Drobo firmware update for greater than 2TB drive support now available!

Forum History Drobo
1

Hello Drobo community,

This afternoon we posted a firmware update for the 2nd Generation 4-bay Drobo that enables support for greater than 2TB hard disk drives. To download this firmware, please go to:
http://www.drobo.com/support/updates.php

Please also read the release notes for this new version (1.4.0).

This firmware update now completes the rollout of >2TB drive support for all currently shipping Drobos. Support for the 4-bay Drobo took longer than we thought, but we wanted to make sure that it was implemented and tested properly. This will now allow future drive sizes to be automatically supported.

Thank you for your ongoing participation on this forum.

Best,

-ErikP
Director, Product Management
Drobo, Inc.

2

ooh, that is good news :smiley:

3

Can I apply this update using Dashboard 1.8.4? I’m on Snow Leopard, and despite having used 2.0.3 for ages with my V1 this page: http://www.drobo.com/support/updates.php now says I can’t use 2.0.3 with a V1. When I add my V2 to the setup what software should I use?

4

The Drobolator for the 4bay has been updated, but only shows 2.5TB drives, not 3TB. Am I safe to use 3TB drives once I get home and upgrade my 4bay (2nd gen) to Firmware 1.4.0?

5

yes. that is what the initial post says :smiley:

6

I have installed a 3TB WD Caviar Green SATA3 drive. The first two times I put it in, the Drobo did not acknowledge the drive. I had to jumper it to SATA2 for it to work, and the Drobo is now into data protection mode. It is a little disappointing to put in an extra TB and have it almost all (931.5GB) go to “reserved for expansion.” Getting an increase in space is going to require a second 3TB drive.

7

That’s how it works at all capacities. Your biggest drive is always redundancy, and if it’s bigger than the next biggest drive then that part is “reserved for expansion”. Your two biggest drives need to be the same size to get the space increase.

8

I know, and I was expecting it, but it is disappointing anyway. I’ve now ordered an additional 3TB drive.

9

yes

for 4 slot drobos, total usable = total minus your largest single drive

in your case that final 1tb has no where to be mirrored to, so it has to wait for a second drive of equal capacity

10

I have been looking forward to this for quite awhile. Wonderful.

11

i think a lot of people have!

hand it is being released at the same time as 4TB drives are coming to market

12

Nice! It’s been a long wait. So what’s the best way to upgrade? I have a unit that has 4x2TB drive. Can I just simply eject one of the 2TB and put in a brand new 3TB? Can I do this live while the unit is running? Or is that not advisable? Should I power everything off, then replace the 2TB with a 3TB, then power on everything? What’s the best way to upgrade capacity? Sorry for the newbie questions. I bought the unit fully populated with 4x2TB, so this is my first time upgrading to a bigger capacity drive. If this works, I’ll buy 3 more 3TB so I can have 4x3TB drobo unit.

13

you CAN just pull a running drive and then replace it

personally i’d power down the unit

(i have upgraded quite a few while its running - but its just a little safer to power down if its not an inconvenience)

14

I took mine out while it is running. Try not to pay attention to the claim of how long data protection will take (mine says 242 hours!); from past experience, it will be less than that, though it will be a couple of days.

Remember: only replace ONE drive at a time!

15

You have to upgrade the Drobo firmware first through Drobo Dashboard, of course…

Doing it running is fine, if a little scary the first time you yank a drive out of a perfectly good setup…

16

Thanks for the help! It’s going smoothly so far.

  • I upgraded Dashboard
  • Downloaded and upgraded firmware on drobo
  • Shut down Drobo
  • Replaced 2TB drive with 3TB, and powered up drobo
  • Looks like it is rebuilding now with the new setup (3TB+2TB+2TB+2TB)

Hmm… doesn’t look like I gained any new capacity overall, 931.50GB reserved for expansion. Looks like I won’t see any new capacity changes until I add in a 2nd 3TB drive.

thanks for the help!

17

I randomly logged on after a few months of not looking to check on the status of the firmware for drives bigger than 2tb. Nice to see this post was made just yesterday.

18

I have the latest version of Drobo Dashboard, but whenever I use it to check for updates for my 1.3.7 [1.254.30359] Drobo Gen 2, it says “Drobo has the latest versions of Drobo Dashboard and Drobo Firmware”

What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: Figured it out, I just hold control while selecting “check for updates”

19

you havent bothered to read the very first post?

it clearly says - GO TO THIS LINK AND DOWNLOAD IT

it does NOT say “check for automatic updates”

20

I did read it, didn’t make sense at first, never had to do a manual update. Figured it out shortly after posting and felt stupid.

Got it.