Drobo Version 2.0 Released - Feedback?

[BladeRoNNeR]

Well I saw a while back some info on this nifty little HDD enclosure allowing up to 4x drives to be installed with data redundancy. See here for details.

This one has Firewire 800, which I like. I have read quiet a lot of reviews and feedback already on the new version of these units which from 99% of accounts is much improved. Also got 1st place at Tom's Hardware for Tom's Computex 2008 Design Awards.

Found this place selling them in Australia, and although not cheap does seem like one of the best and easiest solutions around to protect my data and allow upgrading of size as I go. Anyone know of a cheaper local source?

Well my question to this great community is if anyone has had some first hand experience with the new version. Any pros or cons (constructive comments please)??

One question I have now is could this be connected wirelessly somehow to your network? I would like to hide this in my house incase I am robbed so they can take the PC but atleast my data is safely hidden away. Not sure how or if this is possible without running a LAN cable via the DroboShare, or finding a Firewire or USB to WiFi adaptor....

[TheRob]

At $650 for the box without even a single hard drive, that's a mighty expensive way to backup data IMO.

I have have an Amazon S3 account that cost's bugger all and I back up all my important stuff to that online. Took a while to initially upload the data, but now it just does incremental data backups off my main computer and the music and pics off my HTPC while I'm asleep (I don't backup recorded TV 'cause I don't consider it critical). Locally I use Acronis to image my system partitions onto a cheap portable external drive in case I need to quickly rebuild a machine.

I don't need to hide my drive array because I don't have one - everything is stored online. That also means that I can access stuff when I travel. If I want to show someone a pic of the family when I'm overseas, or change the music selection on my ipod I just pull it off the S3 account. It's brilliant .

[BladeRoNNeR]

Thanks for the reply.

I think the Amazon S3 account would be great primarily for personal documents, some music etc, but for me I have around 2TB of files. So cost wise to do this per month would be around $300. If I had less stuff, like just my documents, pictures etc I see the benefit and have considered online storage before.

The other thing for me would be actually uploading it all would take foreva, and as I dont have an unlimited BB connection this would also tie me up for several months of downloads.

Cost isnt my main concern though, so I am happy to go spend the $650 if the unit is of quality. Currently, I have 4x 1TB drives, and just plug them in and copy the entire drive (2 of them with data) to the other two - basic but does the trick aslong as I remember to backup . Then I hide them away. This unit would have a better option without having to setup a raid and allows me to upgrade the HDDs as I need space.

[TheRob]

Originally Posted by BladeRoNNeR

I think the Amazon S3 account would be great primarily for personal documents, some music etc, but for me I have around 2TB of files.

Yes. I only use about 50GB of storage atm. That covers all my music, photos and documents. My home vids are all backed up to DVD, and I don't rip commercial DVDs or bitTorrent stuff I want to keep (I'm a watch and delete kind of guy ). So the cost of the Dobo is just way over the top for me.

Don't know what you've got that uses a couple of TB , but obviously valuable enough to you to warrant the cost.

[BladeRoNNeR]

Yeah I am surprised how much space going digital takes up but it is my Media Centre files mainly; but so much more easier to manage. Storage is cheap though, but the effort in doing this is what I dont want to go through again No more touching DVDs or CDs! YaY.

But anyways, someone in another thread recommeded QNAP solution. I still like the Drobo more, but open to any discussion on these.

[philzgr8]

As I stated about their earlier version, I'm not interested until/unless they include an ethernet interface so I can use it as a NAS device. I can buy much cheaper backup devices.

[BladeRoNNeR]

Price seems to be the only concern that is raised about these units not just here but elsewhere also, but I do agree ideally it should have a Network interface built in. You can get that as an extra as you would know but once again not cheap and I dont really need it personally - perhaps later down the track. Lets take the price out of the equation though for the moment.

My main reasons for getting this is:
- data security
- easy to setup and maintain
- expandability as I go (ie upgrade 1 drive at a time)

I am not aware of any other units that allow you to upgrade one drive at a time or allow different capacitities.

I just wanted to know if anyone has actually had some hands on with these units, found any querks or issues or can comment on the quality overall?

I am happy to consider any other NAS etc that would allow me to do what this unit does, but I havent really found one yet.

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by BladeRoNNeR

I am not aware of any other units that allow you to upgrade one drive at a time or allow different capacitities.

Actually all this does is raid and the simple fact is that adding a 1Tb drive to an array of 500Gb disks will just cause half of the Tb drive to be unusable. It's not really something new. To be effective, you need to upgrade all drives in the array.

[BladeRoNNeR]

I see what you mean having a bit of a play around here, but not all combinations result in the space simply being 'reserved' and not usable. Seems that upgrading two of the drives eliminates this, which is still a lot better than spending out on 4. I gotta admit my understanding on RAID technologies is limited, but dont you need to have the same brand/size/model etc for a RAID? Although some of the space maybe reserved until a second of the same capacity is added it still is more flexible option as I see.

I also see many units stating only supports up to 4TB. Perhaps this is just because there is nothing bigger now, but would hate to get another unit to find I couldnt go any bigger and have to buy a new version. Drobo states up to 16TB, which makes me happy knowing an investment now will future proof me a little to come.

Thoughts?

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by BladeRoNNeR

I see what you mean having a bit of a play around here, but not all combinations result in the space simply being 'reserved' and not usable. Seems that upgrading two of the drives eliminates this, which is still a lot better than spending out on 4. I gotta admit my understanding on RAID technologies is limited, but dont you need to have the same brand/size/model etc for a RAID? Although some of the space maybe reserved until a second of the same capacity is added it still is more flexible option as I see.

I also see many units stating only supports up to 4TB. Perhaps this is just because there is nothing bigger now, but would hate to get another unit to find I couldnt go any bigger and have to buy a new version. Drobo states up to 16TB, which makes me happy knowing an investment now will future proof me a little to come.

Thoughts?

To be fair I'm not totally familiar with all the flavours of RAID either but from my experience pairing is the issue with mirrored RAID. In the end I guess it is a fairly simple and relatively cheap solution but for my liking I'd rather have a solution which gives simple access to all of my network devices without the need for any one particular PC to be running. That's why I say I'd rather invest in a good NAS device.

[vlad]

Originally Posted by philzgr8

for my liking I'd rather have a solution which gives simple access to all of my network devices without the need for any one particular PC to be running. That's why I say I'd rather invest in a good NAS device.

I agree, why can't they add Ethernet to it? It is a useless device without it. You can use WHS instead.

[dgaust]

Originally Posted by vlad

I agree, why can't they add Ethernet to it? It is a useless device without it. You can use WHS instead.

If they added Ethernet to it, they wouldn't be able to sell you this.