Drobo Help Needed (one too many problems)

Forum History Drobo
#1

In advance ANY help thanks

So here is my Story
Short version
i need to delete a folder that’s been blocked by drobo none-drobo created folder
i need to run a diskcheck utility to fix it, so that i can back up my Win Systems since windows can not backup due to problems detected (SOFT problem)

Longer Story
so i used few lacie HDs before they all start going bad one by one… so i wentout and bought fast fix that i could find near me Drobo (4 bays) via all Those MacBoyLovers reviews(never again will i look at a ****** review)
i installed with 2TBx4 got a total of 5tb, that’s fine with me at this time

So here the problem(s) comes:
for few weeks it constantly went in to a Infinite reboot loop i got that resolved(thank god few months pass and i haven’t seen rebooting loop)

Then drobo one day decided to dislike FULLY WORKING harddrive(s) made me install brand new ones( I checked the old ones-disliked-ones with HD PRO it took more then 24Hours per HardDrive NO PROBLEMS OR BAD BLOCKS BEEN FOUND, ******* picky drobo made me spend close to 400$ for no apparent reason what so ever)

Now it shows that i have an error in my file system so i tried using chkdsk and it stops after 68xxxx(about 90%) and then message is been displayed / provided that INDEX I/130 is missing FULL FOLDER OF 60GB data NOW been inaccessible(**** **** ****) But i still have other data

So i tried deleting it and im NOT ABLE TO DO SO, I NEED HELP DELETING FOLDER CAUSE I CAN NOT USE Windows backup Utility since it’s saying that drive(drobo)
found to have malfunctions and it cancels every time i trying to use a chkdsk

Problem Number 2:
Now when volumes are been rebuild i can access data but as soon it’s done i get a
" Your USB DEVICE BEEN UNRECOGNIZED", REBOOTED FEW TIMES and still haven’t recognized it
I tried with other computer (both are using Win7 Ultim) and it does recognized it
(before i tried reading with CentOS and WinXP pro and it made me format HardDrivers after i viewed it with NONE WIN7 system, i won’t even try this route now )
I removed and reinstalled drivers/software and still
The thing that worked for is removing a harddrive and fooling it, but the problem that comes afterwords is RAID/VOLUME REBUILDING that takes about 3-4 days for just a ******* 2,36TB

Next time IF i ever want to buy FULLY and OVERLY advertised drobo product somebody have to really convince me with some-money paid for all the problems i have had so far
( i have a friend of my that had his 2bay NAS box for past 2 years not a single problem
I wanted to buy two or 3 of those but it’s not for sale… of i just haven’t found yet one, still looking)

Specs
Drobo 2gen
Firmware and software is new according to website 2.0xxxx
Each bay have a 2tb
Pool is been done at 8TB

#2

I recommend give Symantec Norton Util trial a try. Norton Disk Util fixed the NTFS corrupted issues for us more than a dozen times. The process did take very long & on a few occasions we thought it had stopped or time out but we were able to rebuild the NTFS indexes, security descriptor & plus among other issues caused directly or indirectly by improper or ungracefully shutdown of the drobo or in our case droboPro connected via iSCSI. Further, I believe Norton Disk Doctor should allow us to blast any file/folder in NTFS/Fat/Fat32 but in our case, the NDD chkdsk like util fixed our problems. Good luck!

#3

Just tried that, Symantec Norton Utilities 15 DOES NOT EVEN SEE’S DROBO but it does for all other drives,
Thanks

#4

C:>chkdsk h: /f /x
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Drobo.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)…
688896 file records processed.
File verification completed.
638 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)…
71 percent complete. (698251 of 774142 index entries processed)
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 99599.
Correcting error in index $I30 for file 99599.

(then i have to restart computer and reboot drobo) to get to it again
This is exactly at what percentage when it stops and DO NOTHING AFTER WORDS

#5

I was going to help until I read the random insults, cursing, and ALL CAPS; perhaps alienating people when asking for help isn’t the best course of action.

#6

Surprised to hear NDD didn’t even detect ur Drive H: but chkdsk did. Sounds like you have a multitude of problems or the NTFS corruption indirectly causing other issues. When you run diskmanager, what’s the status of ur Drive H:? Off-line or raw or NTFS partition?

#7

When I ran into this problem, I eventually had to reset the Drobo unit. JUST DO THAT.

