I have a week-old Drobo 5D. Installation and initial data transfer was easier and faster than expected. I have the LED lights set to 3. The drives spin down when not in use.
The thing I’m trying to get my head around is what to do with my Drobo 5D power when I turn my iMac off for ~10 hours most days… Unlike my previous external drives that went into a completely silent and lights-off standby state when power and/or Thunderbolt connection was removed, the Drobo 5D (at least mine) appears to never fully turn off the variable fan when in standby mode (only the single yellow light is on in the front lower left corner).
Sure, I can take an extra step each time I power-on/off my iMac doing the same with the Drobo, but assuming the Drobo fan should always be on by design, I’m looking for a general consensus if it’s best to leave the Drobo in standby until the next morning when my iMac is turned back on for the day, or to just wait and physically turn the Drobo off after it goes into standby every day. I get that perhaps there may be some benefit to having the fan on until components get back down to ambient temperature, but keeping the fan always running when in standby, just bothers me… A little bit of fan noise is not my concern, but sustaining my Drobo components while saving a bit of energy for something more useful is.
Thanks in advance for helpful POVs, or Drobo perhaps (re)considering turning off the 5D Fan when it’s in standby. 