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We give you a review of the Hauppauge HD PVR personal video recorder in this episode.
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DroboPro: 8 drives of networked goodness

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: PC / Laptop, Storage

DroboPro

You guys probably know that we are big fans of 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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Drobo Gets Apps To Serve You

Posted by Aaron Zollo Categories: Accessories, USB, Internet, Movies, Music, Peripherals, Software, Storage, Videos

Drobo Apps has been out for quite some time and serves the purpose of a “set-it-and-forget-it” backup solution.  Drobo has added a few apps that bring a nice “value-add” to their storage capability.  Data Robotics has released 19 applications for Drobo, and they seem to be highlighting three of those specifically due to their value to the average consumer. First, there’s the DroboApps Admin Utility, which allows you to manage your DroboApps via a web interface.  The second is Yoics, which gives you remote access to your Drobo and DroboShare from a web browser or mobile device like the .  Lastly, they are highlighting the Firefly iTunes Media Server that allows you to store all of your music, TV, and video content on the Drobo, and then serve that content to iTunes devices or computers around your home.

If you don’t yet have a storage solution and need a very reliable backup which also serves your media, then you should check out Drobo.  They range in price from $349 to $1049 and offer USB 2.0 and Firewire depending on the model you choose. In order to take advantage of the apps, you’ll also need the DroboShare NAS module, which will run you $199, on top of the cost of the Drobo itself.

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Data Robotics releases second gen Drobo

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

Drobo second generation

Yesterday, we would have said that 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.


Bleeding Edge TV 270: Computex 2008 - A look at the Promise SmartStor NAS Media Server

Posted by Nate True Categories: Gizmatic, Announcements, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies, Music, PC / Laptop, Storage, Videocasts, Videos


is meeting some fierce competition from Promise this year.  The SmartStor is an all-in-one RAID5 controller with hot-swappable drives just like the Drobo, but it also includes a built-in NAS to share files over the network, and a BitTorrent client to boot.  It’s compatible with dlna, UPnP, and AMD Live! systems so sharing media is a breeze as well.

We talk with Alex Ling from Promise at Computex 2008 and he walks us through the SmartStor’s many features.


Unboxing Live 035: Drobo and DroboShare

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Laptop, Networking, PC, Peripherals, Robots, Videocasts


Drobo is billed as the “World’s first data storage robot.”  We like to think of it as super, super simple data storage that also doubles as a fantastic backup destination. Backing up your data is both extremely boring, and excruciatingly essential. has tried to spice things up in this area with their technology in Leopard (which Drobo supports), and Windows Home Server offers easy backup for your Windows-based computers.

As you may recall, we got a full feature rundown of Drobo back at CES 2008, so check that out if you need a refresher, or in case you missed it. We were thoroughly impressed, and had to get our hands on one to bring you the scoop on what we think of the device after using it in the real world. While the review is soon to come, we knew you’d want to see the Drobo unboxed. Oh, and as a bonus, we also have the DroboShare as well. This add-on turns your Drobo into a NAS device, and can even pair two Drobos up together for the ultimate in small environment networked data storage.

Check out the video above for the full unboxing of the and DroboShare NAS device.


Bleeding Edge TV 244: A look at Drobo Storage Robot

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Accessories, Apple, CES, CES 2008, Design, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Storage, Videocasts


One of this year’s hottest topics is storage.  It seems like we’re about two steps away from getting flash drives as prizes in cereal boxes.  With the release of OSX and its Time Machine app, backing up computers has become easier than ever.  Enter Data Robotics’ Drobo storage robot.

As easy to use as a flash drive, the Drobo has four slots to accommodate 3.5” SATA I or II hard drives, and automatically makes redundant copies of data in order to protect from single drive failure.  Drobo uses 2.0 to make backing up quickly, and is fully operable with OSX and Windows 2000 and up.

Retailing at $499, Drobo comes with everything you need to get started except the hard drives.  It’s available now from online retailers.


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