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Drobo 5D: Speedy, expandable Thunderbolt storage for professionals
Data Robotics (now Drobo) was the first company to make expandable RAID storage easy, and with the current Drobo line of BeyondRAID devices they've now made the devices faster through the use of Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connectivity, as well as the Drobo Accelerator Bay's ability to use an mSATA SSD for fast caching. In this TUAW review, I'll take a look at the Drobo 5D (US$664 on Amazon), a five-bay device designed to give creative professionals fast and inexpensive RAID storage. Setup Setup of the device is simple -- I didn't even use the instructions, since from past experience I know that you basically just hook up power, install drives, and connect the device to your Mac. Well, that was fine, but my OS X Mavericks-equipped MacBook Pro did't want to see the Drobo until I re-installed the Drobo Dashboard software a second time. After that minor annoyance, it was time to use the Drobo Dashboard app to format the drive. Drobo provided three 1 TB drives, a 2 TB unit, and a 3 TB drive to fill the bays in the device. The device also contained an mSATA SSD in the Drobo Accelerator Bay (below). Once formatted, the device had 7.27 TB of storage capacity, of which 4.47 TB was available for data. 931.50 GB was set aside for expansion (if I decided to put, for example, three more 3 TB drives in place of the existing 1 TB drives), and 1.88 TB was used for protection. What's great about Drobo's BeyondRAID technology is that it's possible to replace failed drives or hot-swap different drives without fear of data loss. I used to own a Drobo Pro, and found it simple to add drives and replace small capacity drives with larger ones at will. The device not only has Thunderbolt connectors (two), but can also be used with USB 3.0. Cables are included in the box, so it's literally a plug-and-play storage solution. The two Thunderbolt ports are perfect if you wish to daisy-chain Drobo 5Ds and add in a monitor or two... One last comment, although it really doesn't have anything to do with setup -- the new pricing on the Drobo products is a refreshing sign. It will put the expandability and safety of RAID storage into the hands of many more professionals. Benchmarks Benchmarking the Drobo 5D was done with Intech Software's SpeedTools QuickBench 4.0 software. To ensure accuracy in testing, I performed a 100-cycle complete test. This subjects the drive to sequential and random read and write tests with file sizes from 4K to 100 MB, then graphically or textually displays that information to show the "sweet spots" for a specific drive or array. For example, if your work involves shuffling around a lot of very large files, you'll probably want a drive that has peak read/write speeds for files around your average file size. The tests were performed both with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. Using Thunderbolt, the standard test results (nine different file sizes between 4 KB and 1024 KB) showed average speeds as follows: Sequential Read: 140.504 MB/Sec Sequential Write: 93.245 MB/Sec Random Read: 116.435 MB/Sec Random Write: 70.410 MB/Sec For the large test -- transfer sizes between 2 and 10 MB -- the average results were: Large Read: 341.327 MB/Sec Large Write: 282.060 MB/Sec And for the extended test -- transfer sizes between 20 and 100 MB -- the average results were: Extended Read: 255.953 MB/Sec Extended Write 262.864 MB/Sec For USB 3.0, the results were Sequential Read: 99.533 MB/Sec Sequential Write: 111.509 MB/Sec Random Read: 94.895 MB/Sec Random Write: 80.605 MB/Sec Large Read: 217.975 MB/Sec Large Write: 219.885 MB/Sec Extended Read: 198.243 MB/Sec Extended Write: 228.985 MB/Sec These results are all much, much better than what we saw for the first-generation Drobo Pro under FireWire 800. For those tests, there were only two results -- write and read speeds -- and they weren't that good. Write speed was 29.3 MB/Sec, while read speed was 46.0 MB/Sec. The Drobo 5D is much faster than the old Drobo Pro, especially when using a Thunderbolt connection. It might just be the fast connection, but I'm willing to bet that the addition of the SSD accelerator bay has also provided a boost to performance. Physical Attributes In terms of the physical size and weight of the Drobo 5D, it's barely larger than the original Drobo with four bays. The 5D measures in at 10.3 long x 7.3 high x 5.9 wide, and weighs just 8.5 lbs without drives and power supply. I have to admit that one thing that used to drive me nuts about my original DroboPro was the sound of the device. I could constantly hear the hard drives chattering away. The Drobo 5D appears to be much quieter, as I could barely hear the device even when it was in the middle of read/write testing. Since each bay can be filled with an SSD if you have the money and the inclination, you could really have a silent and fast BeyondRAID array working for you. Conclusion Having used a DroboPro for several years, the new Drobo 5D is a refreshing update to the creative professional storage solution. It retains the ease of use and setup of the original Drobo products, but brings an amazing amount of speed to the game. TUAW will be reviewing some other Drobo products in the near future, including the Drobo 5N NAS network-attached storage product and the Drobo Mini. Pros Easy setup and configuration Easily expandable storage; as drive capacities increase, drives can be replaced with higher capacity gear Can be set up for single or double-disk redundancy Drives are hot-swappable SSD caching provides amazing speeds Dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining Quiet operation New, lower pricing Cons May not be fast enough for video professionals Who is it for? Anyone with a need for relatively fast, expandable, and reliable storage in vast quantities
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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.
