Data Robotics Drobo Storage Robot Review

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Data Robotics Drobo Storage Robot Review

Jan 26, 2008 at 07:40 PM

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Data Robotics Drobo Storage Robot Review
A Better Look at Things
Installation, Testing and Comparison
Summary

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Protecting ones data from catastrophe should be everyone’s concern. As Kris can attest, losing all your data can be frustrating, frightening and time consuming when trying to restore it. In the past I have tried to use RAID enabled systems, but always found upgrading them to be problematic.

Data Robotics have come out with a wonderful storage solution that not only provides oodles of storage space, but also, redundantly backs this data up across multiple drives. The best part of this system is there is it requires minimal user intervention.

Their product is the Drobo, the world’s first storage robot, which is a one stop solution for redundant data protection. The Drobo is an external storage device with four user accessible hard drive slots that use 3.5” SATA hard drives. The maximum capacity of the Drobo is only dependent on current hard drive size limits. Setup is beyond simple and fairly idiot proof.

There are some drawbacks to the Drobo, but for the most part, this is a tremendous product and one that most people should not be without. Let’s get started….

Data Robotics Drobo Storage Robot Review

Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

Data Robotics Drobo Storage Robot

Fully automated storage you don't have to manage.

As rich media (photos, video, movies, and music) continues to devour your storage capacity, you need a solution that allows you to easily manage, protect, and scale storage for your PC or Mac. For you, we've created Drobo, the first fully-automated storage robot to take the pain out of keeping your important digital content safe.

Drobo guards everything on it.

-Drobo combines up to four hard drives into a big pool of protected storage. Start with two; grow to four, then upsize smaller drives-get Terabytes of protection.

Drobo manages storage, so you don't have to.

-Just connect Drobo to your Mac or PC. No RAID levels. No management or configuration. Drobo does everything for you. Get rid of multiple external drives. Avoid the complexity of RAID. Attach a Drobo storage robot to your system and let it manage your storage so you don't have to.

Drobo upgrades capacity on-the-fly.

-Add drives to Drobo at any time. Mix 'n match capacities, brands or speeds. No downtime, data migration, or waiting to access new capacity. Drobo works the way you do.

Drobo lets you "pay as you grow"

-Hard drives get bigger and cheaper all the time. Don't buy storage capacity until you need it. Buy capacity "just-in-time" possibly saving you hundreds of dollars.

Avoid the hassles associated with managing multiple external hard drives or managing the complexities of RAID. Attach Drobo to your Mac or PC and let it manage your storage so you don't have to.

Features:

Secure

Non-Stop Data Protection

-Automatically protects your data with no setup or configuration. If the status lights are green, your data is safe.

Data Aware

-Knows where your data is stored on the disks so Drobo knows the most effective way to protect your data and repair itself in case of a disk failure or data corruption.

Automated

Simple LED Management

-Drobo communications are as simple as a traffic light. All lights green, your data is safe. Yellow light, Drobo is 85% full, add or replace a drive. Red light, your data is not safe, add or replace a drive immediately.

Autonomous Storage Management

-Your data is always accessible. Even when you add or replace hard drives, Drobo manages the re-configuration and data protection in the background, so your data is always available to you.

Flexible

Mix n' Match Drive Capacities

-Unlike rigid, inflexible RAID solutions, Drobo recognizes the capacities available from a group of varied disk drives. Using an intelligent mixture of industry standard practices to protect your data, Drobo can offer significantly more storage capacity than standard RAID solutions. Just how you would expect storage to work, add more drives or replace smaller drives with larger ones, and get more space.

Expandable

Pay as You Grow

-It's so easy to add drives to Drobo, you can start with the fewest drives / minimum capacity you need to meet your storage requirements today and just add or replace drives to increase capacity later. This feature lets you take advantage of regular disk drive capacity improvements and pricing declines.

Continuous Upgrades

-No need to buy an entirely new system when Drobo is full. As long as disk drive capacities continue to increase beyond the capacities you have purchased, you can upgrade Drobo simply by replacing your smallest drives with larger ones.

Drobo Product Specifications:

Four Bay Disk Interface:

-3.5" SATA I or SATA II hard disk drives

-Full or half-height, no carriers required

-Choose the drive manufacturer, capacity (mixed capacities ok), and spindle speed or cache that fits your current storage needs

Capacity:

-Continuously upgradeable with larger and faster drives.

Host Interface:

-High Speed USB 2.0

Max Sustained Transfer Rate:

-Up to read 22MB/s write 20MB/s

Drobo's Size: