Lightroom Classic can no longer see my Drobo that contains all my CR2 files

[Michael Vickers]

Operating System:Mac High Sierra OS 10
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info):CC 2015.12 (1125239)
Recently my Drobo containing all my CR2 files can no longer be seen in 'Finder' and Lightroom can longer connect to the Drobo. However the Drobo appears to be OK with all 4 green lights showing and 6 smaller blue lights seen. The Drobo all shows that its 'health' is good! Can anyone help me resolve this problem??
Many thanks from a new subscriber to Lightroom Forums.
Michael

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If the Finder can't see it either, then this is not a Lightroom problem, but a MacOS X / Drobo problem. Check the Drobo website if you need some driver update for MacOS X High Sierra.

 

[Michael Vickers]

If the Finder can't see it either, then this is not a Lightroom problem, but a MacOS X / Drobo problem. Check the Drobo website if you need some driver update for MacOS X High Sierra.

 

[Michael Vickers]

Many thanks Johan for your valuable advice. I am not very computer literate although I get on reasonably well with my iMac and Lightroom. The company who looks after my computer have spoken a couple of times with Drobo who always say that the content of the Drobo should be backed up and then the Drobo formatted and finally the data restored to the Drobo. This has been successfully done twice now but still the problem reoccurs. I can't keep going through this long winded process every few weeks. The problem originally started when I upgraded to High Sierra on my iMac. Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

That sounds like a formatting problem. If even Drobo can't help you better, then surely I can't (except for suggesting that you ditch it. Drobo would probably not suggest that, but it might be the best advice).

 

[Michael Vickers]

That sounds like a formatting problem. If even Drobo can't help you better, then surely I can't (except for suggesting that you ditch it. Drobo would probably not suggest that, but it might be the best advice).

Thanks once again Johan-I am also beginning to think about dumping the Drobo as its its really causing me a headache!

 

[kcapaldo]

Drobo is having major issues with High Sierra. I have been on the phone with their support every day for a week. I started with the same issue. The Drobo kept undocking. They had me purchase Disk Warrior and do a disk recovery. After 6+ times of the Drobo crashing and having to rebuild it with Disk Warrior, it finally worked. For a day. Then the last time, the drobo disk was renamed to "untitled" and I am missing 700gb of files including every folder or file with the word "lightroom". That includes all my Lightroom catalogs.

Drobo support admits they are having problems with High Sierra. They also claim my data corruption is because I am using a power strip and because I have my Mac set to go to sleep. Below is what Drobo Support Manager emailed to me earlier today.

So, if you use a Drobo and have High Sierra, BEWARE!!!! You will experience data corruption issues. Drobo staff admits to this and yet can do nothing to recover the data.

From Drobo:

File System Corruption is a tricky issue. It can be caused by many different factors. We suggest plugging the Drobo directly into a wall outlet because the power strip does not always provide the proper amps to power the Drobo when it is full of drives.
I know that your disk came back with 700Gbs of data missing in a recovery file. As for the File System Corruption, we don't recommend using the Drobo directly attached to a MAC that goes to sleep: When Mac goes into sleep mode, it sends eject messages through all its USB or TB ports because sleep mode is associated with energy save mode. The process tries to keep any external device from affecting Mac background processes while in sleep mode. File System Corruption (FSC) occurs regularly when sleep mode sends hundreds of eject signals a minute to any external hard drive device, this causing the disk to spin and when that happens, there is a larger potential for the drive to cause FSC because much like the Mac in sleep mode, the Drobo also does background processes while in a reduced capacity mode.
If Disk Warrior is unable to assist you, Drive Savers is a very respected Data Recovery service provider that I would suggest as your next option.
Nick D

Manager, Drobo Support Team

 

[phcorrigan]

We suggest plugging the Drobo directly into a wall outlet because the power strip does not always provide the proper amps to power the Drobo when it is full of drives.

This is nonsense. A power strip is not going to materially affect the current (amps) available to your Drobo unless you have so many devices plugged in to it that they are overloading the electrical circuit itself, in which case you would likely blow a circuit breaker. I have had many NAS and external drive systems, including a Drobo with 6 disks installed, over the years and they have all been plugged into power strips. Also, any well-designed external disk system should be able to handle a system going into sleep mode without causing data corruption. I would get on some Mac support sites and see if this is a common problem with Macs and external drive systems. I could be wrong, but this sounds like kicking the can down the road to me.

 

[Michael Vickers]

I purchased the Disk Warrior download which at first didn't help to solve the problem. I then contacted Disk Warrior who asked me to delete the download and to upload another copy of the software. After going through the process a second time Disk Warrior has repaired the critical values in the Volume Information which were incorrect. This is now only my second day after the repairs and so far everything is back to normal except that I am £100 worse off for having to buy Disk Warrior!

 

[clee01l]

Only £100? I think buying the very proprietary Drobo is a mistake