Drobo external drive enclosure - I want one.

Dolph · 6 Aug 2007 at 10:19

Ok, I've found the most interesting add on I've seen in a while, shame it appears they aren't available in the UK yet.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/storage-robot-at-your-service-a-review-of-the-drobo.ars

Basically an multiple drive external enclosure with error correction and protection that doesn't suffer the drawbacks of an external raid array.

One of the more dramatic examples of Drobo resiliency provided by Data Robotics is a video of a trailer from the movie 300 being played while a drive is removed from the Drobo. According to the video, the unit detects that the drive has been removed and begins re-allocating data accordingly, all without missing a beat.

I tested this scenario by loading Drobo with both 300 trailers at "Large" resolution from Apple. Just for fun, I also tossed in the 720p HD trailer to see how the unit would handle playback from an HD stream.

The results were identical in all three cases: Drobo continued to play all three trailers (including our HD trailer) without so much as a dropped frame, even while the unit began the process of rebuilding the data protection array. So far as I've been able to determine, Data Robotics has done an excellent job of keeping maintenance tasks from impacting on unit performance.

Sounds like an almost perfect external long term data storage solution, especially as you can increase the size of the array simply by swapping in a bigger drive and letting it rebuild the array to suit automatically.

Any chance of considering stocking them?

Spyhop · 1 Sep 2007 at 21:08

Like the idea of this thing. I've read that it is rather noisy, though. I'd consider the hefty price tag if it was silent

cavemanoc · 1 Sep 2007 at 21:19

Very interesting idea - definitely one to watch when the next 'edition' comes out - if they put a gigabit ethernet connection into it I'd be biting their arms off!

Stelly · 5 Mar 2008 at 15:33

I know the USB only thing is a little annoying!

Stelly

Greenlizard0 · 5 Mar 2008 at 15:34

wush said:
Like the idea of this thing. I've read that it is rather noisy, though. I'd consider the hefty price tag if it was silent

Off topic - but what's that supposed to be in your sig lol?

>:|sh4d0w|:< · 5 Mar 2008 at 16:00

Havent read all the review yet, but this thing looks nice, imagine 4tb in this baby.

semi-pro waster · 5 Mar 2008 at 16:48

Dolph said:
Any chance of considering stocking them?

Have you put it in the Product Suggestions forum?

Anyway it looks interesting and could be well worth the cash, I don't have a need for anything so powerful at the moment but I'd still be interested.

fobose · 5 Mar 2008 at 17:24

Greenlizard0 said:
Off topic - but what's that supposed to be in your sig lol?

Looks like a woman squatting over a urinal, but sideways.

mdjmcnally · 5 Mar 2008 at 17:39

cavemanoc said:
Very interesting idea - definitely one to watch when the next 'edition' comes out - if they put a gigabit ethernet connection into it I'd be biting their arms off!

It has a gig ethernet addon available, but it connects to that via the USB. Seems to be the way that they are doing the NAS bit. They are available in UK now.