#8

Well let me tell you few things,
First, i owned it for about a 8-9 months now, out of 8 months of owning this malfunctioning device, 6 months of it wentout to trouble shooting it and pay more attention to what MUST BE safe as a back up unit (raid rebuilding, formatting moving data back and forward, resetting it, and so on)

Second, now i have a 3 sticky note that reads as following
“THINK TWICE OR MORE TIMES AS NEEDED BEFORE STORING MOVING DATA ON IT”

Third, I spend $150x4=$600(hard drives) another $150x5=$750 for rejecting fully working brand spanking new hard drives(tested with HD Tune Pro with no bad sectors nothing found to be faulty but still drobo rejected WD Seagate Hitachi), on top of that Drobo it self $250+shipping

So conclusion to #3 after you spend 600+750+270=$1620 in total for fucking data backup unit, let me see how and what will you going to be saying and either YOU WILL going to use CAPS or any other keyboard keys

If you have none to add DUDE just skip it.
Move along,[hr]

It doesn’t detect it after volume rebuilding process,
also i have a two computers,
One is Station BOXX dual QC Xeon Win7(it detects it just fine but i only use it as VmWare station for remote connection as my lab machine but still can not access to certain folders),
another Lenovo I3 laptop well laptop is not detecting it(just freshly installed Win7 about 2 weeks ago) it does not detect is as a USB
Well the laptop status USB MASSIVE DEVICE UNRECOGNIZED(so there is no need event for going to a HD manager since it does not see it as been plugged in although i tried and it does not see any extra storage device been plug in)

#9

Also to add, after about a half and hour with a Log Viewer i got this

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR1. (USB Port #1)
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR2. (USB Port #2)
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR4. (USB Port #4)
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR15. (This one for a usb HUB)
The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume Drobo.
The Virtual Disk service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service. (When USB been unplugged)
Driver detected an internal error in its data structures for . (when usb been unrecognized)
The following fatal alert was generated: 10. The internal error state is 10. (This is when i tried taking ownership for inaccessible folder with 60GB -THANKS DROBO that folder took me 10 hours to create that lab and FineTuneIt)

#10

Pardon, but I’m just another user and not affiliated with Drobo Inc. I’ve had my share of problems, as users who have read my posts would see. However, when you come with hat in hand needing help, storming in with an attitude in what is almost entirely a user-supported forum isn’t helpful.

#11

I just sat down and thought what you posted, and came to conclusion,
And it is,
Drobo Box made me buy already 5 additional HDs that drobo didn’t like(tested with HD Tune Pro found no errors or bad blocks, that was a about 10-13+ hours per hard drive to test it out)
I better start building FreeNAS Box since i have a Few identical computer boards cpu’s and memory in addition to spare parts once data is going to be migrated i also end up with 4 more same capacity drives as a back up and 10GBs connections(LAN lines that i build in my house, pricey but worth every penny)

#12

Please open a support ticket with a diagnostic file included and we will try to help as much as possible.

#13

Are those drives Green series? WD or Seagate or Hitachi.

#14

Yes they are and No they aren’t, Since i have 9 in total
9 HDs now

#15

No errors or bad blocks is the current state of the drive.
Drobo also does predictive magic (call it what you want) to try to determine whether a drive is going bad.

This is like an experienced tire guy telling you “Hey, your tire is at risk for blowing out” even though when you look at the tire, nothing looks wrong because it’s not flat.

Though if you’ve really gone through 9 drives, there’s probably something else going on, high recommend opening the support ticket with diagnostic and see what Drobo support says about why it’s marking your drives bad.

#16

Yeah, I opened my Own ticket for service it’s called
Build a FreeNAS PC from excessive part’s list that i have on my back yard (from preview build(s), upgrades etc…)
It has been working for past week without rejecting any HD’s with speeds of 10GB/s:8=110-125MB/s,
No infinity loops, No raid rebuilding, Not blocking access to my folders and so on…

Thanks Man

#17

In that case, the continued posting here perplexes and confuses me.

We don’t tend to have “infinity loops” or blocked access to folders (not even sure what that means) either. Lackluster performance, yes. Issues with Dashboard not always mounting things in a sane fashion, yes. Rebuilding - well, you would hope that any redundant system would do that with a failed drive.

I work in enterprise datacenter hosting, and I’d love to know what network, bus, or interface you think you can push 10GB/sec across (i.e., 80Gbps). Even if you only meant 10Gbps, that would still exceed any benchmark anyone has gotten for Thunderbolt, 10GE, and somehow I doubt you’re running 16G fibre channel.

#18

I’m glad for you, and that you work at a datacenter and all this and that and more…
Redundant systems do require volume rebuilding, i agree, but only on a failed drives and not on a fully working or rejected hard drives. as i have experience in past 6 months with drobo box.

Infinite rebooting loop that has happened to me for about two weeks in a row until i fool it and then it stopped( but i guess you haven’t had it yet)

Blocked access to a folder(s) that means you see a folder but unable to open it, deleted it or do anything else to that folder(s) for that matter

Trolling part… well i’m not even going to go there(do to self respect)

Well if you tried showing it off, well you kinda failed at but that’s o.k. some other time some other place

#19

And for the future of Wannabe’s That has nothing to add or just want to show off

Once i had $1G i tough i was reach men until i meet a guy with $100G then i learned that there are stages of life that we all go from 1 through … until we die

When one men says it’s not possible to run 10GB at homes or he/she think inside the box —keep-it-to-your-self since you make your self a fool in front of …

I’ll give you an example
sonic.net as my most current provider offers 1Gb internet at $69 (they also do proved_work_hand-in-hand with Google 1GB to every city-home project)

