The post said to turn off spotlight on the drive you backup with on drobo. So, if I were to turn TimeMachine to recover some file I've deleted, I won't be able to use spotlight to search within TImeMachine for the file right?
How To: Using Time Machine and Drobo
Categories: Drobo Tips and Tricks
Using Time Machine with Drobo
Common questions about using Drobo and Time Machine include:
- What are the differences between Drobo and Time Machine?
- Should I use Drobo for Time Machine only?
- How do I write data to a Drobo that’s used by Time Machine?
- How can I control how much space Time Machine will use?
- How do I get the best performance?
What Are The Differences Between Drobo And Time Machine?
Time Machine and Drobo compliment each other in terms of the risk factors they were designed to guard. This is shown in the table below.
| Risk Factor | Drobo | Time Machine |
| Disk drive failure | Drobo protects your data from a single drive failure. If a drive fails you will still have access to your data. Drobo will heal itself when you insert another disk drive. | TM protects you from hard drive failure by making sure that you have a copy of your data on Drobo. |
| Accidental erasure | No protection | TM makes an image of your drive every hour. If you accidentally erase a file you can go back to an earlier time and retrieve it. Note that you are exposed to loss if you create and then erase a file in under an hour, i.e. before TM makes a copy of it. |
| Data corruption on disk | Drobo protects against surface corruption and bit flips. These failures can damage individual files or directories. Unlike an entire disk failure, these silent data killers occur when a sector goes bad. When Drobo finds these errors it fixes your data and moves it. To keep your data safe, Drobo will mark bad sectors and not use them again. | No protection |
Should I use Drobo for Time Machine only?
Drobo provides a large pool of protected storage. You could use it only for backup using Time Machine. For many users this will leave a lot of storage space unused. Instead, use a portion of Drobo’s space for Time Machine, and the rest of the space for other data.
Hint if you have a large library of data you may want to store it all on Drobo and free up space on your Mac’s disk and store that library on Drobo. For example, if your iTune’s library is 80GB of audio and video, then if it is stored on your Mac’s internal drive, Time Machine will make a duplicate copy on Drobo. By moving the library to Drobo, you can free up 80GB of space on your Mac’s drive for other use. Because Drobo protects against drive failure, your data is safe.
How Do I Write Data To A Drobo That’s Used By Time Machine?
| If Drobo is the backup drive for Time Machine, its logo on the desktop will change to the one shown on the right. Time Machine stores all of its files in a folder named “Backups.backupdb” – just leave that folder alone. You can create other folders on the Drobo for your data. |  |
How can I control how much space Time Machine will use?
If you want explicit control over how much storage space is available for Time Machine, then you will need to create two partitions on Drobo. One should be dedicated for use by Time Machine, and it should be set to the size of the maximum amount of space you want Time Machine to use, for example 256GB. You must also create a second partition, which will make the rest of the space on Drobo available for use.
Planning points
- If you set up a separate partition to limit the amount of space Time Machine can use, be aware that Time Machine may run out of space when that partition gets full. The size of the partition sets an upper limit; in the example above it is 256GB. When the partition is full Time Machine will delete older copies in order to free space.
- Think carefully about how much space you will need, especially if you plan to use Time Machine to backup multiple Macs connected via a network. Consider creating a partition that is as large as the sum of all the disks on the Macs you plan to backup. Also estimate how much data you will add and make an allowance for that in sizing the partition for Time Machine’s use.
Setting up two partitions is illustrated below:
| Use Disk Utility to create two partitions on your Drobo. In this example two partitions are being created: one partition named “space4tm” which was set to 256GB in size. The other partition was named “Drobo” and its size is set automatically (it is 2 TB – 256GB = 1.75TB) |  |
How Do I Get The Best Performance?
| Make sure Spotlight is turned off for the drive, or partition, you use for Time Machine. If it isn’t turned off, then it will compete for disk access with Time Machine which will slow down the process. To turn it off, open the System Preferences from the Apple menu and select Spotlight. You will see the window sown on the right. | |
January 18, 2008 5:48 PM
Imagine that, no response from Drobo in over a month. No surprises there. Don't bother using it for Time Machine, it's I/O is too slow anyhow. It's going to take 6 hours to move 50GB off of mine, and it can't keep up with playing videos.
February 22, 2008 12:24 PM
You don't need spotlight with Time Machine. You go to the folder where the lost file resided and you launch Time Machine. Then you step back in time until your file shows up. There is no reason to use Spotlight to search through your Time Machine backups.
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August 8, 2008 5:35 AM
updated: August 8, 2008 5:36 AM
pickerin said: Don't bother using it for Time Machine, it's I/O is too slow anyhow. It's going to take 6 hours to move 50GB off of mine.Once Time Machine is loaded with your system contents, it only needs to fetch the changes. There is plenty of I/O bandwidth for Time Machine and videos.
August 14, 2008 1:29 PM
What happens in the partitioning situation described above when you add bigger drives to the Drobo?
Can that effectively enlarge the TM partition to reduce TM deletions?
Does it enlarge the 2nd partition?
Does it add a new partition? If so, what size?
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August 14, 2008 6:44 PM
eme jota ce said: What happens in the partitioning situation described above when you add bigger drives to the Drobo? Can that effectively enlarge the TM partition to reduce TM deletions? Does it enlarge the 2nd partition? Does it add a new partition? If so, what size?
The operating system deals with the Drobo's proclaimed size. That is, when you initialize the Drobo, you decide how big a device it should claim to be, from 1 to 16 TB. Adding more storage to the Drobo does not change this claim, it only makes it real.
Thus, if you have partitioned as above, with 250 GB and 1750 GB, increasing the real storage available above 2000 GB will not cause the partitions to grow. You must use another tool
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