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Drobo Mini 4-Bay Enclosure

BH #DRDRMINI1A21 • MFR #DR-MINI-1A21
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Drobo Mini 4-Bay Enclosure
Key Features
  • Portable RAID
  • Holds 4 x 2.5" SATA HDDs (not included)
  • Holds 1 x mSATA SSD (not included)
  • Thunderbolt / USB 3.0
How about all of that Drobo power in an itty-bitty form factor? The sporty and compact Drobo Mini 4-bay Enclosure has all the power of the Drobo 5D, but the footprint of the unit isn't much bigger than a deli sandwich. Made of a cutting-edge metallic carbon fiber with a soft-touch rubberized finish, the unit feels like it's ready to be field-tested right out of the box. And because it uses 2.5" drives, primarily found in laptop computers, the unit is made to moved, from the studio to the worksite to the client's office.
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Drobo DR-MINI-1A21 Overview

How about all of that Drobo power in an itty-bitty form factor? The sporty and compact Drobo Mini 4-bay Enclosure has all the power of the Drobo 5D, but the footprint of the unit isn't much bigger than a deli sandwich. Made of a cutting-edge metallic carbon fiber with a soft-touch rubberized finish, the unit feels like it's ready to be field-tested right out of the box. And because it uses 2.5" drives, primarily found in laptop computers, the unit is made to moved, from the studio to the worksite to the client's office.

You can fit up to up to four (4) 2.5" SATA I / II / III hard disk drives of any manufacturer, capacity, spindle speed, and/or cache, or solid state drives (enterprise-class hard drives are not supported) that are between 7mm and 9.5mm in height (drives sold separately) and one (1) mSATA solid state drive in the Drobo Accelerator Bay for increased performance.

We've talked about Thunderbolt before - it's 25 x faster than USB 2.0 - and its data transfer rates almost approach warp speed, but more importantly, it reliably and safely transfers big-project data across multiple disks. Imagine having to put a crucial 200GB file on a USB 2.0 drive, as you're late for an important meeting and running out the door. You'll be delayed for ten minutes or more, trust us. The same crucial information on a Thunderbolt attached drive - 20 seconds.

You can also daisy-chain up to six Thunderbolt devices and/or a non-Thunderbolt monitor at the end of the chain. And, the bi-directional 10 Gbps performance of Thunderbolt allows all devices in the chain to achieve maximum throughput. Please note that a Thunderbolt cable is not included and is sold separately.

But Thunderbolt isn't the only option. The Drobo Mini also sports USB 3.0 connections, which is still 12 x above the transfer rates for USB 2.0. This interface allows PC users to utilize the power of the Drobo 5D right out of the box.

The Drobo Mini also uses their proprietary Data-Aware Tiering technology, usually reserved for business-class storage solutions, but also available in this desktop Drobo. It intelligently uses the high-performance flash in SSDs to accelerate performance of the storage array, allowing applications such as Adobe Premiere and Apple Aperture fast access to data.

And the Drobo Mini is built on the BeyondRAID technology, which features single- or dual-drive redundancy. This added layer of protection will create mirrors of one drive so that you'll always have a backup. Paired with the ability to hot-swap drives, this conceivably allows you to formulate a game plan on the fly in the case of a drive failure or power outage.

Speaking of power outages, the Drobo Mini also includes a battery backup - when power is spontaneously interrupted, the battery keeps the Drobo alive long enough for the data to be written to non-volatile storage. The battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of the product.

The design of the unit has you in mind as well -it's sleek, sturdy, and has a carrierless drive-bay design so that hard drives fit closer to each other, and the unit houses a significantly quieter variable-speed cooling fan.

BeyondRAID Technology
BeyondRaid Technology features single- or dual-drive redundancy. This added layer of protection will create mirrors of one drive so that you'll always have a backup.
Data Aware Tiering
Data-Aware Tiering technology, usually reserved for business-class storage solutions, is also available in this portable Drobo. It intelligently uses the high-performance flash in SSDs to accelerate performance of the storage array, allowing applications such as Adobe Premiere and Apple Aperture fast access to data.
First Drobo with 2.5" Drives
Four hot-swappable drive bays support drives of any capacity (enterprise-class hard drives are not supported). No carriers or screws are needed to insert drives into a Drobo Mini. An innovative new design allows drives to click in and out like a ballpoint pen. Since 2.5" drives are primarily used in laptop computers, they're designed to be portable. Because of this, you can pick up and move Drobo Mini around with confidence.
Thunderbolt and USB 3.0
Drobo Mini is equipped with dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy chaining. Connect up to six Thunderbolt devices and/or a non-Thunderbolt monitor at the end of the chain. This allows even the most portable laptop computers access to high-performance storage while retaining connectivity to other devices and an external monitor. Drobo is the only storage array that offers Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. This latest USB also offers high-performance connectivity and is backward compatibility with computers running compatible versions of Mac OS X or Windows.
Power and Critical Data
Drobo doesn't just protect you from a drive failure, but also from potential data loss after a power outage. Drobo Mini includes a battery that protects all data in memory, or cache, that is, data on its way to the drives. When power spontaneously goes away, the battery keeps the Drobo alive long enough for the data to be written to nonvolatile storage. The battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of the product.

Drobo DR-MINI-1A21 Specs

Interface
Thunderbolt (Mac only)
USB 3.0
Drive Types Supported
SATA I/II/III
mSATA
System Requirements
Mac OS X 10.7 and higher
Windows 7 SP1 32- and 64-bit
Windows 8 32 and 64 bit
Power Requirements
AC Input - 100-240VAC~2A, 50-60Hz
DC Output - 12V, 4.16A, 50W max
Dimensions
Width: 7.3 in x 1.8 x 7.1" / 187.2 x 44.6 x 180.0 mm
Weight
2.2 lb / 1 kg (without hard drives, power supply, or packaging)
Packaging Info
Package Weight
4.45 lb
Box Dimensions (LxWxH)
13.1 x 8.8 x 3.2"

Drobo DR-MINI-1A21 Reviews

See any errors on this page? Let us know

question

Does it works with a single 25 Hdd of 4tb ?
Asked by: Sergio
It can work with a single drive. But the physical dimensions of the drive must be between 7 and 9.5mm in order to fit into the bays. The 2.5 4TB drives will be too large. For anything 2TB or less, these should fit find, but Drobo needs RAID in order to operate. So the drive will self-mirror. Meaning you'll only have half of the space of the drive as usable storage. The recommended configuration will be at least 2 drives.
Answered by: Brett B. Drobo Expert
Date published: 2018-08-28

question

I would like to set up a Drobo system that acts as both storage for my photos and as a SSD Boot drive for my iMac. Would it be possible to install one SSD drive that boots the operating system of my imac and devote the remaining three bays of the Drobo Mini to storage and redundancy drives?
Asked by: Andy D.
According to Drobo's FAQ: not at this time but working on it if connected using thunderbolt,but should work if connected using the much slower usb 2.0 port.I cannot post a link to Drobo's FAQ here, but search on google for drobo AA-01755 and you should get the article AA-01755 on drobo's site.
Answered by: Serge E.
Date published: 2018-08-28
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