backward-compatible and scalable storage solution

marcnyc · 07-30-2012, 11:45 PM

Hello, as I am sure most of you, I have the issue of ever growing amounts of data (mostly pictures) needing to be stored... After having looked at the Drobo, I decided that rather than buying bigger hard drives and having more enclosures around, I might get myself something like two Newer Tech Voyager so at least I can save on drives (buying them without enclosure is cheaper) and space. Unfortunately it seems, drives I have had for years and years (probably EIDE) might not even be readable by these docks and so I am wondering, is there a scalable/expandable long term storage solution that is also backward compatible?
What do you guys do for backup?
Thanks

fracai · 07-31-2012, 08:39 AM

I've been, overall, very happy with my Drobo. I've had a few brief issues that were either resolved by not using it as my TimeMachine drive anymore, or maybe be updating the firmware and software. One of those issues may also have been a problem with a Firewire chain. I didn't really have much of a way to debug other than trying different things until the problem went away.

Also, my brother-in-law just had his Drobo die with a, believed, bad power supply. It still comes on for short periods of time, so he's hoping to recover some things. I set him up with Crashplan so he shouldn't really be out anything.

Note that I don't think these are problems specific to the Drobo. Drives die and enclosures and power supplies go bad all the time. Make sure you have a backup and it's a non-issue.

All that said, if I was in the market for a Drobo replacement today I'd put the money into building a FreeNAS box with ZFS. It wouldn't be as user-friendly as the Drobo, but I'd feel more confident that if anything went bad I'd be able to recover data on my own. It would also be feasible to utilize those EIDE drives, though they're probably so small that they're not worth actually using for anything.

I wouldn't consider a Drobo-like solution to be comparable to a drive toaster though. What's nice about the Drobo is how easy it is to expand your stored space. With a toaster you'll end up having segmented data when a dataset gets to large for the current drive or you'll always be shuffling things around. With the Drobo, you have to deal with their proprietary storage system if anything goes wrong.

Before you buy two Voyager's though, check NewEgg for alternatives. There are drive toasters out there that support multiple drives.

agentx · 07-31-2012, 12:12 PM

This is overall an issue for most people i know including myself and an issue that will only get worse.

I overall have been stung so many times with Drobo products. Back in the day when Drobo released their products.....it looked like it solved all our issues.....however in practice we had nothing but trouble.
1) Corrupted data
2) Terrible network performance
3) Terrible Direct Attached Performance
4) Power Supply failures * general feeling of cheep build quality
5) Poor Support
We put in 10 units at a few sites (mainly as secondary storage & backup targets) out of those 10 we had 6 full failures (out of service for 6 weeks) and 3 data corruption issues during resizing(by this point we had backups of the drobos). Out of those 10 units 1 unit is still in use all the rest were binned ! I know things have moved on and they may well have sorted these issues out but once bitten twice shy.

I would just forget EIDE IMHO and go the SATA route.

Storage is pretty much budget related you say what your budget is and it will dictate what you can get. Do not think about the cost of disks yet we are just talking enclosures/systems.

marcnyc · 07-31-2012, 01:27 PM

Initially I was considering the Drobo but after doing some research I realized it was not what I wanted... The proprietary data structure was a big turn off and I didn't like the fact that you are not as free as they make it sound to add drives to increase capacity and still go back to something you might be looking for... Those things coupled with the high price and user reviews like the one from agentx really convinced me to go a different route.

Now I am just looking for a cheap solution that can be expanded with time... My old backup used to be two 500Mb drives in a double enclosure but I need more space and will need more and more space, as we all will... It would be great if there was a toaster that can accept/support BOTH the old EIDE drives I have in my enclosure so I can take them out of the enclosure and don't have to copy everything over to a new set of SATA drives. If that does not exit I was planning on getting two drive toasters and two 2Tb drives (for Main and Backup), copy everything over and just go from there.
Unless the technology changes again and SATA becomes obsolete the idea is I can just keep buying drives and toast as needed.

How does that sound to you guys? Good plan? Other ideas?

macsolver · 08-02-2012, 10:14 AM

Hi,

Drive toasters are fine until you brake off the "L" shaped bit of plastic, forming the HDD SATA connection, in the toaster or the drive slips out of your hand onto the desk breaking a corner of the HDD circuit board - have seen clients with both of these problems !

Regards,

Nick

marcnyc · 08-02-2012, 10:16 AM

any other bad things about them?

are there toasters that support both EIDE and SATA?

