Seriously strange issues with Drobo 5D under High Sierra

[Middleman-77]

Been experiencing some very strange issues with my office Drobo 5D recently after I tried to upgrade its capacity from 18TB to 40TB with 5 x 8TB drives. After backing it up to a separate 2nd RAID to prepare for the upgrade, I upgraded the firmware through Drobo Dashboard to 4.1.3 and Dashboard 3.5.2 under a Sierra 10.12.6 system. Then I installed new drives and tried to format the set using Thunderbolt. And that was when problems started to occur. Aside from refusing to format normally under 10.12.6 (and then later under 10.13.6 (17G14042) when I upgraded the system) - it also refused to allow files to be copied to it or have Disk Utility or Diskwarrior repair the drive. It keeps coming up with a 'error code -50' warning when I try to copy files to it using Thunderbolt (but USB3 is okay). I tried to access and format it on another 10.13.6 2011 MacMini on TB and that refused also today - YET when I accessed it on my 2013 Macbook Air on 10.13.6 (17G66) via TB it was totally fine! It could copy and format no problem.

I don't know what is causing the error because a) I know the Thunderbolt port works on the Drobo as my MB Air can format and access the drive and b) I have three separate TB systems to confirm this, with two running on the latest High Sierra. I have a suspicion it is permissions-related but I can't find anything on it. Could the issue be High Sierra itself (the later versions being the cause), the firmware is problematic or is it because it is still stuck in read-only mode? If so, what can I do?

 

[chabig]

Then I installed new drives and tried to format the set using Thunderbolt.

You provided a lot of detail, but you didn't say what you used to format the Drobo. If you used Disk Utility, you did it wrong. It must be done through Drobo Dashboard.

 

[Middleman-77]

Thanks, yes I did format it through the Drobo Dashboard and not the Disk Utility. That's where it was very strange because it just didn't work at all - the process would end roughly 3 minutes afterwards and say there was an error. I tried even formatting via the USB3 where it would successfully be formatted and then mounted onto the Desktop and capable of accepting files - but when I switch it over to Thunderbolt to try and test the drive it would come up with the 'error code -50' when a file is being copied.

 

[chabig]

I think Drobo uses a quirky Thunderbolt implementation where it presents itself as a SCSI drive and requires a system extension to work. For that reason I finally moved away from Drobo two months ago because their Thunderbolt implementation doesn’t work in Big Sur.

So back to your problem. You might try formatting it with just one drive. Then add the other four and let Drobo do its “magic”.

 

[Middleman-77]

I read about that, and yes am aware of it. Someone found a fix for it on the Apple forums. Apparently the issue was to do with the DD64ServiceD file under Security & Privacy/Full Disk Access. You had to delete that plus the Drobo Dashboard, reboot then reinstall Dashboard 3.5.2. Then a series of permissions prompts would appear and the Drobo would finally mount.

Yes sure I'll try and reformat on a single drive first and see how it goes.