Now the part of bragging which i hate to do but people like you make me do so
Copy of a PM SEND to WANNABE data center dude --unedited version
"
In summary
4+ computers w/fiber multi-mode or a wifi
1 Cisco Nexus 5xxx
few switches few routers
couple of ASA
couple of SRX
and other stuff
To you it maybe overkill for a home networking for me it’s an investment

I’m not going to send you a pictures of anything, specs, config or such.!!! since i don’t want to get robbed by some dude off an internet(i’m not a paranoiac either)
And yes i do admit i have not life with all the work reading practicing on so on…

Dude without going to a specifications on configs etc… but just a glans of it:
I have few BOXX(xeon’s) with add-on card for a multi-mode fiber, few laptops (wifi) and few of Cisco gears(i’m continue studying on my CCIE/SP so i bought a Cisco Nexus 5xxx off an ebay used and works exempt for one port been shoot) in my house it’s 10GB/s.
On a back bone interface before it was 72-75Mb/s(4-6MB/s) now i went back to dsl at 1,5-2,5Mb/s since speeds and internet usage cap do not mix together with me"

Also to add/correct my MOST current provider DOES NOT have a caps

Keep your conclusions to your self[hr]

Since i migrated everything to my FreeNAS BOX (Thank God runs like a charm so far no problems)
I though coming back to drobo and recreating a problem(s) with few extra drives that i have just to see what will happen,
how can i fool it,
what can be done and do some other tests to it since it’s an empty box shell now(as i see it)

Few Problems are Solved:
Hard Inventory
3 x 2TB_drives == LAN partitions as follows :
SOFT_LAN_Partition Inventory
1 x 1TB
1 x 500GB
2 x 2500GB
1 x 2TB–> (Forget about it since drobo is not ready to deal with it YET, it’s better to have many Drive letters and recoverable / fixable then one chunk of brown_colored useless butter_if_you_know_what_i_mean)
Files that was use are as follows(in total of about 20GB+/-)
Windows 7 PRO /UTL 32 and 64 ISO = total of 4
Windows SRV Datacenter 2008 and R2 ISO = total of 2
FILE Remark — keep in mind i do not care about files since they are stored NOW in HARD and SOFT copies so therefore i didn’t care about rebuilding volumes at the time of my tests (reason - since it would taking me to do those test longer and i’m not getting paid BY ANY COMPANY TO DO/DID THOSE TEST)

I created volumes with 250, 500GB, 1TB and was able to run windows drive scan with fix option
Yes it dismounted Drive and run it moreover i don’t see the the message popping up with indication on a problem after running and testing
On a otherside when i created larger then 1TB LANs i wasn’t able to run windows scan with fix or with/o it

I also run Drive defrag and Norton Util – drive optimize without a problem on lesser then 1TB_LAN drives
on LANs larger then 1TB Drobo SHELL started to reboot stops to accept any data or denies access to that data
(Yes i know/i am aware that Drobo people said it’s not recommended but at this point i use(d) it as a crash/test dummy)

I also have recreated infinite loop and was able to fool drobo to stop rebooting by
removing all drives then
Power on without any drives inside (since Index_OR_Drive/Allocation Files are stored on a Drobo Flash MEM, it really doesn’t matter what slot to install drives)<— and yes i know you technically-political dudes can argue over it, but it has worked for me 3 time at the time of recreation
I then inserted it from the bottom up(4/forth slot) drive 3/three
then reboot
drive two(slot 3)
then reboot
drive one(slot 2) and reboot
Leaving slot 1 empty counting from top to bottom(since it’s imperial for drobo to use slot0_OR_1 to begin with, but it has a fail-safe peace of code embedded to it/on_a_firmware not_so_follow logic, but i’m talking about fooling logic here to have stuff recoverd)
Out of 3 times one time it hasn’t worked so i did similar thing but this time i did inserted
Drive 2(slot 3)
Drive 3(slot 4)
Drive 1(slot 2)
From this one time failed test i concluded that it’s the drive_1_slot_2 has been reading/writing during failure recreation and at the time it was glitching but after fooling the order it has worked again

I also recreated folder/file access deny
But was not able to retrieve data via recovery tools w/HD been out the SHELL or been inside the SHELL

I also noticed that when switching Drobo Shell from PC to PC drobo will reboot with unpredictable time period since it’s stored part of PC_DRIVE_ALLOCATION_DRIVE-LETTERING data on a SHELL it’s self and drive D may not be drive D on other PC that makes Drobo go in to Buffer_over_flow-Memory_Leak and causing to reboot (more then a few times during my testing time anyway ) that lead me to believe poor coding on a firmware (still a lot of room to improve for drobo dev people)

But i’m not coming back to Drobo as my primary source of back-up any time soon

I did this for a future poor victims of data lost that are looking to have a peace of mind and not few more gray hairs sticking out due to a poor 16/32bit coding and many flows in design

#20

Have you ever considered that your particular Drobo unit has a problem?
Lemons happen, half-working happens, DOA happens.

Did Drobo Support get back to you?