Customer Reviews

Drobo FS 5-bay Gbe Storage Array

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I owned the original Drobo when it first came out, but ended up selling it due mainly to how noisy it was. The ease of use of the Drobo kept me interested in the products however. I'm happy to say, this is drobo is much improved. It's not silent by any means, and is probably louder than it has to be, but it replaced the blower with a regular fan and is much more tolerable. It takes a LONG time to boot after a shutdown (around 10 minutes)

Transfer speeds are not really anything to write home about. I'm getting between 24-27 MB/sec uploading large media files. That will be fine for my uses, but if you're doing a lot of data manipulation on this as your primary storage, you may be disappointed.

Intro:
External hard drives are cheap. For less than $100 you can purchase a 1 terabyte external USB drive. After a few minutes of setup time, you can be well on your way to storing your MP3's, Office docs, and family photos. But what happens if it fails? What happens when it gets full? And how do you share your files with the rest of your family members? These are the problems that led a company called Data Robotics to create a product known as the Drobo.

Think of the Drobo like a little storage robot.You just add a few hard drives, plug it in, and the Drobo does the rest. The latest in the line of these "storage robots" is called the Drobo FS. The FS stands for file sharing. Instead of a USB connection, it plugs directly into your router. It's like a centralized hard drive for everyone in your house to use. It works over both wired and wireless connections, has native Apple Time Machine support, and expands up to 7 terabytes - yes, 7 terabytes. Whether you have a PC, a Mac, or one of each, the Drobo FS works with them all. And the best part about this little guy - it is no more difficult to set up than a printer.

Setting up the Drobo FS:
You can purchase the Drobo FS in one of two ways, with or without disks. Either way, the FS ships in its own creative packaging. Inside the box you will find the Drobo FS, a power adapter, ethernet cable and installation software - that is it. On the front of the FS you will find a reflective plastic cover, held in place by magnets. Behind it, you will find the five hard drive slots. You can insert as few as two or as many as five drives - it doesn't matter what size. Have two 500GB drives and one 2TB drive? Not a problem, the Drobo FS simply adds all available space to the "storage pool." For my review, I used three 1TB drives and two 1.5TB drives.

After inserting the drives and connecting the ethernet cable to the router, I installed the Drobo software on a MacBook Pro. After the software installation was complete, a quick reboot was needed and the Drobo FS was ready to be powered on. The first time it powers up, a type of diagnostic sequence is initiated, most likely to check the health and sizes of the newly inserted disks. After about one minute of blinking lights, the Drobo FS showed up in my list of shared drives. In roughly 10 minutes I had successfully added over 4TB of protected hard drive space to my network.


In Action:
The Drobo FS will first show up on your network as a single public share. A share can be thought of as a partition or separate "disk." You can choose to leave it as a public share, but most users will likely go on to create more, i.e. Music, Movies, Photos, Work - you get the point. Shares can also be created for different users, but I will get more into that later on.

File transfer speeds were not outstanding, but would be more than sufficient for normal use. Hard drive intensive activities, such as video editing should still be done on a direct-attach hard drive. Speed is not what the FS is about - it's sharing. Within 5 minutes I was able to copy files from three different computers to the Drobo FS public share. Now every computer on my home network has access to them, whether they are plugged into the router, or wireless. This is how home file sharing should be.

In addition to the added convenience of having a centralized place for everyone to store their data, the Drobo can be used as a restore point for backups. With native support for Apple's Time Machine, both Macs in my house could use the Drobo FS for their automatic backups. Sitting in bed while my MacBook Pro backed up its internal hard drive over Wi-Fi brought a smile to my face.


For the Geeks:
As I mentioned, the Drobo FS was designed to make file sharing easy. By default you are presented with a single "public" share. However, for those who like to tinker, there is plenty to do. First, you can set up unique shares for everyone connecting to the device. Say everyone in your family had a laptop, you can set up a share for each of them. You can also set up Time Machine shares so everyone can backup over the network. Beyond that, you can set up shares with special permissions. Want a private share for your personal files? Simply lock it down with a password and only you will have access.

For those who really like to get their geek on, the Drobo FS has apps, yes, apps that run right on the Drobo itself. There are some basics, like a HTTP and FTP servers, but also some very useful home media streaming apps. Using one called FUPPES, the Drobo FS is transformed into a UPNP media server with DNLA support. In laymen's terms, you can stream video files to your XBox or PS3 directly off the Drobo FS. In my testing, I was able to get PS3 streaming set up but was unable to stream to my DNLA enabled Droid X.

When filled with 2TB drives, the FS offers around 7 terabytes of protected storage. This may seem like a lot of storage space, but when you have multiple computer backups, gigabytes turn in to terabytes quicker than you may expect. Between the three computers in my household, the backups alone took up over one terabyte of disk space.

Conclusion:
The Drobo FS isn't as fast as a USB 2.0 or FireWire external hard drive - and it doesn't come cheap, but its network sharing capabilities, built-in file protection and ability to expand, more than make up for it. For families with multiple computers, especially laptops, the Drobo FS is the perfect way to give everyone their own "hard drive." Mac users get built-in Time Machine support and Drobo Apps will continue to expand the functionality of the device. Overall, I highly recommend the Drobo FS. It's ease of use, massive storage capacity, and built-in data protection technology make it an excellent choice in network attached storage for the home.


