We have just got our drobo and drobo share, installed some hard drives and got asked what format we want for them.
My question is, what is the best format to use?
Can the drobo use any of its file systems and still be available to all computers via the drobo share?
So for instance, can i format the drobo as ntfs (not legacy) and still be able to access it from windows XP? (it says it needs legacy to be accessed by windows XP but not sure if that means when its directly connected to a PC and not through droboshare).
The key to understanding is that the “Compatible with” column applies to the host device, meaning the device directly connected to Drobo. The client device in a shared network situation (ie, through DroboShare) doesn’t matter as long as it supports Samba.
If you’re only using DroboShare, then it doesn’t matter. The DroboShare is the host device. I chose the newer NTFS with 16TB thin provisioning since I might connect it directly to my Vista or Win2K3 server at some point. Beyond the DroboShare, any DroboShare-compatible client computer can access its data. I can access my 3.5TB Drobo fine from my 32-bit Windows XP Pro laptop, because it’s really accessing the DroboShare, and not directly accessing the Drobo.
If you are going to connect the Drobo directly to a computer, then that’s where the choice must be made depending on the OS of the client computers that will be connected (directly) to the Drobo.