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Thunderbolt-equipped Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini storage devices now up for pre-order
Hankering for a Drobo with Thunderbolt? They're here... almost. Starting today, consumers far and wide can place their pre-orders for the Drobo 5D and the Drobo Mini. As a refresher, the former is a BYOD desktop solution with a pair of T-bolt ports and a lone USB 3.0 connector; just bring up to five 3.5-inch HDDs, and your RAID adventures are cleared to begin. The latter is a bantam option that promises the "power and flexibility" of the 5D, but in a miniaturized package that works with the 2.5-inch drives that typically find themselves within laptops. The 5D is listed at $849, while the Mini comes in at $649, and you can find the entire list of authorized partners in Drobo's blog post below.
Drobo announces Thunderbolt-enabled storage devices
Drobo has been manufacturing easy-to-use BeyondRAID arrays for quite a few years, but one common complaint of users has been that the devices have been relatively slow in comparison with traditional arrays. Today the company is introducing the US$799 (empty) Drobo 5D with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports to provide performance-hungry users with fast, reliable and expandable storage. The new Drobo isn't available for purchase yet, but the company is letting potential buyers add their names to a notification list. The 5D has five drive bays and some new features that should keep users excited. First, the drive has dual Thunderbolt ports so that it can be daisy-chained with up to five other Drobo 5D arrays -- that's up to 96 TB of storage. The new device also has a Drobo Accelerator Bay that allows the user to add an optional mSATA SSD to accelerate the performance of the storage array. Of course, each drive bay in the device can also be filled with SSDs for maximum performance. Drobo has also built in a new battery that protects data on the way to the drive. In case of a power failure, the battery allows the data to be written to non-volatile storage where it's safe until the power is back on. The company has also added a tuned variable-speed cooling fan to make the Drobo 5D quieter than previous models. The company also announced the new $599 (empty) Drobo Mini, which takes up to four 2.5" drives. This new device makes carrying up to 3 TB of protected storage a snap, perfect for road warriors with a need for storage. The Drobo Mini also uses Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports, and includes the other new features of the Drobo 5D. Both drives are scheduled to ship in mid-summer.
Drobo debuts a duo of Thunderbolt drives: the 5D for desktops and the Mini for road warriors
Drobo's been delivering quality desktop storage for businesses and prosumers for awhile now, but previously, the company hadn't dipped its toe into Thunderbolt waters. But that's about to change with its two new units. The 5D is a BYOD desktop offering with two Thunderbolt ports and one USB 3.0 socket for connecting up to five hot-swappable, 3.5-inch drives to your Mac or PC. It also has an mSATA SSD for data-caching quickness and a variable-speed fan to keep things cool and quiet. We don't know exactly when the 5D will go on sale -- Drobo's not telling until July -- but it'll cost under $850 when it does, and that price includes a Thunderbolt cable.%Gallery-158786% Meanwhile, the Mini is the first Drobo meant to be taken on the road. It packs up to four 2.5-inch drives in its front bays, plus, like the 5D, there's an mSATA SSD nestled in its underside that serves as a caching tier to speed up your main storage -- all in a 7.3 x 1.8 x 7.1-inch package weighing three pounds when fully loaded. All the drives are hot-swappable, a process made simple and easy with a trick, spring-loaded mechanism (patent pending) that lets users swap drives as they would SD cards. As for connecting the thing to your computer, dual Thunderbolt ports (for daisy chaining) and one USB 3.0 port reside round back along with the power plug and two vents for the Mini's variable-speed fans. Ringing the front face of the Mini are five LED strips that serve as drive indicators and capacity meter to let you know when a drive has failed or you're running out of space. Intrigued? Well, we got a sneak peek at the Mini and a little history lesson about its origins at Drobo HQ, so join us past the break for more.
