Data Robotics offers Drobo / Western Digital combos at deep discounts

If you're having a tough time picking a storage solution, the Drobo folks may have just made your choice a lot easier. Starting today, the company is offering the first-ever bundles of its much-loved drive array with Western Digital GreenPower SATA hard drives in 2TB and 4TB configurations at a pretty deep discount. Besides knocking $50 off the price of a standalone Drobo (reducing the cost to $449), the 2TB and 4TB versions will clock in at $749 and $1075 apiece, giving you a savings of up to $528. The deals require a mail-in rebate, and you can still add any type of drive you want. Hit the read link for all the info, and for the love of all that's sacred... start backing up!

[pryomaniac555 @ May 28th 2008 4:16PM]

HP MediaSmart Server still better. It allows remote access.

[aaron @ May 28th 2008 4:36PM]

I was all set to buy a drobo (was only waiting for the esata version)... usb kills the usefulness of this imo.

but then windows home server was announced and does everything this does and more..... for the same price more or less. im still waiting for whs version 2 because i want media center & basic domain support and am hoping that comes in the next version. but if i was buying something today it would no question be a mediasmart server.

[ScOObyDoo @ May 28th 2008 5:07PM]

Plus it throws in random data loss for free!

And yes; I suffered a loss of over 1Tb of data on my HP WHS which forced me to sell the POS on Ebay. And no, Microsoft have STILL not fixed that bug, the same one they reported back in December.

[Brett @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:49AM]

When I SSH into my iMac I can access my external drive. Isn't that just as good?

[ry @ May 28th 2008 4:29PM]

I have yet to figure out why someone would buy one of these in the first place...

[Michael Scrip @ May 28th 2008 4:36PM]

Different strokes for different folks I guess

A 1TB HP MediaSmart Server (2x500GB) is $700.
A 2TB Drobo (2x1TB) is $749.

The HP MediaSmart Server is a complete computer, with an OS, RAM, etc.
The Drobo is a self contained, easy to use box.

I wish the Drobo had built in networking... but those who have a Drobo love it anyway.

[ry @ May 28th 2008 5:01PM]

michael:
Couldn't agree more about different strokes... I myself after lots of research went with dlink DNS-323 http://wiki.dns323.info/
Hackable dual-drive unit that you can setup in raid1 or 0, has very little power consumption, and does all kinds of fun uPnP and itunes serving things out of the box, and anything that linux can run with a little fidgeting.

You don't get the "add a random sized drive", but it also only costs ~$100, networking included, so you can just get a second if you need more space and still save yourself $500.

I guess if you really want to be able to just throw in random drives it might be worthwhile, but that's not the way I'd use a NAS type box, and certainly isn't worth $500+ in my book.

[rj @ May 28th 2008 5:26PM]

ry, where is the DNS-323 ~$100?

[ry @ May 29th 2008 12:53PM]

rj,
it was a special at microcenter with a mail-in rebate about 1-2 months ago.

[pathfinda @ May 28th 2008 4:55PM]

If Drobo was offering a deal including the DroboShare, I would be all over this. (http://www.drobo.com/products_droboshare.html)

I wonder if this can be used with a ReadyNAS? If software need to be loaded on a PC to view the data\drives?

[Jason @ May 28th 2008 4:59PM]

How is this a deal? Drobo is $449 after rebate on Newegg, WD drives are $199. Where's the $500 in savings? If it was priced at $600 for the Drobo and 2TB then I would probably jump on this.

[Michael Scrip @ May 28th 2008 5:32PM]

The 4 WD drives would cost $800 alone. Then add the $450 Drobo.

Of course Drobo wants you to believe there is a $500 savings. It might not be that much... but it's still savings a couple hundred $.

[Akshat @ May 28th 2008 5:18PM]

Some quick Newegg sleauthing seems to show that 500GB*4 (2TB) would cost $320, so the 2 TB Drobo would cost 450+320= $770

A $21 saving then i guess ...

[Michael Scrip @ May 28th 2008 5:25PM]

The 2TB Drobo deal is using two 1TB drives... not 4 500GB drives.

[Akshat @ May 28th 2008 5:33PM]

mmm good point

[Dave @ May 28th 2008 7:14PM]

What's the point of a device that takes SATA drives when you're going to hobble it's connectivity with a USB only interface?

eSATA RAID enclosures can be had for less money than the DROBO. I want to want one of these things (or maybe it's just my Cali-lust), but I just don't see the value in one compared to other options on the market.

