I've read Scott kelby's post about his problems with his Drobo's the responses and the reply from Drobo's president.
I've got my own issues with Drobo (Full Disclosure I own two 2nd Generation Drobo units, and have reviewed it for a publication, but otherwise have no connection to Data Robotics or anyone who who works there or works for them).
First issue with kelby's complaints: we don't know the circumstrances. Kelby lives and offices i nthe Tampa Bay area and as anyone who lives there will tell you there are a lot of issues with the electrical supply ther. Becasue the grid there includes areas that get the highest number of lightning strikes i nthe country there can be really fast power flucuations. You need really good surge protection and UPS. I assume Kelby, Inc has this but it is an open question.
First issue with the Drobo: the removable front cover design is really pretty and minimal but also covers up the power lights. there are two of these lights . The one on the right needs to turn off before you kill th power to it. The solution is pretty obvious: change the aesthetics. A DIY solution is to use an electric drill on the internal layer of plastic on the front cover. The better solution is for Drobo to revise their design
Second Drobo and possibly Kelby issue: If you shut a Drobo off , Drobo techs now tell me you need to allow for ten minutes for the units to safely finish doing whatever they are doing internally vis a vis building file structure before turning the power off to them. I do not recall ever seeing this in the manual or hearing this before.
Not waiting the full period , especially if you have to do this repeatedly or if your electrical system is doing this to you, appears (according to the tech I spoke with at Drobo) can really exacerbate file structure corruption is quite often the cause of a Drobo "bricking".
In the pro and amateur photo community Kelby has some sway because of his legions of followers through NAPP. But he is still just one guy and his story is anecdotal.
Finally there is the issue of drives: What drives does Kelby have in his Drobos ? Are they all from the same lot #?
Right now I am looking to add a third on site large storage solution to my set up and in all likely good it will not be a Drobo. Not because I think they are less reliable than other RAID or JBOD manufacturers, but because it seems to be a smart idea to have a basket from form another manufacturer. I am looking at Synology, OWC's QX2, Western Digital enterprise level RAID array, as well as others.