DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure
- Price: $1,379.99
- Instant Savings: -$250.00 Offer ends MAY 30 '12
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The Data Robotics DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure delivers an expandable solution for creative professions and small businesses in need of high performance backup storage. Built on BeyondRAID technology with single or dual-drive redundancy, the DroboPro protects your data automatically, even in the event of multiple drive failures. Able to hold up to eight hot-swappable drives, this system ensures you'll have a high-performance connection to virtually any system with available USB 2.0, FireWire 800 (400 compatible) and iSCSI (Gigabit Ethernet) connectivity. With its unique ability to mix and match drives of several different classifications, the DroboPro allows you to instantly expand your capacity simply by adding or replacing a drive. With self-healing and drive redundancy technologies, the DroboPro helps make sure your data is always safe and accessible. The array ships in a desktop configuration and an optional 3U rackmount kit is also available.
- Drobo Dashboard 2.0.2 via Firmware Update
-
You'll be able to install the Drobo Dashboard 2.0.2 via simple firmware update. It offers a variety of features not included in the original Drobo Dashboard, including:
- View of all of your Drobos in one window
- Get capacity and status for each Drobo
- DroboCopy tasks run in the background
- Get e-mail alerts about your Drobo
- Drobo PC Backup
-
Purchasing unit entitles you to free download of Drobo PC Backup software. It allows you to:
- Back up your PC to your Drobo with ease
- Supports direct or network connections
- Supports backup over USB, FireWire, or eSATA
- BeyondRAID Technology
- Every Drobo product comes with the revolutionary BeyondRAID storage technology - the next generation of redundant disk protection. BeyondRAID not only keeps your data safe, but will also increase uptime and availability. BeyondRAID technology offers several improvements over traditional RAID-based storage systems, including the flexibility to replace failed disks and increase capacity, all without costly downtime.
- File and Operating System Agnostic
- Drobo and its underlying BeyondRAID technology currently support the Windows and Mac platforms, with file system support for NTFS, HFS+, and FAT32. Since Drobo is a block level system, it easily adapts to most any environment.
- Mixed Drive Capacity Utilization
- Grow storage to meet your data capacity needs with minimal effort. To add capacity, simply insert a new hard disk or replace the smallest disk with a larger one, even when all four disk bays are full. Unlike traditional RAID systems, the BeyondRAID technology enables IT managers to efficiently mix and match disk brands, capacities, and speeds. This allows for continuous expansion as disk capacities grow.
- Redundant Safety
- Drobo can ensure your data is safe even if a hard disk fails. You'll feel safer knowing that if disks do fail, Drobo automatically enters a state of self-healing wherein it relays out your data across the remaining healthy disks and sectors.
- Proportional Rebuild Times
-
The time it takes Drobo to rebuild data after a drive failure or removal is proportional to the amount of data stored in the pool - meaning the less capacity that is used, even on a 2TB disk, the shorter your rebuild times will be. This is superior to traditional RAID, which lacks proportional rebuild times, and is forced to relay out every drive block even if it does not contain user data.
Since Drobo is 'Data Aware', it tracks where data is on each disk, so it can differentiate between used and unused portions of disk. This expedites rebuild times and reduces your risk of losing data to an additional disk failure.
- Self-Healing
- When Drobo detects a 'bad' hard disk, it proactively advises you with a series of warnings ranging from a blinking red LED on its front panel, to pop-up alerts in Drobo Dashboard, to email alerts. What Drobo does next is exceptional. It enters a self-healing mode where it repairs around the bad sector or disk, and will work until it returns to the safest state possible. If Drobo has sufficient time and free capacity (indicated by all lights returning to a solid green state), it can even withstand additional hard disk failures - that's the power of self-healing.
