DroboElite’s have 4 options for “format type” NTFS (XP), NTFS (new than XP), Multi-Host and none.
Why those are considered “format type” is beyond me, but suffice to say you need one of the NTFS versions to connect the volume to a Windows host via iSCSI and multihost to use the volume in a VMware environment.
The catch comes when you want to bring that Windows box into VMware and want to turn the volume into “multihost” – you can’t. You have to copy the data off, destroy the volume and create a new one.
Any major (Equallogic, LeftHand, NetApp, EMC) vendor will let you set volumes/LUNs to multi-access on the fly.
And as I’ve said before, if you format the disk yourself using a different type you’ll toast the Drobo.
Someone save me from rinky dink storage providers. (course this particular client is now buying Equallogic from me, so maybe Drobo did me a favor)
Cheap Fast Reliable
Pick 2
