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Windows Home Server and Central Axis, Look Out: Drobo Broadens Network Media Server Category

Posted 07/04/08 at 01:23:24 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Drobo 101: Flexible BYOD ("Bring Your Own Disks") Storage

Drobo combines the data-protection features of a RAID array, the storage pooling of JBOD ("just a bunch of disks"), and the ability to mix or match one to four SATA drives into a compact, USB 2.0 storage device that works with PCs, Linux boxes, or MacOS computers. See the data sheet (PDF format) here. Our tests found that the Drobo was quite slow compared to a standalone SATA drive in an enclosure. However, network storage is a different ballgame.

Drobo 202: Adding DroboShare

The DroboShare add-on enables you to connect one or two Drobos to your network via Gigabit Ethernet, and unlike some network storage devices, you can freely switch between local and network storage uses any time.

DroboShare + SDK = Network Media Server and Much More

There's a lot of interest in easy-to-use network media servers these days, as demonstrated by our stories on Windows Home Server and Maxtor Central Axis. Thanks to the release of the Drobo SDK, developers can now develop servers and other network apps for Drobo.

To demonstrate what's possible, the SDK includes a sample UPnP/DNLA server to provide streaming media to PS3, Xbox 360, and other compatible devices, a Linux version of the Drobo Dashboard control utility, and a Windows apps that displays the actual size of storage available in your Drobo configuration.

Joining the DroboApps Family

Data Robotics will launch a DroboApps website in the near future to feature applications from developers. So, if you're a developed excited about Drobo, get started by joining the developer community, which will enable you to download the Drobo SDK and sample apps.

Deals on Drobo

To get you started with Drobo, Data Robotics is currently offering special bundle prices on Drobo + 1TB Western Digital Green Power drives through its own DroboStore as well as major online vendors. Don't forget to grab a DroboShare as well if you want to put Drobo on the network.

Drobo Good? Drobo Bad? Feedback Wanted!

The comments section of the Endgadget story on Drobo's SDK features a vigorous discussion (translation: a knock-down, drag-out fight) about networking Drobo and alternatives. What say you? If you use Drobo and DroboShare, use an alternative, or have other useful comments, celebrate Independence Day by telling us exactly what you think.

Drobo+DroboShare image courtesy of Data Robotics.

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Drobo: Good and the Bad
Submitted by endee on Sat, 07/05/2008 - 10:06am

We've owned a Drobo for about a month now. It holds four 750GB WD "green" drives configured into a 2TB partitition and a second tiny unused partition. Typically the 2TB partition is 70% full. So far the Drobo has been attached to a media server PC using the USB 2.0 connection; We haven't decided if the NAS addon is worth it yet.

The Good:

The Drobo was easy to set up and configure and has been running 24/7 without problems since some initial thermal issues.

Though we haven't done this personally, we should be able to replace the current drives with higher capacity drives as needed without having to back up the existing files. Further, if the Drobo itself should fail, the drives can be moved to a new Drobo without losing data. As far as we know, no NAS running raid 5 can do that.

The Drobo automatically defrags and monitors disk health. All we do is the occasional AV scan.

The Drobo looks sharp and is farily compact, though a little deep.

Data Robotics tech support is live and very knowledgeable.

The Bad:

When we first setup the Drobo, it was placed inside an AV cabinet with good air flow. After running one or two hours, it would shut down indicating an overtemp condition. After a couple of days of this, the Drobo was moved to the top of the cabinet, where it's been running continuously without incident ever since. Data Robotics analyzed the log which indicated the unit was reaching 52 degrees C before shutting down.

The reason we put the Drobo inside the cabinet was the fan; it noisy and runs continuously. We're looking at the expensive NAS add on so that the Drobo can be moved far from our media center.

As mentioned in the article, the Drobo is slow. However, for most media streaming it's adequate. However, at least once a day, the data transfer rate drops to zero for a period that can last up to a minute. These breaks correspond to high disk activity inside the Drobo. To insure media files play back without interruption, we copy the file from the Drobo to our media center' PC's hard drive first.

The status lights are bright and flashy, but not that informative. A status screen like on the D-link NAS DNS-343 would have been appreciated. The Drobo Dashboard software doesn't include a tool for reading the non-text logs.

We're currently on the fence concerning the Drobo: does the setup and upgrade convenience outweigh the data transfer interruptions, noisy fan, and expensive NAS add on?

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