It's no secret that we're smitten with Drobo's storage "robots." But they're expensive, especially compared to direct-attached or NAS storage devices built on a traditional RAID architecture. But if price is holding you back then you'll be happy to hear that for a limited time, you can take 20% off the list price of the 4-bay array. If you're lucky, you already have a handful of loose drives to plug-in else why not stuff it to capacity for 8TB of disk this Father's Day? Granted, still no built-in Ethernet without the optional DroboShare, but at least you've got an extra paper hundie to dry your tears.

Not sure if you've been keeping tabs, but it's been just shy of a full year since we've seen a new piece of hardware from the labs of Data Robotics. 60,000 Drobos later, we're being formally introduced to the bigger, stronger and more capacious DroboPro. As the name implies, this 8-bay beast is truly aimed at small businesses and creative professionals, but there's nothing here that the average consumer can't fall in love with. Generally speaking, everything here has remained the same as the second-gen Drobo: it looks similar, it uses the same genius BeyondRAID intelligent data storage technology and it's not really meant to be used on networks. Interested to hear more? Hop on past the break for all the dirt.

Data Robotics launched the Drobo dev program in beta back in July, and it looks like things have worked out swimmingly -- the company just officially launched the first set of DroboApps, including an iTunes server, DLNA server, BitTorrent client, and FTP server. Over 100 developers have joined the Drobo Developer Connection, and there are more than 20 apps available now -- a number Data Robotics expects to grow quickly. You'll need a DroboShare NAS adapter to take advantage of the new apps, of course -- a $199 toll we'd like to see integrated into a future unit. We'll see how it goes, though -- we see a lot of potential in this sort of NAS / server hybrid.

Despite its shortcomings, we were pretty into the original Drobo when it was launched about a year ago. Not only is it crazy easy to set up and get running, but being able to swap out drives and continuously expand your storage pool without completely replacing your array is obviously advantageous compared to traditional RAID arrays. So it kind of goes without saying that we were stoked to hear Data Robotics was launching a new Drobo, which promised FireWire 800, and quieter, faster operation.

We were kind of hoping they'd get it over with and build in Ethernet (or at least WiFi) connectivity instead of continuing to charge an extra $200 for the DroboShare add-on -- that it comes without left us with some mixed feelings. But then again, this new model doesn't cost any more than the first-gen product ($500), so we can't hold it too much against 'em -- and as we found, it is a fair amount faster (and significantly quieter) than its predecessor. Read on for more.

For those whose major complaint about the Drobo was its lack of FireWire 800, today's your day. The new version of the virtualized-storage device features the much requested interface (and a second port for daisy-chaining), but despite the fact that it still lacks built-in Ethernet / WiFi, it does come equipped with an upgraded processor to better take advantage of FireWire 800's higher throughput, as well as a much larger, quieter case fan. Data Robotics claims their new model can achieve data transfer speeds of more than 2x over the original model, as well as outperform ReadyNAS and LaCie models (in RAID 1/5) when tested with identical drives.

The price stays the same at $500 for the device itself, and (as before) you can buy it bundled with two 1TB drives (for $900) or four 1TB drives (for $1,300). For those waiting for the price to dip even lower, Data Robotics is also clearing out inventory on its earlier model; until they sell out, first-gen Drobos will be going for $350, or $750 and $1,075 bundled with two and four 1TB drives, respectively.

Looks like Data Robotics just started up their Drobo Developer Community (DDC) and SDK program, kicking off on their eventual goal to let users develop their own apps and servers for their Drobo storage device. For the first "DroboApp" and proof-of-concept, they've already whipped up a working UPnP / DLNA server for streaming audio and video content directly from the Drobo to compliant devices (like the Xbox 360 and PS3, for example), and they hope the early beta offering will spur the community into developing drop-in servers for things like iTunes music and AFP, Rsync, FTP, web, BitTorrent, and anything else you can think up. (One Linux developer has already ported the Drobo Dashboard app to Linux using the SDK).