- Storage Virtualization
-
BeyondRAID was designed from the ground up to allow the storage capacity of the array to expand and contract. BeyondRAID makes this a simple process by utilizing a technology called 'virtualization.' Virtualization provides a layer of abstraction between the data requested by the file system and the physical location of that data on the disk drives. A given piece of data can be located on any drive, and on any physical location on that drive.
Virtualization is what enables BeyondRAID to effortlessly change the data arrangement on the drives, for example, changing data stored as a mirror into data stored as parity stripe, without interrupting the user access to data. Virtualization completely decouples the physical space available in the array from the space reported to the operating system. This is how BeyondRAID is able to eliminate the need to manually expand/contract the file system as more space becomes available or is removed.
- Thin Provisioning
- Thin provisioning is a technical term that describes how the BeyondRAID technology communicates with your operating system. BeyondRAID communicates with your OS about how much disk space you have, up to 16TB (this varies with older operating and file systems). Specifying a larger amount of storage than is physically available allows you to grow into the volume without having to reformat or migrate your data in order to add capacity. BeyondRAID automatically also reclaims space as you delete files.
- Self-Managing
- Drobo is highly automated storage. There are no complex configuration screens, DIP switches, confounding choices, web consoles or other complications that prevent so many other storage devices from working out of the box.
- Drive Reordering
- One long-standing requirement inherent in traditional RAID-based systems was that if for some reason you needed to remove the drives, you'd have to replace the drives in the exact same order. When you remove your disks from Drobo, you can put them back in any order you like.
| Interfaces | iSCSI (Utilizes Gigabit Ethernet) FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 Compatible) USB 2.0 |
| Drive Capacity | Up to eight 3.5" SATA I or SATA II hard drives Drives may be from any manufacturer Drives may be of any capacity, spindle speed, and/or cache |
| Acoustics | Normal Operation: 30.4 dB |
| Power | Idle System (standby, drives off): 13W Typical Idle System - Idle, Drive Spin Down Mode (8 drives): 25W Typical Busy System (8 drives): 82W |
| Utilities | Windows: NTFS Mac OS X: HFS+ Cross-Platform: FAT32 |
| Operating Systems Supported | Windows 7 (32/64) SP1 Windows Vista (32/64) SP1 Windows XP (32/64) SP3 Windows 2008 Server R2 (64) SP1 Windows 2003 Server R2 (32/64) SP1 Mac OS 10.5.8 or later (Intel Only) Mac OS Server 10.5.8 or later (Intel Only) |
| Certification | Emissions: FCC Part 15, Class B Safety: UL & cUL |
| Security | Kensington lock port (lock not included) |
| Cables | 72" Ethernet Cable x 1 (182.9 cm) 72" FireWire 800 Cable x 1 (182.9 cm) 72" USB 2.0 Cable x 1 (182.9 cm) 72" Power Cable x 1 (182.9 cm) |
| Software | DroboPro Resource CD with Drobo Dashboard Application (Windows & Mac OS X) / Help Files / Electronic Documentation |
| Operating Temperature | 50 to 95°F (10 to 35°C |
| Storage Temperature | 14 to 140°F (−10 to 60°C) |
| Operating Altitude | Up to 8000' (2438 m) |
| Operating Humidity | 5 - 80% |
| Power Requirements | AC 100 - 240 V, 50/60 Hz (1.8 / 0.75 A) |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 12.2 x 5.5 x 14.1" (31.0 x 14.0 x 35.8 cm) |
| Weight | 16.2 lb (7.34 kg) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 45 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
91%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Attractive (28)
- Quiet (26)
- Easy to install (17)
- Large capacity / good size (14)
- Easy to use (12)
Cons
- Slow (6)
Best Uses
- Additional storage (14)
- Back-up (14)
- Office (13)
- Multimedia (12)
- Photo storage (10)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Power user (14), Heavy duty user (13), Frequent user (9)
- Primary use:
- Business (11), Personal (4)
Most Liked Positive Review
Great Product
I've had a Drobo (4 drives) for about a year. It's easy to set up, works great, and runs cool with Western Digital 1.5TB Black line HDs. Now I've added a DroboPro....Read complete review
I've had a Drobo (4 drives) for about a year. It's easy to set up, works great, and runs cool with Western Digital 1.5TB Black line HDs. Now I've added a DroboPro. Set up is just as easy and it runs even cooler (almost cold) with WD 2TB Green HDs. These drives are supposedly not as good as the WD Black line but I'm confident of them since the DroboPro offers Dual Disk Redundance. Soon I'll buy another DroboPro for remote storage. With all this capacity, I'm scanning 40 years of film and making my lifes archive. Not bad considering my first external drive held just 9GB in 1992.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Not ready for prime time
I have owned the DroboPro for over a monthy and have found the DroboPro to slow and flakey.
