Drobo

[Deward]

Anyone got one of these or seen one? I've been looking at them and they look pretty cool. Ebay has them as low as $425. My only wish is that they were wireless capable but seem cool regardless.

[Winnow]

yeah, i posted about this awhile back.

cool tech but too slow. if they have a gigabit network version it would be tempting but USB is way to slow for mass storage.

here are my comments from the old thread:

It's a kick ass concept. I really like where it's going.

The review is good but also watching the video is the best way to get a good idea of how it all works:

http://www.drobo.com/products_demo.aspx

I did comb over the Drobo forums and found that the thing sounds like a 747 jet engine unfortunately which totally defeats the idea of using it as an HTPC media server.

Here's what they need to improve or add:

-reduce the fan noise (this thing is tiny and will sit on the desk close to the user most likely. Can't be noisy!
-add Esata or NAS gigabit to it's connection options (they want the device hassle free but USB 2 is waaaaay to slow for TB's of data)
-deal with the 2TB limit. I think i saw mentioned that the size limit is a USB issue. People will want more than 2TB.
-reduce the cost. I would pay $500.00 for an eSata version but wouldn't feel great about it and $500.00 is way over what most people will pay for this sort of thing. They need to get it down to the ~200.00 area if they want to mass market it.

People on the Drobo forums are bitching up a storm over the noise level and asking for a faster interface version so hopefully we'll see an eSata version in a year. It's a good sign that they've posted a job opening for someone experienced in that area. I'm all over this Drobo thing if they can make those improvements. Where do I buy the stock!? Damn private companies!

[Aslanna]

Was a few (3!) posts about it in this thread. It looked interesting but I think from what I read I decided it wasn't something I'd purchase.

[Deward]

I suppose I should have searched but I didn't realize it had been around that long. I was a bit worried about the USB2 speed. I just got a usb dvd-rom drive and installing games off it is damn slow. I'll watch for a faster connection option and buy it then. I still like the concept.