[claykin @ May 28th 2008 8:14PM]

I thought the WD Caviar GP drives are experiencing huge problems in RAID enclosures. Users with Synology, Readynas and Qnap NAS boxes are complaining left and right. See here: http://www.synology.com/enu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6942&start=0

WHS, still buggy and not worth considering until Microsoft gets it right and tests it in the real world.

Dlink DNS323 is a toy. It may work for some, but others have complained about failed RAID 1 drives not being reported to the user, leaving data at serious risk. Also, I've heard of RAID 1 rebuilds erasing the good drive. Supposedly this has been fixed by Dlink but it doesn't inspire confidence! The USB port cannot be used to add addt'l storage or for backup of the DNS323 data. Skip this NAS.

For $100 more you can get a Readynas Duo (including a single 500GB disk). Its tons more reliable than the Dlink NAS, has many more features and better performance. No, I don't work for Netgear!

My 2 cents.

[Michael Scrip @ May 28th 2008 8:34PM]

The Readynas Duo looks good, thanks!

Any opinion on the Drobo itself?

[ry @ May 29th 2008 12:55PM]

like many rev. 1 software builds, the DNS-323's sucked, agreed, but the major bugs were hammered out long ago. Like any other device I always ensure updated firmware, first thing out of the box.

It doesn't support USB mass storage out of the box, true, but it's easily hacked in.

It's not the perfect device for everyone, but it was definitely the best bang-for-buck when I picked mine up, as long as you're someone who's comfortable in Linux and with a CLI.

[Adam Zey @ May 29th 2008 12:53AM]

Well, that partially addresses one existing complaint; cost. The thing was overpriced at $500, and is still overpriced at $450, except the 2TB and 4TB pricepoints are actually a good deal (they bring the estimated cost of the device itself down to about $100 at 4TB).

Unfortunately, the DroBo is still crippled by two things:

1) Requires a PC to be attached to; it can't as an independent device. This means no GigE port (or even FastE) port for network connectivity.

2) USB-only, so no firewire port (even the original firewire would be a lot faster, let alone Firewire800) or eSATA port.

My suggestions on how that should finally fix the product:

1) Drop the standalone price by another $100-$150. Bundled prices are acceptable.
2) Add a GigE port and an eSATA port. GigE for acting as a standalone device, eSATA if you want a high-performance link to one specific computer.

[Mathieu @ May 29th 2008 3:52AM]

I'm fucking tired of seeing this CRAP,,, even years ago I wouldn't have paid 60$ for this.

I'd rather get myself 4 usb crap at 15$ each but NO!!!!

My samsung's f1 hdd have speed of 120MB/s and USB goes to 25MB/s

DAMN, A FUCKING GIGABIT ETHERNET ADAPTER IS 12$

I guess That's for pple who can't manage a RAID 5

WD has mybook with 2 X 1TB seamless over Gigabit and usb,,, 350$ or so

[Denver_80203 @ May 30th 2008 1:28AM]

Since you understand swearing so well,
You're kind of an asshole.

[kabes @ May 29th 2008 8:45AM]

Wow, a lot of Drobo hate. I wouldn't call myself a fanboy, but I sure do love my drobo. Almost everyone who gets one does too.

I don't just use it as a backup solution, I use it as my primary storage device. When you first get the thing, the initial copying of all your existing data can take a while since its USB but once that's all up and running and you use it as a regular hard drive (i.e. save your downloads/torrents/etc. directly to it) you never notice USB speed limitations. I am able to stream 1080p video from it... through USB... to my computer... then shared with windows media player to my xbox 360 and PS3. It works flawlessly. I also edit raw files from my DSLR straight off of it and it works great.

If you want it to be stand alone for sharing there is a (admittedly overpriced) DroboShare addon which adds a gigabit ethernet port.

The biggest selling point for me is that it's completely automated and I never have to worry about losing anything (unless I am unlucky enough to get 2 drives failing at the exact same time, but you'd get that in any othe raid setup). Want to upgrade the space? Just swap out one drive at a time.

OK, maybe I am a fanboy. But sorry...i love my drobo!

[k-y @ May 29th 2008 3:00PM]

Various links on www.drobo.com are broken (500 error)

[DrJohnZoidberg @ Jun 18th 2008 12:42AM]

@adam: Actually a good usecase for the Drobo is as a USB drive to a Airport Extreme. No issues then with network connectivity.
I find it to be a good fit for me in that configuration as iTunes sees it as the Library and an Airport Express in WDS mode takes care of the connection to the stereo.
It was a win-win for me as I dumped a single point failure iTunes disk, removed a bridge and was able to get TIvo to DHCP to the Airport Express with the Drobo providing storage over the air to computers in the house.