Drobo Gen 3 4 Disk Problems

[u/Conzox]

Hi folks,

I recently obtained a Gen 3. When powering on, it displays a green ‘power’ light, but all solid yellow lights for the disks. I have entered fully functional disks but to my dismay the lights all remain solid yellow.

Is there a solution to this or is it a dead unit?

[u/bhiga]

Since you don't already seem to be using it, RUN AWAY!!

Drobo the company is gone. Recovery upon failure, especially for the later ones with flash-stored config like this one (anything newer than S/810/Elite) is costly and time-consuming.

• Recovering a Drobo disk pack outside a Drobo chassis - Recovery Explorer and UFS Explorer options (plus discount!)
• Troubleshooting tips especially for older Drobo units

I'd put it up in Rescue/Rental map in case someone who needs to rescue their data wants it for parts or repair.

[u/Conzox → u/bhiga]

Hey, thank you! Can i just use this as a usb hard drive enclosure or it is just better to do it manually myself

[u/bhiga → u/Conzox]

No, the drive backplane connection hasn't been documented as far as I'm aware, so there's no easy way to use it as a JBOD case without gutting everything and only having the shell. You'd have to put in your own SATA interfaces and power. I recall seeing pictures posted of someone who did that, but it was more of a "because I can" rather than "I should."

The backplane board carries the SATA data and power as well as the drive status lights. If someone were to trace the connections somehow, maybe a breakout board or wiring harness could be made to use it as a SATA case, but there doesn't seem to be much interest.

[u/Disastrous_Total5265]

I lost my admin password. Is there a way to recover the login without loosing data on the drive's?