Drobo - The world's first storage robot. ***UPDATED***

[Sonny]

I might have found the coolest toy EVAR! In my never ending quest to find a perfect NAS server to find all my needs, this was suggested to me by a techy friend. If any of you guys or gals out there have one of these...PLZ...leave me some feedback. Be sure to watch the Drobo Demo Video.

I know y'all might say it is pricey, but think about this. I no longer have to buy a case, power supplies, cables, cooling fans, raid controller card, managing software, and an operating system in some cases.

http://www.drobo.com/products.aspx

a very informative FAQ http://www.drobo.com/support.aspx#q1

of course we all love the forums http://www.drobospace.com/forum/0

[shutterflypro]

I am gonna order this

[NathanJK]

Hmmm, I watched the video...it IS pretty nifty!

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by shutterflypro

I am gonna order this

As soon as I do a little research I'll be right behind you. Can you image (4) 1TB drives? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! and all filled with naughty videos.

[Sonny]

I do have a two questions

1. Can I add a drive with videos, music, or photos already on the drive?
2. Lets say I have two 100GB drives and 150GB of total data. Then one drive crashes. What happens to the extra 50GB of data?

[bbailey]

1. I would think you would need to start with blank drives, but I could be wrong.

2. You wouldn't have 200GB of available space. With 2 100GB drives, you would have about 100GB of usable space, the other 100 is used for protection. You can test out storage sizes and actual available space with their nifty wizard here: http://www.drobo.com/drobolator/

And you mentioned in your initial post something about a NAS, but this unfortunaly is a USB only interface. I'm hoping that they add a network connection to later models. Either way, it is still a very cool device.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by bbailey

2. You wouldn't have 200GB of available space. With 2 100GB drives, you would have about 100GB of usable space, the other 100 is used for protection. You can test out storage sizes and actual available space with their nifty wizard here: http://www.drobo.com/drobolator/

You are correct sir. Cool little app.

[DJ.]

Interesting review of Drobo..

http://www.gadgetnfo.com/2007/06/05/...-wait-for-v20/

[Sonny]

Anybody order one yet? I think I will order one in the next week or so. *Crossing my fingers* They are hard to find...."OUT OF STOCK".

[shutterflypro]

I will have mine in 3-5 days.....

WooHooo!!!!!!

[shutterflypro]

Originally Posted by Sonny

I do have a two questions

1. Can I add a drive with videos, music, or photos already on the drive?
2. Lets say I have two 100GB drives and 150GB of total data. Then one drive crashes. What happens to the extra 50GB of data?

The DROBO uses a proprietary system. You will have to juggle your data a little, but the DROBO will need to format the drive when it is first installed. After a drive is DROBO ready it can be inserted and removed without losing any data contained on it.

DORBO operaqtes off of the same type of technology as RAID 5 but it is not RAID. What this meanes is that about 25% of the drive total is reserved for PROTECTION. This is an area of each drive where it stores data from other drives. This is how the unit will rebuild a failed drive when a new one is put in.

So in you scenario, if one of your drives failed the other drive would contain all of the data on it in that protection zone. The data there is in an IMAGE type. When you insertd a new drive of at least 100GB or a combination of drives greater than 100GB, you would never see any data loss.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by shutterflypro

The DROBO uses a proprietary system. You will have to juggle your data a little, but the DROBO will need to format the drive when it is first installed. After a drive is DROBO ready it can be inserted and removed without losing any data contained on it.

DORBO operaqtes off of the same type of technology as RAID 5 but it is not RAID. What this meanes is that about 25% of the drive total is reserved for PROTECTION. This is an area of each drive where it stores data from other drives. This is how the unit will rebuild a failed drive when a new one is put in.

So in you scenario, if one of your drives failed the other drive would contain all of the data on it in that protection zone. The data there is in an IMAGE type. When you insertd a new drive of at least 100GB or a combination of drives greater than 100GB, you would never see any data loss.

Thanks Raymond!

Where did you order your Drobo? So far Tiger Direct has them in stock.

[DJ.]

I didn't mean to sound negative by the review I posted but was just trying to be informed.

I will probably get a DROBO also but I think I will wait a while and for once not be an early adopter. I have always been one of the first to jump on new innovations in the past but since I have plenty of redundant storage already I think I will wait a while. I am looking forward to your reviews.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by DJ.

I didn't mean to sound negative by the review I posted but was just trying to be informed.

I will probably get a DROBO also but I think I will wait a while and for once not be an early adopter. I have always been one of the first to jump on new innovations in the past but since I have plenty of redundant storage already I think I will wait a while. I am looking forward to your reviews.

Hey Dave,

No need for apologies. I appreciate you posting that link. I always like to hear both sides of any story..good and bad. It helps me make a better educated decision about products I will buy. After spending some time on the Drobo support forums and reading reviews...there are not any major issues that will stop me from purchasing a Drobo. Drobo says they WILL NOT release a newer version until next year. Even so, they would not give ANY details about upgrades or hardware.

[OversighT]

Any feedback from those who purchased in June? I'm seriously looking into this. I have 5 external hard drives and I would LOVE to be able to replace them with a Drobo with 4 large drives in it.


T.