Yeah, something must not be right with yours. I can't even hear mine.That clinches it, I must have a defective one. Mine sounds like a small jet, even when all the drives are asleep!
Edit: And their tech support now says it may be a dying fan. They'll let me know based on the diagnostic info I sent! I want a silent one too dammit!
The Drobe isn't designed for a 'small office setting' but more for home users. For an office setup there are far better choices around.
Like what for example? It's a hell of a lot easier than a RAID array to manage and now they can be networked.