Are drobos worth the money ?

[HighlandeR]

Just wondering if Drobos are worth it, am looking the Drobo pro with 8 sata bay drives.

I do like the fact even if the drives fail your data is never lost, I assume its sort of like norton ghost/acronis and forever imaging your data ?

At almost 1k, is there anything similar or cheaper ?

 

[HighlandeR]

True I never thought of the drobo, guess it is a Raid type system....

From what ive read of the drobo its constantly backing up your info so if say 2 hdds die you dont need to worry the drobo will put those files onto other areas of the hdd so its like you never knew anything happen, this can happen even if 2 drives suddenly die. It does take up some space too do this though, I wasnt aware if Some raid modes do a similar thing ?

I just thought it would be pretty cool too have something save you from a heart attack, ive looked at the Whs but doesnt look like it could monitor or warn from hdd failures and doesnt look like it automates any recovery from a dieing hdd other then checking for a backup via the pc but could be wrong about that ?

I would have thought Acronis or ghost or someone would have created some fancy software/system too apply a similar feature too.

 

[HighlandeR]

Has anyone seen this :

http://www.lime-technology.com/joomla/index.php

unraid server

sounds similar too Raid and drobo features but DIY and a lot cheaper

to quote

"True Incremental Storage

Unlike other RAID systems, unRAID Server supports true incremental storage expansion. You can add capacity by adding more hard drives or by upgrading existing hard drives. This is a great way to make use of older, smaller hard drives you might have laying around.

For example, you might start out by installing one or two new high capacity hard drives along with some number of smaller hard drives you already own. Later, you might decide to replace one of the smaller drives, and unRAID Server will restore the data of the smaller drive onto the new drive, and then expand the file system to incorporate the full size of the new drive"

Wondered if thats perhaps a cheaper alternative too drobo/netgear nas ?