Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure
The Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure from Data Robotics is an innovative external storage solution. The Drobo S features all of the convenience and data protection capabilities of a traditional RAID system, without the hassles and inflexibility that are associated with RAID storage. There is no need to install a full set of matched-capacity drives for functionality. You can start with a single drive and add storage as your needs increase. You'll even be able to remove a drive and replace it with one of equal or greater capacity, without having to first migrate data to another storage device.
When multiple drives are installed, the Drobo S supports data protection. If a drive fails, none of your data will be lost -- simply replace the failed drive and the Drobo will rebuild itself. When you have three or more drives installed, you can configure the Drobo S to protect against the failure of two drives, practically eliminating the possibility of data loss due to hard disk failure. The Drobo allows you to switch between single-drive and dual-drive redundancy without having to reformat your array.
The enclosure supports up to five standard 3.5" SATA hard drives. Your computer sees the Drobo as a single hard drive volume for the ultimate in ease of use. Indicator lights alert you to system status as well as available capacity. The Drobo S is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. It can connect via eSATA, FireWire-800, or USB 2.0.
- Your Personal Speed Demon: eSATA, FireWire-800, and USB 2.0
- Have a need for speed? With the new eSATA interface on Drobo S data transfer is up to 50% faster than FireWire 800. FireWire performance is even up to 25% faster than on previous systems and with enhanced USB 2.0, you'll have the flexibility to connect to almost any system
- Up to 5 Drives of Instant Expansion to 10TB and Beyond
- Grow your storage to meet with your data capacity needs with minimal effort. To add capacity, simply insert a new hard drive or replace your smallest drive with a larger one, even when all five drive bays are full. Unlike traditional RAID systems, the BeyondRAID technology found in Drobo S enables you to mix and match capacities, drive brands, and speeds. This allows for continuous expansion as drive capacities grow and larger drives become available. With Drobo S, expansion is automatic, instantaneous and access to data is always maintained
- Protection from Two Drive Failures
- Enable the dual-drive redundancy option to protect your data from failure of up to two hard drives. It's all done with a single click, and without ever losing access to your data. Running out of space? Switch back to single-drive redundancy. Unlike moving between traditional RAID 5 and RAID 6, there's no need to reformat or migrate data off of Drobo, potentially saving you hours or days
- Self-Healing Technology
- With the self-healing technology now incorporated into Drobo S, your data is safer than ever. Even when sitting idle, the Drobo will continually examine the blocks and sectors on every disk, flagging questionable areas. This preemptive "scrubbing" helps ensure your data is being written only to the healthy areas of your drives, and that your data is always safe. And if a drive fails, Drobo S will strive to keep your data in the safest state possible, utilizing the available space on the remaining healthy drives
- Windows, Mac, or Linux
- Drobo S connects to Windows, Mac and Linux systems and supports NTFS, HFS Plus, EXT3, and FAT32 file formats. Regardless of operating system, everyone can take advantage of simple, powerful, complete Drobo data protection
| Chipset | Drobo |
| Interface | eSATA, FireWire-800, USB 2.0 |
| Data Transfer Rate | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Drive Types Supported | 3.5" SATA and SATA II |
| System Requirements |
Computer: PC or Mac Operating System: Windows 2000 Server, 2003 Server, 2008 Server, XP, Vista, 7; Mac OS X 10.4; Linux using EXT3 Hardware: eSATA, FireWire-800, USB 2.0 port; 3.5" SATA hard drives to populate enclosure |
| Power Requirements | AC: 100-240VAC |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 5.9 x 7.3 x 10.3" (15 x 18.5 x 26.2cm) |
| Weight | 8 lb (3.6kg) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 57 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
85%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Easy to use (45)
- Easy to set up (36)
- Fast (30)
- Highly compatible (22)
- Compact (14)
Cons
- Slow (8)
- Pricey / poor value (4)
- Heavy / bulky (3)
- Insecure (3)
Best Uses
- High volume (32)
- Home (17)
- Sensitive materials (16)
- Small networks (8)
- Back-up (5)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Power user (48), Casual user (7)
- Primary use:
- Business (37), Personal (18)
Most Liked Positive Review
A fine upgrade
I have owned 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd generation Drobos. (though called the Drobo S, my BIOS detects this eSata drive as a 3rd generation)
I am glad to have ...Read complete review
I have owned 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd generation Drobos. (though called the Drobo S, my BIOS detects this eSata drive as a 3rd generation)
I am glad to have stuck with the company because this latest version is a great success. Here are the read-speed breakdowns as I've experienced them:
1st-gen: 8-15 MB/s
2nd-gen: 12-24 MB/s
3rd-gen: 60-80 MB/s!!!
