Just announced New Drobo

[Guy Mancuso]

Just after I buy one they come out with a 8 drive unit with ethernet connection

It's official! Data Robotics introduces DroboPro, the first business class storage device that manages itself! DroboPro delivers both enterprise-level data safety and unprecedented expandability, featuring single and dual disk redundancy combined with instant capacity expansion!

Leveraging the revolutionary BeyondRAID™ virtualized storage platform, and the peace of mind that comes with every Drobo product, DroboPro offers unparalleled features including:

Instant capacity expansion across up to eight (8) hard drives
Protection from one or two hard drive failures
Create up to 16x16TB Smart Volumes™ with a click of a button
iSCSI (Gigabit Ethernet), FireWire 800 and USB 2.0
Rack mount ready, desktop quiet
Join us for a webinar on April 9th at 9am PDT or 2pm PDT to learn more about the all-new DroboPro AND our Customer Loyalty Program! We look forward to seeing you there!

Register here to attend one of our sessions:




For those of you who have already purchased a Drobo, we are extending a Customer Loyalty Program to you, our valued customers! As a current Drobo owner, you are entitled to $200 off the price of DroboPro. Learn more.

Sincerely,

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Than I get this from them up to a 200 dollar Drobo equity

Customer Loyalty Program

Thank you for being one of our loyal customers. With the launch of DroboPro, we are offering an upgrade path for current Drobo customers. For a limited time, you can apply $200* of your Drobo equity toward the purchase of a new DroboPro.

To receive information on how to take advantage of this special offer and purchase a DroboPro, please follow these steps:

If you haven’t already, please make sure you register your Drobo and that all information is updated
Contact Sales at [email protected] or 1.866.97DROBO and let them know you are interested in participating in the Customer Loyalty Program.
You will need to provide your Drobo Serial Number and contact information.
There are two options to apply your Drobo credit:
Through the Channel: Just use the Mail in Rebate form and select your desired form of payment.
Through Drobostore**: Receive an instant rebate at the time of purchase. We will issue you a unique, one-time use coupon code to purchase your DroboPro
Customer Loyalty Program FAQ's

Technical DroboPro FAQ's

*£135 and €150 for international customers
**DroboStore is available in the US and Canada only

 

[Terry]

With drive prices continuing to drop and capacities increasing coupled with the ability to change around drives expand the current Drobo, I'm not sure what the incentive would be to upgrade to the pro?

 

[Jack]

With drive prices continuing to drop and capacities increasing coupled with the ability to change around drives expand the current Drobo, I'm not sure what the incentive would be to upgrade to the pro?

And let's not forget this one is rack-mount which usually means more $$$... I suspect it's going to be a very nice item if you need 8 drive drive bays, but until you do the one you have is probably just fine. And when you're ready to add the second one, they may have an eSATA version

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I'm not getting one that is for sure. Need to max this one out first and that is not going to happen soon . Frankly I will wait until I see a e-sata unit than it might be worth thinking about

 

[bradhusick]

The DroboPro offers a "two drive failure" mode which I suppose is nice, although it reduces your storage capacity. You can see by how much on their space calculator. The advantage here over two normal Drobos is that you could experience two drives failing in a single Drobo (no guarantee that only one in each would fail) and you'd lose that Drobo entirely. If you used the second drobo to "back up" the first, then all would be okay.

Can anyone else see an advantage of the Pro over two of the normals?

-Brad

 

[ddk]

The DroboPro offers a "two drive failure" mode which I suppose is nice, although it reduces your storage capacity. You can see by how much on their space calculator. The advantage here over two normal Drobos is that you could experience two drives failing in a single Drobo (no guarantee that only one in each would fail) and you'd lose that Drobo entirely. If you used the second drobo to "back up" the first, then all would be okay.

Can anyone else see an advantage of the Pro over two of the normals?

-Brad

You end up getting ripped off only once with bogus annual service fees instead of twice with two Drobos!

 

[dogstarnyc]

I think it's over priced... like most things, if you dig around you can find better deals.

I'm looking at various eSATA/usb 4 or 5 bay enclosures at Newegg for $250 plus or minus, with 1tb drives at $100 you can put together one heck of a system for not a lot of cash.

That's 5tb for $750, currently B&H have a Drobo 2tb for $640.

Just my ten bob's worth.

S

 

[cjlacz]

Can anyone else see an advantage of the Pro over two of the normals?

Basically you get more space. The Drobo is a little more complicated, but single redundancy takes about one drive and double redundancy takes two drives.

So for a 4 drive drobo you are using 25% of your space for a single failure (one drive), or 50% for double failure (basically mirror). On a 8 drive drobo you are only using 12.5% for a single failure or 25% for double, leaving you with a lot more overall storage space for 8 drives. It's probably a little less safe, but I'd have to sit down and figure out the statistics. Mirrored redundant storage (2x4 disk drobos) should be very safe, but with only half the drive space available.

 

[Jack]

I actually think it's fairly priced considering what it is. Buy a conventional RAID array and you need to manage it and keep identical drives at the ready to repair any failures. With DROBO, yo can add any old SATA 1 or 2 drive of any size at any time, so no need keeping a back-stock of replacements. Moreover, you don't have to do anything special to maintain it, just do what it tells you to when it alerts you.

The double-redundancy of this new unit is a credible option, however in my case the 4-drive DROBO is already a back-up, and not full yet, so not much real gain for me -- but can think of a few friends that could use it now. Maybe in two or three years, an 8-drive double redundant system will have some appeal and be worth the extra bucks...

 

[charlesphoto]

I think it's over priced... like most things, if you dig around you can find better deals.

I'm looking at various eSATA/usb 4 or 5 bay enclosures at Newegg for $250 plus or minus, with 1tb drives at $100 you can put together one heck of a system for not a lot of cash.

That's 5tb for $750, currently B&H have a Drobo 2tb for $640.

Just my ten bob's worth.

S

Keep in mind a RAID system depends as much on the enclosure as the hard drives. If the power system fails or any other component you could be screwed. So you get what you pay for. Not sure how the DROBO build is, but I went with a Firmtek 5 bay array and found it to be built like a tank and top notch. I'm using it as an archiver so have two sets of mirror drives and one jbod (to get stuff offsite etc). The DROBO is a fantastic idea but scares me a little - what happens if the enclosure fails? Can you pull all the discs and have them rebuild in a replacement/repaired enclosure?