Time machine in Recovery mode cannot see Thunderbolt or USB 3

[bilbo--baggins]

When the internal drive failed in my late 2012 iMac, I booted into Recovery Mode (command-R) from a USB thumb drive. My Time machine backup was on a Drobo 5D and it didn't appear when connected with a Thunderbolt cable or with a USB 3 cable. It did appear with a USB 2 cable.

Is this a limitation of the Drobo 5D, iMac late 2012, or OS X?

If I have to restore entire volumes I really want to backup to something that is faster to restore than USB 2.

 

[Weaselboy]

That sounds like an issue with the Drobo hardware or your cable. I have restored from all manner of TB and USB2 and USB3 devices and my Macs recognize everything no problem.