I tested extensivly on two different machines (Vista and Win7) via iScsi on a ...Read complete review
I have owned the DroboPro for over a monthy and have found the DroboPro to slow and flakey.
I tested extensivly on two different machines (Vista and Win7) via iScsi on a dedicated port, trying to get consistent performance.
I had intending to use it as a backup desitination for my 5TB Raid used for photo storage and video editing.
The drobo is populated with WD Green 500GB and 1TB drives. Under light load it works OK. But under heavy load the iScsi connection often drops and the DroboPro will spontaneously reboot.
Also transfer rates become very bursty, causing throughput to drop to < 20Mbs. This is simply not acceptable for this caliber of device.
If you could look at the drobo forums (you need a serial #) You'll find lots of people having the same problems on all platforms: Macs, PCs and Linux. Drobo support seems to be unable or unwilling to respond to the complaints.
Very dissapointed.
Reviewed by 45 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-20
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Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
- none
Best Uses
- Multimedia
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
We set up our DroboPro as a RAID backup for one of our RAID systems here at work... put in 8x 3TB drives and set it up as 2 volumes and pretty much just started coping files over iSCSI... setup from unboxing to ready to use took about 1.5 hours.
It's been fast, easy to use, and it's Dashboard interface for control is one of the best interfaces ever...
Now I want one of the smaller versions for my own personal use at home... such a great system.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
Cons
Best Uses
- Home
- Multimedia
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
This is my second DroboPro and I couldn't be happier. I filled by first one not long ago and now have two running flawlessly with Windows 7. This model gives you the option of USB, firewire or ISCI/Ethernet... I find USB is very slow, so I use Ethernet and have no problems streaming HD video to my computer. My only criticism is that the Drobo models will slow down substantially once you hit 80% capacity across your drives. Apart from that, installation of multiple and various drives is a cinch. I highly recommend this product for a hassle free storage array solution.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Install
Cons
Best Uses
- Multimedia
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Just setup but so far its great- very simple to understand and setup
Pros
- Easy To Install
Cons
Best Uses
- Multimedia
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
This is our 2nd DroboPro. We use it as offline storage from our Video Edit workstations for our HD tapeless workflow. Drobo works great in the dual disk redundancy mode and I strongly suggest using it with a UPS. The BeyondRAID software can perform poorly if unscheduled powerup/powerdown cycles are introduced. Direct connection via USB or Firewire is useful for the setup then it works great with iSCSI. We use it in a room with the workstations and while it produces some heat and fan noise, it is acceptable.
- Recommended:
- UPS
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
- Spacious
Cons
- none
Best Uses
- Expanded Data Storage
- Home
- Office
- Upgrade
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
The Drobo Pro works great for a small business. I currently use it for server storage and have it connected thru ISCSI to a Mac Mini Server. It holds all my shared data, backups, and company data and it's very fast as well. All my data transfers are quick and responsive.. I feel safe knowing that 2 drives can fail before I risk losing any data. I plan to deploy more in the future when I need additional storage. Drobo's are amazing devices.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Easy To Install
- Spacious
Cons
- Loud
Best Uses
- Home
- Multimedia
- Office
- Upgrade
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I have owned a smaller Drobo before, which I still use. Needed more backup storage. Love their products. So far, everything is working...as expected.