07-30-2012, 11:45 PM	#1
marcnyc All Star Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 841	backward-compatible and scalable storage solution Hello, as I am sure most of you, I have the issue of ever growing amounts of data (mostly pictures) needing to be stored... After having looked at the Drobo, I decided that rather than buying bigger hard drives and having more enclosures around, I might get myself something like two Newer Tech Voyager so at least I can save on drives (buying them without enclosure is cheaper) and space. Unfortunately it seems, drives I have had for years and years (probably EIDE) might not even be readable by these docks and so I am wondering, is there a scalable/expandable long term storage solution that is also backward compatible? What do you guys do for backup? Thanks

07-31-2012, 08:39 AM	#2
fracai MVP Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,012	I've been, overall, very happy with my Drobo. I've had a few brief issues that were either resolved by not using it as my TimeMachine drive anymore, or maybe be updating the firmware and software. One of those issues may also have been a problem with a Firewire chain. I didn't really have much of a way to debug other than trying different things until the problem went away. Also, my brother-in-law just had his Drobo die with a, believed, bad power supply. It still comes on for short periods of time, so he's hoping to recover some things. I set him up with Crashplan so he shouldn't really be out anything. Note that I don't think these are problems specific to the Drobo. Drives die and enclosures and power supplies go bad all the time. Make sure you have a backup and it's a non-issue. All that said, if I was in the market for a Drobo replacement today I'd put the money into building a FreeNAS box with ZFS. It wouldn't be as user-friendly as the Drobo, but I'd feel more confident that if anything went bad I'd be able to recover data on my own. It would also be feasible to utilize those EIDE drives, though they're probably so small that they're not worth actually using for anything. I wouldn't consider a Drobo-like solution to be comparable to a drive toaster though. What's nice about the Drobo is how easy it is to expand your stored space. With a toaster you'll end up having segmented data when a dataset gets to large for the current drive or you'll always be shuffling things around. With the Drobo, you have to deal with their proprietary storage system if anything goes wrong. Before you buy two Voyager's though, check NewEgg for alternatives. There are drive toasters out there that support multiple drives.
$fracai is offline$

07-31-2012, 12:12 PM	#3
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,807	This is overall an issue for most people i know including myself and an issue that will only get worse. I overall have been stung so many times with Drobo products. Back in the day when Drobo released their products.....it looked like it solved all our issues.....however in practice we had nothing but trouble. 1) Corrupted data 2) Terrible network performance 3) Terrible Direct Attached Performance 4) Power Supply failures * general feeling of cheep build quality 5) Poor Support We put in 10 units at a few sites (mainly as secondary storage & backup targets) out of those 10 we had 6 full failures (out of service for 6 weeks) and 3 data corruption issues during resizing(by this point we had backups of the drobos). Out of those 10 units 1 unit is still in use all the rest were binned ! I know things have moved on and they may well have sorted these issues out but once bitten twice shy. I would just forget EIDE IMHO and go the SATA route. Storage is pretty much budget related you say what your budget is and it will dictate what you can get. Do not think about the cost of disks yet we are just talking enclosures/systems. Last edited by agentx; 07-31-2012 at 12:15 PM.

08-02-2012, 10:14 AM	#5
macsolver Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Redhill, Surrey, England Posts: 479	Hmmmm.... Hi, Drive toasters are fine until you brake off the "L" shaped bit of plastic, forming the HDD SATA connection, in the toaster or the drive slips out of your hand onto the desk breaking a corner of the HDD circuit board - have seen clients with both of these problems ! Regards, Nick

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:

07-31-2012, 01:27 PM	#4
marcnyc All Star Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 841	Initially I was considering the Drobo but after doing some research I realized it was not what I wanted... The proprietary data structure was a big turn off and I didn't like the fact that you are not as free as they make it sound to add drives to increase capacity and still go back to something you might be looking for... Those things coupled with the high price and user reviews like the one from agentx really convinced me to go a different route. Now I am just looking for a cheap solution that can be expanded with time... My old backup used to be two 500Mb drives in a double enclosure but I need more space and will need more and more space, as we all will... It would be great if there was a toaster that can accept/support BOTH the old EIDE drives I have in my enclosure so I can take them out of the enclosure and don't have to copy everything over to a new set of SATA drives. If that does not exit I was planning on getting two drive toasters and two 2Tb drives (for Main and Backup), copy everything over and just go from there. Unless the technology changes again and SATA becomes obsolete the idea is I can just keep buying drives and toast as needed. How does that sound to you guys? Good plan? Other ideas?

08-02-2012, 10:16 AM	#6
marcnyc All Star Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 841	any other bad things about them? are there toasters that support both EIDE and SATA?