Drobo Full...now what?

Drobo - End of Sale Drobo FS
1

I have a DroboFS which is full with 5 x 2TB drives and I am just about to reach the limit of protected space at 7.2TB.

What are my options for expansion as for sure I don’t want to have to copy 7TB of data somewhere as it will take an age and presents me with filing problems with the programs I use.

Appreciate any advise.

Thanks

2

3 TB drives? According to the Drobolator, a 5x3TB FS should be able to contain 10.89 TB.

3

Cheers, that will only give me a 3TB increase which i will use up within 18 months…

Any longer term ideas, can the drives be moved into a DroboS without problems?

On a more (probably stupid note question), if i change one or more of the 2TB drives to 3TB, how do I know which drive to change as popping out one of the populated drives wouldn’t be too clever. Once I did change it how then would I change more as at some point I would reach drive number 3 that does have valid files on it?

4

I don’t think you can migrate from a FS to a S. You might be able to migrate to a DroboProFS, but I’m not sure.

It doesn’t work like that. The files on your FS are split into blocks that are stored in a replicated fashion across all disks. In other words, all of them have valid files. So you can switch any of them and it won’t make a difference.

What you have to do after replacing one is to wait for the lights to go back to solid green and replace another disk, and so on. The blinking lights stage indicates that the new disk is being filled with copies of the blocks from your files.

5

Pioneer,
Of course, money is always an issue. If an upgrade from 2TB>3TB will not yield you enough additional storage, then you might want to pursue possible moving to a DroboPro FS? Directions below:
http://www.drobo.com/migration/drobofs-to-droboprofs.php

If you moved your 5*2TB into an 8Bay unit, then added three 3TB disks, your total space could be 14.29TB (single disk redundancy). That would double your existing space.

6

http://www.drobo.com/migration says you can go Drobo FS to DroboPro FS or Drobo B800fs.
Essentially FS disk packs can only move to other FS units.

7

Thanks Chaps, appreciate the suggestions. Probably DroboPro FS might be the way to go in the longer run.

8

If you go the upgrade to a DroboProFS route, my only concern is moving your existing disk pack from your Drobo FS to the larger unit. Migrating the disk pack should work fine, I have had had work successfully before with Drobo to DroboS. Ensure that your backups are up to date!