Data Robotics answers common iSCSI questions

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, PC / Laptop, Storage, Videos

Data Robotics, the peeps behind the Drobo and DroboPro, have put up a video answering some common questions about the DroboPro’s iSCSI interface. If you’ve been considering a DroboPro, and were wondering about this spec (which, by all accounts, is fantastic,) check out the video above.

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DroboPro: 8 drives of networked goodness

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: PC / Laptop, Storage

You guys probably know that we are big fans of Drobo here at Gear Live, which is why we are happy to bring news of the DroboPro. When the last Drobo refresh happened a few months ago, the DroboPro is what we were hoping we would see. A smart, sexy, almost-foolproof NAS box that can currently hold up to 16 TB of storage in its 8 hard drive bays. So, what else is different about the DroboPro, aside from the 4 extra drive slots? How about that fact that there is no need to purchase a DroboShare to get this thing on your network? It has an integrated gigabit Ethernet port, in addition to it’s dual FireWire 800 ports and USB 2.0 connection. The gigabit Ethernet uses iSCSI, which allows for speedy file transfer of about 100 MB per second. Not bad, at all.

The DroboPro is also rack-mountable, thanks to the wider form factor. Drobo is definitely coming out big with this one. We desperately want to get our hands on one (along with either 2 TB hard drives.) Oh wait, did you feel that? That was the shudder of realizing that this might be a tad on the expensive side. You see, ordering a DroboPro with no hard drives will run you $1300. Of course, for businesses and the like, not a big deal—but for us home folk, it’s spendy in this rough economic climate. Still, price notwithstanding, the DroboPro is slick. Hit the jump for a shot of the back of the unit.

Click to continue reading DroboPro: 8 drives of networked goodness

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Data Robotics releases second gen Drobo

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Storage

Yesterday, we would have said that Drobo is the best external storage solution out there, but today’s news cements that statement. The folks at Data Robotics have just announced the second generation Drobo, and this one is a doozy. The new Drobo is faster inside and out, and we are impressed. First and foremost, Drobo now features two FireWire 800 ports, while maintaining the USB 2.0 connection of the original Drobo. The two ports mean you can daisy chain these bad boys together. The core processor has also been upgraded, so Drobo feels snappier to boot. They’ve also done some firmware tweaking, so now heavy load won’t start bogging down Drobo’s software. What does all this mean? The new Drobo is more than twice as fast as the original at reading data, and almost twice as fast as writing data as well.

In terms of pricing, the good news is that there is no price increase. The second generation Drobo can be purchased on its own for $499 USD. If you want a couple of 1TB drives thrown in, then the bundle will run you $899. If you want to go all out and bundle in 4 1TB drives, then that will cost you $1,299. That’s the best deal on the market quite frankly, as Data Robotics just buys their drives direct from drive manufacturers and doesn’t mark up pricing when bundling them with Drobo units. With the new speeds, Drobo is starting to look like a location for primary storage rather than just secondary. We like where this is heading.

The second-gen Drobo is compatible with the DroboShare NAS add-on, and if you are upgrading from the older model, you can simply pull the drives right out of those and drop them into the new model, and you will be up and running immediately. If you prefer to keep the older version, and just want to chain it to the newer model, you can do that too.

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