I have a 5D as a “data silo,” mainly for my photo collection (backed up, of course). I like its ability to create a RAID out of any mix of drives. It’s slow, but I don’t care. Its purpose is to store all the data I throw at it, and that’s what it does. I did a lot of testing (yanking out HDs), and it works.
Now the hate part: customer service. The fan is failing (loud, very and weird noises). My Drobo has been going for several years, and it’s out of warranty. So I contacted them if they could sell me a fan. Answer: “No, but you can buy a new Drobo,” along with instructions on how to migrate the data. I was expecting either a yes or a no, along with an address of a service point to get a paid repair. No, I am not buying a new one. I am going to replace the fan by myself.
Ok, since Drobo is pretty unwilling to support the out of warranty 5D (for money!) and I have no intention of, as suggested, buy a new one, I decided to repair it by myself.
Of course, I forgot to take pictures.
Open the Drobo:
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turn off and unplug
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remove drives and (if installed) mSATA SSD
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remove the four rubber feet, the screws in them attach the case to the device
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Slide the case from the device. Easy.
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Remove the “fan cover” (plastic) on the back. Look for the tabs on the sides, gently press them in (no, don’t pry with a giant screwdriver) and pull the cover off.
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On each side of the Drobo, there are four black screws. Remove the TOP and BOTTOM screws, leave the two middle ones alone (they hold the innards in place)
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Now you can pull the case apart. This is a little bit tricky, and it feels “stuck.” Also, look inside for the fan and power cables, they are short, and you don’t want to rip everything apart. Gently pull one half (top+back) from the other half (bottom+fron). You see the “rails” on the top that “hook” together. Those show you which direction.
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remove power and fan connectors (don’t yank the cables, gentle!)
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Be amazed at all the cruft, dirt and dust that’s inside your device. CLEAN!
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to remove the fan: it’s attached with plastic “rivets.” Look closely, and you’ll see a pin in the center. Press on that one (small screwdriver), and they can be removed. Don’t pull/pry them out from the back; you`ll break them.
Disassembly is DONE.
Now, your new fan: you need a 120mm fan with a 3 pin connector. Not 4, those have PWM control, THREE! I got this one: https://amzn.to/2CVp460 (I know, German, but you get the idea). Look for “silent” fans.
Assembly of the Drobo: same procedure, backward. But there’s a tiny problem:
The connectors on the old and new are different, and you also notice that the old fan has two wires, the new one three wires. So:
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Watch old and new closely: both have a black and red wire. The new one also has a yellow (or green) wire. The yellow/green one is for speed control, the Drobo does not support that.
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cut the connectors from both fans
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cut yellow/green as short as possible, isolate!
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Solder red to red and black to black. Sure, you can also twist them together, I prefer to solder. ISOLATE!
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I attached a cable sleeve and shrinking tube to the wires to make it nice&neat
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when doing all of this: watch overall cable length: too short won’t attach, too long can the pulled into the fan
Now (after cleaning) you can assemble your Drobo.
My new fan runs at a lower speed than the old one, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue. Just did some non-scientific testing (let Drobo run for 3-4 hours, yank out HD, see if it’s hot) and the temperature was OK.
But after the first start of the Drobo with the new fan, I was suspicious if my repair was successful and checking the fan every few minutes because I didn’t hear it. My Drobo is now completely silent. Dead silent. And I don’t mean compared to the terrible noise it was making before the repair, compared to new. And yes, the fan is running and the air is flowing. What a difference!
I also have a 5N, and I am going to do the same modification to it.
