How should I set up a wired connection to a usually wireless computer?

[CrastinatorPro]

Hi

I have a MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) and a MacMini (Leopard) on a wired/
wireless network connected to Drobo via DroboShare.

I'm on my second attempt to set everything up right after a blackout
screwed something I couldn't fix, prompting me to start again from the
beginning. I have had no problems following the instructions and
backing up from the MacBook Pro.

My problem is that the MacMini is only on the wireless network, and
the first back-up is proving impossible. In my first attempt (before
the blackout) I set up a sparse bundle for the MacMini but the back-
ups crashed after several hours and with only a fraction of the data
backed up.

I tried moving my Drobo to the MacMini and connecting via Firewire. I
was able to do a back-up this way but it didn't back up to the sparse-
bundle (which I had previously created), creating instead a series of
folders with dates.

My question is: what is the right way to connect the MacMini to the
Drobo or DroboShare for the first back-up? And do I need to upgrade to
Snow-Leopard to make it use a sparse-bundle?

I don't have Jumbo Frames enabled and there's no antivirus to slow
things down so I presume that the surprisingly slow wireless transfer
was due only to the distance from the AirPort Extreme.

Thanx.

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[Toby]

(I've not tried the following, but should work since the Mac Mini has
an autosensing Crossover GigE network jack.)

* Move the Drobo w/Droboshare to the Mini.
* Connect the two devices directly with any ordinary network cable
* They should each generate a link local address (168.254) and mDNS
find each other.
(Give it a minute or so)
* Mini should be able to see the sparsebundle (per the BMFU setup instructions)
* Perform the backup
* Shutdown the Drobo properly when done
* Move Drobo back where it was, and wireless should be fine from then on.

The problem with using firewire is that the Drobo becomes a "local"
device rather than an "AFP Network Share", so Time Machine will refuse
to use the sparsebundle. It won't even notice it is there. There may
be a workaround to manually mount it, but the above method should work
easier.

- Toby

[David Nicholson]

I'll try it. Do I need to install Drobo Dashboard on the 2nd machine?

[Toby]

Drobo dashboard can help the shutdown process. (you can hit standby)
but is not strictly necessary.

If you dont install it, here's a procedure that should work:

*Power off Mac Mini
*Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Mini and/or the DShare
*Wait for about a minute.
*Drobo should standby (orange light)
*Disconnect power to DShare, then Drobo.

If the orange light never comes on by itself, then the dashboard (or
ssh and poweroff) might be necessary for a clean shutdown.

I personally dislike the Dashboard since for me the (unnecesary) iSCSI
drivers it installs makes my MBP hang for several seconds on shutdown,
and there is no way to prevent Dashboard from automounting the SMB
share. I liked the older (broken) version better before they "fixed"
it for SL.

- Toby

[CrastinatorPro]

Thanx. This worked perfectly as described. I did the first back-up
over an ethernet cable between the MacMini and DroboShare, which took
a few hours. Then I put DroboShare+Drobo back in its usual position on
the network and ran a wireless TM back-up, which ran perfectly. I'm
interested to see what happens over wireless with more data. (In the
meantime I've run into a different problem which I'll put in a
different post.)

By the way, I agree that DroboDashboard is a dog's dinner of a
program: for starters, you need 3 or 4 clicks to get to the useful
bits and the icon in dock won't hide.

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