When combined with the fact that this Drobo is completely compatible with disk packs from previous versions, it's the most painless upgrade I've ever experienced.
Power down the old drobo, remove the disks, put them in the new drobo and power it up. Done! The drive letter and label, the sharing and permissions they live on the disk pack rather than the unit, so moving them between drobo's is a breeze.
I've currently got two 2TB drives and two 1.5TB drives in there, for more than 4.5 TB of protected storage. The extra 5th slot means rather than swapping out to upgrade, I can just put in another 2TB to bring me up to 6.35 TB of protected space. Awesome!
So with the extra slot, the much-improved speeds, and the eSata compatibility, the only downside to this unit is the cost.
It's not cheap, but considering the amount of time and configuration it would take to do this myself - setting up a RAID card, installing hard drives while shutting down my DVR machine, and finding software to manage it - it is totally worth it.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
DROBO confused, and horrible tech help
I realize that this drive normally gets reviewed rather highly, but I have certainly had nothing akin to a positive experience with my Drobo S. I bought the array in order to hold massive ...Read complete review
I realize that this drive normally gets reviewed rather highly, but I have certainly had nothing akin to a positive experience with my Drobo S. I bought the array in order to hold massive amounts of transcoded video files for a large documentary project I'm working on (all 5 drive-slots filled with 2TB WD Caviar drives). For some reason, my drobo appears to be caught in a confused state where it thinks the array is close to capacity and is subsequently performing at a remarkably slow rate. I've been working to get help from their tech support for almost a week now and have yet to speak to someone who can help address my problem (that's not for lack of trying/barking). Everything I have done with the drive has been according to their instruction, so whatever I am experiencing is certainly a problem with their product functioning correctly. I am under a horrible deadline with a large screening event happening in LA in one week and cannot perform my work effectively. Their "tier 2" techs show up to work late, leave early and don't prioritize professional customer concerns (pressing deadlines, etc.). Honestly, it is unacceptable.
It is quite possible that my drive just experienced a rare fluke, which I can understand. My main gripe is with their lack of effective customer service. You need to know that when your work is in a state of crisis a company like Data Robotics will be able to effectively address your concerns. That's the bottom line. As it appears, they seem incapable of doing that with their current company culture. I couldn't be more dissatisfied.
I will never purchase another piece of equipment from Data Robotics.
REVIEWS
Reviewed by 57 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-20
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Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
- Highly Compatible
Cons
Best Uses
- High Volume
- Sensitive Materials
- Small Networks
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Had it already less than a month and was able to handle a tremendous amount of media content for multiple clients. Works great, noise is noticeable but not distracting.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
- Fast
Cons
- Noise
Best Uses
- High Volume
- Home
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I plugged in 3 drives and they've been quietly (mostly) working in the back corner of my desk keeping my photos, videos, music safe and sound. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the fan is a little louder than I'd like.
Expandable to 16TB! It'll be a while before I can get to that amount of data.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Manage
Cons
Best Uses
- Home
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Buy this for photos backup, easy to install, nice software. Expensive.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Compact
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
- Fast
- Great support
- Highly Compatible
- Well designed
Cons
Best Uses
- Back up
- High Volume
- Home
- Sensitive Materials
- Video editing
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I use it for storing all my video footage. I've used other hard drive arrays before that I mirrored together, but once one hard drive stopped working my computer didn't recognize the other drives. So it was pointless to have it, no protection. With the Drobo I don't have to worry, it repairs itself, and doesn't actually loose my data, and minimal down time. I use Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB hard drives with it. Easy to install and set up. This is actually my second Drobo, the original one I ordered died. But the tech support at Data Robotics is very fast and helpful, I got a replacement Drobo two days later and back up and running. No data missing.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
- Fast
Cons
- Fan noise
Best Uses
- Backup
- Extended storage
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
This is my second Drobo. Bought the very first that came out and loved it! Unfortunately, it was USB only and I needed something faster. The Drobo S with FireWire 800 and eSata connection is blazing fast. The new enclosure is also a big improvement, 5 bays vs. 4 before.Had to replace couple HDDs either to increase storage capacity of due to tech problems and the Drobo just delivered as promised. I could still access all my data while it was rebuilding the new disks. Simply brilliant![...]
