Ewan Main

Generally speaking, I assume pretty much anything computer-related will go wrong. I won’t list all my backup strategies here – what’s that you’re saying? Is it “pleeeeease”? Well, perhaps another day, if you’re really good – But this assumption is what led me eventually to buy a Drobo. And I’m so glad I did.

Immediately after installing Snow Leopard, but before recovering any of my data or settings, the Drobo started flashing to tell me there was something wrong with my newly-purchased Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB disk. It was all working fine as far as I could see, but Drobo informed me that trouble was a-brewin’. I took it on faith (something I’m not normally inclined to do, but then this kind of warning is sort of the whole point of a Drobo.)

So, I went to the Western Digital website, typed in my disk serial number, and ordered a replacement. I had 30 characters to type in the problem (yes, 30 characters – I ended up settling for “My Drobo says it’s bad”) and lo and behold, a replacement was shipped right to me, without my having to send the faulty one first or even provide any evidence that anything was wrong with it.

New disk arrived, I stuck it in, and used the packaging to return the faulty one. I never had a moment’s down time, never lost a thing, and never even bothered wondering what exactly was wrong with my original disk.

Downsides include the fact that the WD drive broke down in the first place, and the fact that I had to pay the postage to send it to a returns address near Heathrow Airport. But I’d forgive both of those a thousand times over, because the whole thing was sorted out so easily. And I never lost a thing.

I don’t know what WD customer service is like in the rest of the world, but if you’re in the UK I would seriously recommend the Drobo + WD combination.