Safely archiving your documents and pictures could be considered as a “hot” item these days. ICT shops sold last month’s external disks in huge amounts. But what if your only back up on the external disk doesn’t work anymore? You’ll be in real trouble! Data Robotics answers that issue with the Drobo. This product can be described as a NAS-backup disk. In common language this can be best described as an external disk with space for up to 4 large (3.25”) internal hard disks. The Drobo will secure your documents and other files by saving them on every disk using a “Beyond Raid”. You can connect your Drobo via USB 2.0 or Firewire 800 to every computer (Windows and Mac). If your router has an USB output, you can connect the Drobo. How much disks you insert in the Drobo doesn’t matter, Drobo will automatically “convert” them to 1 disk. A Drobo with 4 disks inserted will be seen by your computer as 1 large external disk.
As this product is build to be more than just a simple external disk, you need to insert minimum 2 disks to guarantee the “Beyond Raid”. With this your files will be safely stored, even when one of your disks crashes. And believe me; some day they will! When the disks are almost fully loaded, you can simply remove one and insert one with a bigger capacity. Removing or inserting a disk is really easy: remove the protection cap in the front, slide the small clip to the side and gently pull out the disk to remove one. Inserting is done the opposite way. You don’t have to shut down the Drobo or your computer! Drobo will automatically detect the new disk and format it (so be sure you don’t insert a disk with files you need to keep). After formatting the new disk, Drobo will start writing the files written on the other disks also on the new disk. If one disk crashes, a red light will appear and the Drobo will automatically send an e-mail (you do need to configure this option). To replace the disk, you simply remove the disk and insert a new disk. Every disk can only have a maximum capacity of 2TB (2048GB). To secure the Beyond Raid, the system will reserve some space. A Drobo with 4 disks of 2TB will give you 5,5TB of free space. On the website of Drobo, you can calculate your free space with the disks you are willing to use.
© Drobo
Reception and installation
The box is nothing more than a way to transport your product safely. Drobo doesn’t agree with this opinion. They’ve created a masterpiece of design: At the top you find a black box with the text: “Welcome to the world of …”. In this box you can find a manual, all cables and the ac-adaptor. Under the box, you will get the first look of the Drobo, well packed in a (sort of) suede bag with the black on white logo “DROBO”. When you remove the bag, you will agree that the Drobo is a durable product. The outside is aluminum (painted black) with a hard plastic cover at the front and back.
The installation is easy: remove the front cap and insert every disk you are willing to use until you hear a “click”. Connect the Drobo to your computer with a USB cable or Firewire 800 cable. Connect the ac-adaptor. After several minutes, you will find the Drobo on your desktop (Mac) or in the explorer (Win/Mac).
ATTENTION:
All disks inserted will be formatted automatically. The files that are on the disk will be removed! Take a backup before inserting those disks.
The first time you connect the Drobo to your computer, it’ll request to format the disks. Depending on your operating system, you can format the disks in HFS+ (only Mac OS X) or FAT32 (Windows and Mac). It’s crucial that you think well before continuing! Are you just using Windows, take Fat32. And when only using Mac, take Hfs+. If you’re using both Windows and Mac, take Fat32.
The Drobo will be delivered with all software. The only thing the software will do is give you the possibility to check the capacity of the Drobo and to do the configuration of the email settings. You can connect any computer without installing the software, but without the software installed, you can’t upgrade the firmware.
The Drobo will be shown in your finder/explorer as 1 large external disk; you can’t see the exact amount of free space. The Drobo will always be shown as an external disk with 2TB of free space, even when there is more/less free space. To check the exact amount of free space, you need to install the software or look at the lamps in the front of the Drobo.
Using the Drobo
Apple users are familiar with the easy feeling of installing a new product. A Drobo is nothing more or less! You insert 2 or more disks. This is how I worked: I selected everything with the wizard and went to sleep. In the morning, everything was ready and I could start copying files on it. I selected 1,5TB on an external WD My Book drive (via USB 2.0) to copy to my new Drobo (connected via Firewire 800). Both disks are connected on my 8-core Mac Pro. This process took about 7 hours. In the meantime, I could continue working on my computer, even on documents that were already on the Drobo.
Beyond RAID
To secure your data, the Drobo uses a BEYOND RAID-system. The disadvantage of many raid-systems is that the user needs to configure a lot. If you need to replace or add (a) disk(s), you need to start all over. To do this, you need to have the knowledge or you will be struggling for many days: the Drobo does it all by himself! You don’t need to know anything. You can add/remove any disk at any time. For IT-professionals, this could be a disadvantage. The safe archiving of your files, means that raid-systems reserve some space. When you insert 4 drives of 1TB, wouldn’t give you 4TB but 2,7TB. The reserved space is getting larger when you are using disks with a large difference in capacity. Example: you are using 3 disks of 80GB and 1 disk of 1TB. Normally it would give you 1,2TB. Drobo will give you 221GB. Do you want to know how much space will be reserved with your disks, then use the “Drobolator” on the website.
© Drobo
Securing files
The Drobo uses a Beyond Raid system with a superb way of securing your files. When a disk crashed or being removed, you can still access all files on the Drobo. When one of the disks crashes, a red light will appear and the Drobo will automatically send an e-mail (when you configured this option).
This way of securing your files doesn’t mean that you don’t need to have another backup. When you remove (accidentally) a file from your Drobo and clean up your trash, it is lost forever.
Sound / Noise
At the back there is a large ventilator, which is very quite. As temperature rises, the Drobo ventilator starts to run faster. In the middle of summer with high temperatures in my office, I was able to let the Drobo work on my desk without getting annoyed.
Connections
The Drobo has 1 USB 2.0 connection and 2 Firewire 800 connections, 1 connection for the ac-adaptor. All cables are within the box. At the back, there is also a Kingston lock connection. The Drobo doesn’t have an Ethernet connection to connect to a network. It is possible to connect the Drobo to a network by using a “Droboshare”, but this product costs 275 euro.
© Drobo
If you want a Drobo with an Ethernet port standard included, you need to buy a “Drobo Pro”. This product is the same as a Drobo, but with the possibility to insert 8 disks. This will cost you about 1220 euro without any disk!
Conclusion:
The Drobo has several small disadvantages, like the missing option for an “advance mode” to configure the raid-system and an Ethernet port, but it still is a superb product you need to have. The design is gorgeous and you don’t need to put it under your desk in a dark corner. It can be placed on top of your desk. The price is a different matter: 440 euro without disks is a huge amount for an external disk and higher than other NAS-systems.
Best regards,
Sven Michiels