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
Cons
- Bulky
- Slow
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I put my media libraries on the three 1 TB set up and was hoping to access iPhoto easily from it. The start up and search can lock up the program, not ideal.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
Cons
- Complicated To Set Up
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I am just referencing a previous review as it was dead on for my issue with the Drobo S. [...] Now I have no choice but to use firewire 800 for this enclosure."This may be a wonderful storage device. I don't know. I can't use mine. I paid[$] for the box and 5 WD-CB 2T drives. It turns out it doesn't work with most eSATA cards. Check the Drobo site under support for the Drobo-S, search on eSATA - you will discover that it only works with 3 eSATA cards - and once you try to purchase one of those cards, you will discover that they are obscure. BUYER BEWARE! You will need to modify your ports before you will be able to use this device. Drobo does not sell the required card, nor does B&H. I'm still waiting for one to be delivered (after quite a search to find one). [...]I have an old 4-bay Drobo that has been good. I'm only hoping I can get the new one to work. [...]INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION ABOUT A DEVICE THAT IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH MOST ESATA CARDS! BEWARE! ... and be prepared to purchase additional hardware before you can use this!"
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Highly Compatible
Cons
Best Uses
- High Volume
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Great device to edit from.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Setup
- Fast
Cons
Best Uses
- High Volume
- Home
- Sensitive Materials
- Small Networks
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
File storage
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
- Highly Compatible
Cons
- Slow
Best Uses
- High Volume
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
image storage
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
- Fast
- Highly Compatible
Cons
Best Uses
- Sensitive Materials
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I do back up my wedding pictures in it, good performance, lighting speed and really easy to use, you do not have to do almost anything to set it up.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Set Up
Cons
- Proprietary Format
- Software Failure Possible
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Ok, I have been using my drobo now for about 4 months. I'm not in love anymore. Yes, my data is protected from a hard drive failure. BUT!!, it is not protected from a Drobo Directory Failure!!! Drobo has a really easily corruptable directory. It the directory gets corrupted..guess what..Ya can't get to your data!!! And, you can't just pop your drives out and put em in an external enclosure and retrieve the data. It's written in a proprietary format. My directory has corrupted twice now! It's a huge black box paper weight right now. 4 TB of data...that I CAN'T ACCESS!!
I don't know what the solution is right now, but, I'm getting rid of this unit! Drobo's customer service is a JOKE!!! Standard answers are: Reboot the unit..(no kidding!!), it's the Mac's fault..., etc... I'm not an idiot! (can you tell I'm a bit bitter right now...) :-)
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
- Fast
- Highly Compatible
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Seamless plug and play solution to protect all of my HD video, Music, Photos and other space intensive media. This "robot" makes storage, backup and redundant protection seamless. Easy to install Hard Drives and set up. Only issue is high pitched sound coming from unit that is low but audible. Can be annoying in a silent room but not noticeable if other equipment is on. 5stars if the noise was not audible.
- Primary use:
- Personal
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
- Fast
Cons
- Bulky
- Costly
Best Uses
- High Volume
- Home
- Sensitive Materials
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
First off, this is not a long term review since I have had my Drobo S for only a week. Just my initial thoughts which are all positive. I first bought the Western Digital multi bay device but discovered it had no way to connect to a single PC as an external HD storage device. It was for networks only. It took me several months to stomach the cost of the Drobo S but I got tired of replacing single drive external HDs so I took the plunge. I am far from being computer expert so I was really worried about my ability to set this thing up. In reality, it was very simple. Load the software into your computer, insert the HDs as shown in the Drobo video, attach the cable and plug it in. It tok about 15 minutes. I learned from prior reviews to set it to 16 gb but it set itself there anyway. It took 2 days for the Drobo Share utility to appear on my taskbar, why I don't have a clue. Once it appeared it was easy to set because it has few options but was adequate for me setting 2x week backups of one folder without deleting files I may delete from my PC hard drive. (you can set up to 7 day a week backups and auto delete files removed from your PC too) I went with 3 Western Digital 2tb caviar black HDs to start. The Drobo spins them down after a preset time so I saw no benefit in getting the green HDs. You do need 3 HDs to do the dual redundancy to protect against 2 HD failures. I used the USB 2.0 connecters and they are fast. I will have esata built into my next PC though for even more speed. The Drobo S is metal and appears to be extremely well thought out and made. It is bulky--about the size of a loaf of bread and the fan sound is noticeable but not too intrusive. Oh yeah, it comes with cables for esata, USB and Firewire. It is great to see all that open storage space now.
