Drobo 5N, slight streaming issue need help!

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi, so let me start by saying for the past year half my setup has consisted of a 3TB external hard drive and a 2TB external hard drive both WD and plugged into the same WDTV SMP though usb2.0. that SMP was then connected to my gigabit network through cat6 cable i ran myself, it in turn fed movies and tv shows to 4 other boxes flawlessly all connected with cat6 cable to my network. i could have 4 boxes going at once no problems ever. all my movies are backed up at 5000kbs so really not that much bandwidth needed.

ok so i purchased a Drobo 5N because i am at the point where if the external harddrive fails id be screwed. so i plug in the drobo set it all up. im starting with (2) 4TB WD red drives.(wd40efrx). set up my Movies share on my drobo and start by transfering 4 movies as a test to see how long it takes. very happy with transfer speeds. so i go to test one of the movies, load up the SMP everything loads up great, have to select new content source. go to windows shares, find the drobo, loads great. i only use large grid thumbnail view. no movie sheets or anything. all my thumbnails are there and looks just like normal. select the movie it loads up right away starts playign looks great. then the movie freezes for about 3 seconds. and then it speeds forward to the point that it would have been at if it did not freeze.

ive done a bunch of research find alot of threads that are year+ old having the same exact problem felt like i was reading the same info 100x over so thought id ask here if anyone knows anything new or has any advice. sometines the video can run for 5 minutes flawless and then freeze. i have tested 2 movies about 15 times each( just the first 10-15 mins) and they freeze at different spots just about every single time. i know the videos are fine because i can play them back on my PC jsut fine from the drobo. also have tested the videos on my old setup and they work perfect.

so i i know it should not be an issuse with wireing or network. but i have read that since the WD SMP’s only have a 10/100 ethernet port in them that it could cause an issuse when recieveing at gigabit speeds. somethign about the packet size when sent over gigabit is larger and the WDTV 10/100 port can not handle it. before i was send video from a SMP with the 10/100 port over a gigabit network to other SMP with 10/100 ports… now im sending straight from gigabit port to 10/100 ports.

i honestly have no clue what is wrong so i dont know how to go abotu tryign to fix it. i am wondering if it can be something as simple as adding a msata ssd to the drobo, dont think data speeds are the problem though.

what i really want to try but dont want to buy one until i get some kind of input first is, if i buy a 10/100 hub and replace my gigabit hub will this in turn make the packet sizes the same across all my SMP’s and drobo. i do not understand how it all works jsut read on an old form someone listed it could be the problem. 

i have no problem streaming to my pc which is gigabit port.

any help is greatly appreciated, also any ideas for me to try or anyone with the same problem and how you went about fixing it.

i have a linksys EA4500 router and my gub is linksys as well but dont knwo the model # off top of my head but it was gigabit as well.

2

well the hub is a potential problem, but also not guaranteed that that’s the problem

what I would try first

since your using drobo

enable nfs

and on your smp, turn on linux sharing

connect that way and see if it’s better

that could be an easy fix

3

UPDATE: so cant believe i didnt think of this sooner. if the problem is indeed with the gigabit network sending to the SMP’s 10/100 port said let me try it wirelessly. because it should recieve the signal at the = its being sent out by my router. so far im though 10 minutes of the same exact movie that would ahve frozen twice by now. i wont be able to test a full movie or 2 for awhile or have family watch em as my test. 

i have no idea how this will impact running multiple movies to multiple rooms at the same time. also my movies are only 5000 kb/s so for people who are trying to stream 10-20 kb/s i have no idea how wireless will affect you.

if all is well with multiple room streaming i will get a 10/100 port hub and report back.

i know there are a ton of people out there who want to use a drobo 5N with their WDTV and read all the negative old post might detour them. if i figure it all out will forsure report back.

4

when i enbale linux shares it does not show up under linux shares

5

first you have to enable nfs shares on the drobo

then able it on smp

6

after 30 miutes of a movie running perfect it started to stutter again… no idea if it is due to the wireless at that point or the drobo…

how do you enable nfs shares on the drobo?

7

I don’t have a drobo, so all I can say is check the drobo owners manual

but I would be extremely surprised, if it’s not supported by drobo

8

From experience:

Is your switch your router, or do you have a router plus a switch?

First of all, make sure you have a decent switch (not a hub), preferably a managed switch.

If you have a managed switch, manually set the port connecting to your SMP to 100Mbps. If you’re going to invest in a switch get a good one, one that has port buffers, the larger the better.Too may people expect miracles from their $29 networking gear.

Second, get an mSata card for the Drobo 5N. For me, this made a huge difference. Minimum 60GB or higher.

Third, Go into Drobo Dashboard, under Drobo Settings>Network and set a static IP address (don’t ask why, just do it, this is important). Under DNS2 enter 4.2.2.2

Fourthly, Drobo Preferences>Drobo Discovery Settings, make sure Auto Discovery is selected.

Fifth, plan your drive purchases carefully. 7200 RPM drives will give you faster read access than green or red drives.

Sixth, go into your router under DHCP and add an IP reservation for the SMP and the Drobo, so the IP will always be the same.

Lastly, adding more drives also can improve speed. 2 is bare minimum for drobo.

These are the steps I took a year ago, and I’ve been streaming flawlessly from Drobo5n ever since. Hope this helps.

9

just wanted to give a quick update so anyone who researches drobo 5N and WDTV might see this.

i solved my issuse with a simple 

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-SF1008D-8-port-100Mbps-Desktop/dp/B0034CL3MA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1390508959&sr=8-9&keywords=8+port+switch

very cheap fix, and works flawlessly. basically its a bottleneck and believe it has something to do with the packet size of gigabit and 100mbs… so basically i bought this switch, plugged all my WDTV SMP’s into it along with my drobo 5N. then plugged this switch into my router. 

once i tested and found out it worked i plugged my drobo 5N back into my router and did a huge transfer of data over gigabit speeds then simply plugged it back into my new 100mbs switch, there was no need for a msata card or any extra expensive parts.

i have a fairly nice linksys gigabit setup with all cat6 after market modem / router / switch comes to about $250 it was all auto sensing as far as what type port speed was connected to it and could not manually go in and force 100mbs on the switch. $14 and dont have to worry about anything except plugging it into the new switch.

the only thing i did besides the new cheapy switch is gave my drobo 5N a static IP address but i do not believe this to be necessary at all, more of a convenience factor that comes into play when you reboot your drobo 5N your WDTV’s should not lose content source as the ip they are looking for will always be the same at that point.

this is what worked for me, hopefully it will help some others. i also only have the bare minimum of 2 drives out of 5 right now.

good luck.