The DroboApps themselves are compiled for Linux, stored on the Drobo, added via drag and drop into a simple directory on the file system, and run on the Linux-based DroboShare hardware (meaning you won't be able to take advantage of DroboApps with a bare Drobo). Exciting stuff for the storage geeks in the house, especially those looking for some of the extensibility of Microsoft's Windows Home Server platform

So we snagged a DroboShare to hook our lonesome, directly-attached Drobo into. At $200 for what's essentially a USB network adapter we had some pretty high expectations, but thankfully we've been pretty impressed so far. Setup simply entails upgrading your Drobo hardware and Dashboard software to the latest versions (v1.1), restarting the box, and then plugging into the DroboShare. That's it. Detection, configuration, everything else is entirely automatic. Within a few moments it auto-mounts as a shared network drive via SMB, regardless of what file system the Drobo itself is running, or whether you're running Windows or Mac. (For those running on Linux or other operating systems, the DS is still accessible over your network via standard SMB share just like any other server.)

Click on for more on network auto-mounting and a couple speed tests.

The number one complaint about the Drobo is pretty obvious: getting the damn thing on your network without using a host computer. Well, consider that complaint sorted. Today Data Robotics is releasing a NAS upgrade for Drobo called the DroboShare, which will support:

• Gigabit Ethernet (yes!), static or dynamic IPs
• Auto-mounting SMB shares via Drobo Dashboard (supports SMB authentication)
  
• Dual USB 2.0 ports for two Drobos per DroboShare
  
• EXT3 file system support (officially!)
• Capacities up to 16TB per Drobo (provided you feed it 4TB drives that won't be out until, say, 2010)
• And possibly our favorite: email alerts, should a drive happen to crash, for example

It's also worth noting that Drobo is still capable of switching between NAS and direct-attached modes if you decide you want to take your Drobo OFF the network (but why would you do a thing like that?). The biggest problem with this add-on? It's $200, which brings the total cost of a DroboShare NAS rig to $700 -- without drives. Still, we have a feeling for many a Drobo user -- ourselves included -- the value of the functionality will far outweigh the borderline unreasonable price tag.

You spoke, Data Robotics listened. Even though we didn't think the $700 pricetag for a Drobo is that unreasonable considering its capabilities, Data Robotics is apparently deciding to preemptively strike and cut its price before it even reaches retail availability. With enough pre-orders in to increase volume and cut costs, Data Robotics was apparently able to shave a full $200 bones (nearly 30%) off the top, meaning now you'll only have to ante up $500 if you want to take one home. Pre-order customers will even get a check back for the $200 difference, which we presume they'll probably blow on more (or larger) drives.

P.S. -For the curious: it's still slated to land in early June.

Just when you thought we couldn't geek out anymore about Data Robotic's new Drobo "intelligent" storage array, along comes tipster Ben with a snazzy photoset complete with unboxing shots and scandalous pics of the internals. Apparently Data Robotics was selling 'em at a "lemonade stand" outside the company HQ in Mountain View, CA for $200 off the rather pricey $700 sticker price, and Ben just couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy one and rip in. Any unconfirmed reports of Engadget editors patrolling the streets of Mountain View tomorrow in search of such "lemonade stands" will most likely be baseless and unfounded.

[Thanks, Ben L]

Managing all of your data can be a little intimidating, especially if you need to keep adding more and more storage capacity without breaking the bank or running into technical snags. Well the engineers over at Data Robotics figure the solution to all of your storage needs is, of course, a storage robot. Affectionately named Drobo, the four drive array connects via USB and employs "intelligent" software to handle all of the data management and disk swapping: one drive goes down? No problem, Drobo's already on it. Wanna swap out drives while you listen to music? Drobo keeps the tunes going even when you're down to one disk. At $700 it is a little steep -- especially considering the lack of any "starter" drives bundled in -- but we suppose that in the long run, that's a small price to pay if it truly does deliver the data management nirvana we've been seeking

[Via eHomeUpgrade]