It has been two years since Drobo filed for Chapter 7 chapter and stopped offering assist for its NAS {hardware}. Now, Plex says it’s going to finish Drobo compatibility following the Plex Media Server 1.41.7 launch in Q2 2025.

Current Drobo setups could proceed operating Plex Media Server, however Plex will not provide updates for Drobo NAS bins. In different phrases, your Drobo-based media server will proceed working for a while, however it’s going to slowly lose performance as Plex, TMDB, and related providers make server-side adjustments that require newer variations of PMS. Operating an outdated model of Plex Media Server additionally presents some safety dangers, notably for those who go away distant entry enabled.

Drobo Filed Chapter 7 in 2023

Drobo loved some critical reputation within the early 2010s, primarily due to its ease of use. Whereas most NAS units have been outlined by conventional, rigid RAID redundancy, Drobo bins utilized a proprietary system known as BeyondRAID that allowed customers to combine and match drive sizes. The software program itself wasn’t tremendous competent or succesful, however Drobo was arguably essentially the most simple network-attached storage answer.

Sadly, cloud storage providers made Drobo considerably redundant—individuals who simply needed to conveniently stow away their recordsdata have been higher off with Dropbox. The corporate additionally suffered from years of provide shortages, that means that it missed out on a ton of potential clients. Manufacturers that provided extra succesful and sophisticated merchandise, corresponding to Synology, managed to outlive by specializing in the fanatic or enterprise markets.

At present, a number of industrial NAS manufacturers (together with Synology) supply the power to mix-and-match drives. Working methods like Unraid, which you’ll be able to run on any NAS or desktop pc, additionally assist this performance. And if you’d like an “straightforward” NAS answer that mimics a cloud storage service (however lacks any superior performance, like Plex streaming), there’s the BeeStation.

Subsequent Steps for Drobo Customers

For those who’re nonetheless operating Plex Media Server on a Drobo NAS—uh, cease doing that. Drobo’s software program hasn’t been supported in years and nearly actually presents some safety danger.

It is time to arrange Plex on a brand new machine. You possibly can migrate your Plex Media Server installation to the brand new machine for those who’re keen to place in a little bit of effort, but when I have been in your footwear, I would just take the loss and begin from scratch. Grab a NAS from a model that you simply belief and get to work. Alternatively, run Plex on a mini PC, desktop, or laptop computer and use your Drobo field to retailer media (maintain the Drobo restricted to your LAN, don’t expose it to the web).

I ought to take this chance to make clear that you simply can not run third-party working methods on Drobo {hardware}. Drobo bins are insanely over-engineered and run twoworking methods concurrently—a easy Linux OS, and the proprietary BeyondRAID. Nobody has put within the work to reverse-engineer the BeyondRAID system for modification. The excellent news is that Drobo {hardware} has retained some resale worth. You would possibly be capable of make a couple of hundred bucks by promoting your previous Drobo NAS on eBay.

---

The present model of Plex Media Server will proceed engaged on Drobo for a while. It will slowly lose performance as Plex, TMDB, and different providers implement server-side adjustments which are incompatible with older variations of Plex Media Server. Once more, I strongly recommend that each one Drobo customers swap to a unique media server answer no matter how nicely their present setup is working.

Supply: Plex