, rendering your Drobo inaccessible.”
If you need to store secure data on your Drobo you need to create an encrypted file container on your Drobo. That way Drobo treats it just like a single big , normal, file. Then you can mount that encrypt file container on your computer.
[color=#FF4500]Under no circumstances try and encrypt a Drobo volume[/color][hr]
Its not “just” data blocks… Drobo interacts with the file system to see what blocks are in use… and therefore need to be protected/stored… which blocks are free and do not need to be protected / undergo garbage collection. This is also why Drobo only supports a limited number of file systems…
if you encrypt the file system, all of that immediately falls apart, Drobo doenst know what blocks are in use and which aren’t, which need protecting, and which dont, and it all falls apart, very very very quickly.
A “normal” RAID array can be encrypted because all blocks are “real”, they are all redundant, they are all striped, they are all in fixed positions. That is not how Drobo works… the blocks are virtual, and scattered, and it only works because it can keep track of it all… which is also why a normal RAID array can be formatted with any damn file system you like…
If you create a single large encrypted file in your non-encrypted file system, then Drobo continues to work correctly because it knows that is a single large file, and it is all in use, and it all need to be protected, it doesn’t care what’s inside the file… (which could be an entire encrypted file system)