- Primary use:
- Personal
- Similar:
- Western Digital external HDs
Pros
Cons
- Insecure
- Slow
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I bought 2 Drobo S units in early 2010. Both suffered operational faults when connected to Esata or USB. One just lost 1/3rd of my business image files, never mind that this is supposedly a raid unit where if one drive fails, you don't lose the data. They continually trip off, continually aren't visible in explorer. Customer service finds every nonDrobo related fault they can, pointing their fingers anywhere but their own unit. They say they have to troubleshoot the problem before replacing the unit, never mind that the warranty stipulates no such thing. And there is no end to the troubleshooting - they address a list of probable issues and come up with more - all related to your own nonDrobo equipment. As a professional photographer, I'll never buy anything from this company again. It's a disfunctional product, dishonest customer service, and a company with tech support that can't see the fact that at some point they've spent more in Drobo staff support dollars on a claim than it would cost them to replace the unit.
Paul
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
Cons
- Complicated To Set Up
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
This may be a wonderful storage device. I don't know. I can't use mine. I paid $1,500 for the box and 5 WD-CB 2T drives. It turns out it doesn't work with most eSATA cards. Check the Drobo site under support for the Drobo-S, search on eSATA - you will discover that it only works with 3 eSATA cards - and once you try to purchase one of those cards, you will discover that they are obscure. BUYER BEWARE! You will need to modify your ports before you will be able to use this device. Drobo does not sell the required card, nor does B&H. I'm still waiting for one to be delivered (after quite a search to find one). [...]I have an old 4-bay Drobo that has been good. I'm only hoping I can get the new one to work. This is ***VERY BAD MARKETING*** INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION ABOUT A DEVICE THAT IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH MOST ESATA CARDS! BEWARE! ... and be prepared to purchase additional hardware before you can use this!
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
- Fast
Cons
- Bulky
Best Uses
- High Volume
- Sensitive Materials
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
Before Drobo, my ghetto harddrive would recycle for up to a minute trying to load a photo in lightroom. File transfers took forever. Drobo is quick and easy and I feel sooo organized. Finally ALL of my files in one place. Love love love.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
- Compact
- Easy To Manage
- Easy To Set Up
Cons
- Slow
Best Uses
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I bought the Drobo S to use for editing HDV content as I've been doing for many years with my older FW800 drives. When I connected the Drobo S to my 1st Gen 24 inch iMac's FW800 port, it appeared to write at normal speeds but couldn't read very well at all and was totally un-usable for video editing. I opened a support ticket with Data Robotics and they believed there was an incompatibility issue with the Drobo S and "older Macs". To make sure I didn't have a bad Drobo S, I returned it and got another one...same problem. Data Robotics wouldn't go into letting me know which older Macs had this incompatibility. It's my understanding that my iMac was the first model to feature a FW800 port so I guess the 1st Gen 24 inch iMac is one of those "older Macs". They said that the Drobo S may had been overloading the FW800 port on the iMac. It has crossed my mind that something could be wrong with my port, but again, I've been using FW800 drives for years on this iMac and I still am today without any sort of problem.
- Primary use:
- Business
Pros
Cons
- Insecure
- Slow
Best Uses
- Home
Comments about Drobo S 5-Bay Array Enclosure:
I purchased the Drobo intending to use it as a backup and archiving tool for my photography and HD video (mostly from my Canon 5D). I'm using a Mac Pro with Mac OS 10.6.4. I purchased three 2TB Green drives from Western Digital to start me off.
Setup was relatively easy, but I began having problems as soon as Time Machine began to run its backup. I encountered strange errors that hosed the whole system and left me with no choice but to reformat the Drobo. This happened several times. I looked through the Data Robotics support forums, as well as all kinds of troubleshooting forums and pages, but in the end, I was never able to successfully backup my Macintosh HD, though any other drive was successful. Even after that... I transferred 750GB to one of the partitions on the Drobo and the next day it was gone. I didn't bother trying to troubleshoot because I was so frustrated, but after a day or so, I looked at the drive and all the data was back. WEIRD. That's just not too comforting when you're putting your life's work on a device like this.
Data transfer, even over eSATA was painfully slow. What made my task so arduous is that each backup took over a day to complete, so every time I had to reformat, I was screaming NOOOO!!!
I believe if the Drobo's intended use is for storing basic backup, or maybe a home use storage for iPhoto or iTunes, then it will work well. When it is stressed with very high capacities and demands for any sort of speed, the system is not reliable.
For me, the search for a hassle-free backup and archive strategy continues.
- Primary use:
- Business
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Replacement Drives
- Price: $88.99
Host Adapters
- Price: $57.38
Surge Protection
- Price: $88.15
What's in the Box
- External Power Supply (100-240V) with US (110V) Power Cord
- eSATA Cable
- FireWire-800 Cable
- USB 2.0 Cable
- Software Resource CD-ROM with Drobo Dashboard Application, Help Files, How-to Videos, and Electronic Documentation
- User Guide
- Quick Start Card
- 1-Year Limited Warranty
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