Drobo FW800 Storage

A couple of people on the outdoorphoto forum have used them (ODP sells them).
 
I am planning to get one if they ever build one for 2.5" drives. For now I have a sweet linux-raid + LVM setup going which essentially gives me the same thing sans automation but for a fraction of the price.

It uses what Data Robotics calls "BeyondRaid" which is really misleading. Despite their fancy terminology, it's pretty much the same thing that I do (raid-5 and raid-1 arrays with a logical volume on top), it's just very well automated. Read George Ou's two reviews for some in-depth information of how it works.

It uses the VxWorks operating system, btw.
 
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Yes I have the FW800 unit and am very happy with it. I had one of the new drives fail @3 months old. The software warns you of the failure, but you can continue to operate. I sent the drive back to Seagate and they replaced it.

After reinstalling the new drive it then takes about 5 hours to rebuild (1Tb drives).

Drobo has now released the Pro, which takes up to 8 drives and adds iSCSI (gig ethernet)

http://www.drobo.com/products/drobopro/index.php
 
morebroadband said:
Yes I have the FW800 unit and am very happy with it. I had one of the new drives fail @3 months old. The software warns you of the failure, but you can continue to operate. I sent the drive back to Seagate and they replaced it.

After reinstalling the new drive it then takes about 5 hours to rebuild (1Tb drives).

Drobo has now released the Pro, which takes up to 8 drives and adds iSCSI (gig ethernet)

http://www.drobo.com/products/drobopro/index.php
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Thanks for that.

It should be said that the Pro version retails for R14,000-15,000 without the drives, while the standard one sells for R5400,00. B&H's prices are a bit cheaper so it's possible to import too (works out R1000 less on the standard version).

What sort of sustained read and write speeds do you get through your FW800 Drobo connection? I heard most reviewers were disappointed with the performance which is slower than a single drive.
 
I used the drobo for a short while and was not impressed at all. As a general home network type storage i guess its ok, but there are other solutions out there (G-tech) which i would say would be a better option. I also did not like the management of the drives or as mentioned the read/write speeds
 
tau1z said:
I used the drobo for a short while and was not impressed at all. As a general home network type storage i guess its ok, but there are other solutions out there (G-tech) which i would say would be a better option. I also did not like the management of the drives or as mentioned the read/write speeds
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Was this the FW800 drobo or it's predecessor?
 
bwana said:
Was this the FW800 drobo or it's predecessor?
Click to expand...

TBH it was the predecessor, but unless they improved more than the fw800, I still would not view it as a viable option. I want a solid "proper" raid configuration with decent transfer speeds.
 
The speeds reported in reviews (see tomshardware, for example) are far too slow to be attributable to USB.

The other thing I'm wondering about is weather the fancy management stuff is done by the firmware on the drobo (given the performance, I have my doubts) or by the software you install in your computer.
 
koffiejunkie said:
The speeds reported in reviews (see tomshardware, for example) are far too slow to be attributable to USB.

The other thing I'm wondering about is weather the fancy management stuff is done by the firmware on the drobo (given the performance, I have my doubts) or by the software you install in your computer.
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From what i remember its actually done on the drobo...
 
tau1z said:
From what i remember its actually done on the drobo...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just realised, if you're using a droboshare, it can't be done from the computer. Either ways, the reported speeds are still pretty pathetic. Just to put it in perspective, on my linux storage box, I have three 5400rpm notebook drives, of different sizes, with software raid and lvm on top of that. Copying large files (basically my "episode" collection) gives me 35-40MB/s sustained throughput.
 
PeterCh, Apologies for the late reply..!

I have not measured speeds, but I am happy with the performance. My main use is for photography. I connect using the FW800, and don't seem to have any speed issues with my large catalogue. I run my LightRoom catalogue from the Drobo.

I am not sure if this would be applicable for video, which i assume your need is?
 
tau1z said:
From what i remember its actually done on the drobo...
Click to expand...

This is done from the Drobo itself. There are led lights on the front of the unit, and they change colour based on the status of the drives. Each drive has its own light. All is controlled from the firmware.

If/When there is a failure the lights on the Drobo change colour, and the software notifies you of the bad drive & warns you that you can continue working, but there is no more redundancy.

As stated I am happy with the unit as it just works.
 
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