Pros
- Quiet
Cons
- Difficult To Configure
Best Uses
- Multimedia
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Despite certain problems to set up, is quiet and easy to use, upgrade driles and manage.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Easy To Install
Cons
Best Uses
- Multimedia
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Great solution, extremely easy to use.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
Cons
Best Uses
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Back up photo shoots,
Stable protection of hard drives
Protection of images
Pros
- Quiet
Cons
- Smudges Easily
Best Uses
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Great.
Pros
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Multimedia
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I use this device for achieving video and photos.
Pros
- Easy To Install
- Endless Storage
- Simple Operation
Cons
- Slow
Best Uses
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I'm a freelance video editor in my spare time, and I'm using the Drobo as my primary storage solution. Good product, and works as advertised. Very simple to use. My only complaint is that it's pretty slow copying to or from the Drobo, but this hasn't affected playback performance at all while editing.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I bought my DroboPro in March of 2010. In that time the unit has been replaced TWICE, and an additional two times I have had to reformat the machine a re-backup all my files. When it works, it's wonderful, but I'm not very confident that my data is all that safe.
I should add that I run UPS to keep my power clean and that the machine sits undisturbed and unaffected by excessive anything in a clean office.
Twice the computer simply stopped recognizing the machine. Twice, without any obvious computer event or power event my Mac has been unable to read the directory and I had to reformat and start all over again.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
- Nothing yet
Best Uses
- Home
- Multimedia
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Used mostly for media storage and back -up of important research data.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
- I store my HD video files on my Drobo
- Now I will never run out of storage capacity
- It runs very quiet
- However, it did not identify a faulty drive when I tried to add it.
Pros
- Durable
- Easy To Install
Cons
Best Uses
- Home
- Office
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I researched for a long time and it paid off. This is a great purchase for large format HD.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I went with the drive because of its expandable capacity and the back up system. I can loose 2 drives at one time and have my data safe.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
- Home
- Multimedia
- Office
- Upgrade
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I work for a small non-profit. I needed something that would give us security as well as redundancy for data on our server. It was super easy to install, and get up and running. Dual-Disk redundancy, and the ability to use any SATA drive make it the perfect fit for us, since its storage can grow as we grow.
Pros
- Attractive Design
- Durable
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
- Spacious
Cons
Best Uses
- Multimedia
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
I use it to store my iTunes library of Music, TV Shows and Movies. It works flawlessly as the storage device from which I run my media centre content.
It is awesome and I cannot speak highly enough of how stable it is to run and how easy it is to set up.
Pros
- Easy To Install
- Quiet
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about DroboPro 8-Bay Hard Drive Array Enclosure:
Hooked it up, loaded it up with 750GB drives that were lying about, formatted it with dual-drive redundancy and then copied the contents of my /Users partition as well as all external drives laying about onto it. Set my OS X desktop to mount it as my /Users partition. Am part way through the 4TB, though with Drobo's ability to replace drives with larger capacity ones while running - I've got plenty of potential for expansion in the future and no worries about data loss. (Especially since I also got a Drobo FS loaded with 2TB drives as a back-up (time-macine) server.) - Cons: tried unsuccessfully to set it up with iSCSI and then went with FireWire 800. Not sure what I missed, it boots fine over FireWire.
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This is a special order item. Est. arrival at B&H is 7-14 days (subject to availability). Your order will be charged at the time of shipment.
What's in the Box
- Resource CD (Drobo Dashboard Application / Help Files / Electronic Documentation)
- External Power Supply (AC 100 - 240 V, 50/60 Hz)
- FireWire 800 Cable - 72" (182.9 cm)
- Ethernet Cable - 72" (182.9 cm)
- USB 2.0 Cable - 72" (182.9 cm)
- 2-Year Limited Warranty
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