Likes:
Easy to set up and configure
Attractive design, expect its reflective front cover and array of LEDs to start a conversation or two
LED status lights let you know at a glance the health of each drive
Up to 7TB of protected storage!
Can be set to a dual disk redundancy mode (two drives can fail and your data is still safe)
Less technically inclined members of my household had no problem using it
Tons of features for the geeks, including Drobo Apps, email status updates, and much more
Takes up a heck of a lot less space than 5 external hard drives

Dislikes:
Not as fast as direct attached storage
No built-in way to share files over the Internet
Doesn't come cheap, device cost + drives adds up quick

(Note: This review was taken verbatim from my tech column)

Hello all,
I spent the money on this and thought from all of the reviews that it was the best NAS on the market. Well Setup was easy but the problems started after the fact.
Start performing copies of my data to the NAS and the network thru-put was 20-30 Mbps and that was the max speed. I opened a tech article on the Drobo support forums and it took two days to come back with a reply. They stated that one of the new drives I was using was causing the speed issues so I removed and waited for remaining drives to come green. Which took several hours.
Once that occurred my speed did not change I changed out network cables / Switches / Routers and nothing seemed to help. I even connected the drobo FS to my MAC and made not change as for speed.
Further review from the Drobo foums many others were having the same issue and could not explain why.
I returned it to Amazon and ordered a DS 1010+ and once it arrived I plugged in the same drives formatted the partition and started the copy process. Which was less than hour to get the complete system up and running. Also the diags did not find a problem with the drive that Drobo stated was bad.
My default speeds were between 50-120 Mbps without Jumbo frames and once the settings were done I was locked at 120 Mbps.
Also the amount of options of the DS 1010+ were huge compared to the DroboFS yes the price is little more but worth every penny.
Even a friend of mine that has a NAS that cost two times more was not as good as the DS 1010+. Do the research before purchasing. Meaning signup for Drobo Forums and do the reviews before purchasing.
Watch Youtube on the DS 1010+ looks at the menus and see the options that are available. Hope this helps.

First and foremost, I think the product is fantastic!

The ease of setup really caught me by surprise; I had expected to follow the four simple steps outlined in the quickstart guide and then end up on the phone with tech support as is all to often the case with products that 'claim' to be fool proof. - What a surprise! I popped in the hard drives, installed the software and was transferring files within about 20 minutes! It was just about as hands-off as it gets!

Performance of the unit has been impressive. Though I haven't 'clocked' the transfer rate (yet), practically speaking, I was able to initiate a large copy job (180GB)in the background, stream iTunes music off the FS, start rendering a video (PowerDirector with video content stored on FS) and stream a movie (MPEG-2)- with no perceptible issues.

I leave the unit powered on 24x7 and find the fan noise (when the fan is running) to be barely perceptible (hardly more than the fan on the computer). The unit is sitting on my desk right next to my monitor, but could easily be removed to a remote location (thanks to Ethernet connectivity) if necessary.

My current configuration for the Drobo FS is with three 1TB Western Digital Caviar "Black" drives, and is connected via a dedicated Cisco (Linksys) Gigabit switch. The only devices on the switch are the Drobo FS and my primary computer. All other access in the house is via WiFi. I am currently set up with single drive redundancy and am not currently using jumbo-frames (see WiFi comment). Access is via a PC (W7 64bit / 12GB / i7-920).

The technology "beyond Raid" is an absolutely beautiful interpretation on redundancy. The ease of installation, absolutely seamless operation and ability to hot-swap drives AND mix and match drive sizes comes close to the holy grail of storage. I really couldn't be happier with the solution....except maybe a price that was a little more affordable.

I've had my Drobo FS for a little over a week now, and while the software has a couple of oversights, I'm glad I spent the extra money to get a Drobo.

PROS:
- It's extremely simple to use. Buy a few hard drives, don't worry too much about which ones, and slide them in the front. Connect it to your network. Enjoy.
- Flexible and simple storage: Reading the lights and adding/removing drives is so easy, I would trust my grandmother to do it.
- Switching between single-drive redundancy (protects against one drive failure, like RAID 5) and dual-drive redundancy (protects against two simultaneous drive failures, like RAID 6) takes a single checkbox, and does NOT require erasing/reformatting the drive. I decided to start out with dual drive redundancy, make sure the hard drives don't die early, and disable it in a few months.
- It's usually quiet (see below).

CONS:
- When I added an older WD hard drive into the 5th slot, the fan started running loudly. I can tell by touching the original 4 drives (all WD Caviar Greens) that they run much cooler than the 5th; it got to be so loud that I popped the older drive out. I can't tell whether the drive is just too hot, or having five drives blocks the airflow sufficiently--just realize that if your drives run hot, the fan will spin up.
- There are cheaper NAS solutions out there; you're paying for the user experience and better-than-RAID flexibility.

MISSING FEATURES (Drobo technical support confirmed today, Oct 15, 2010):
- The beautiful-and-functional Windows/Mac desktop applications are the only way to configure the Drobo's advanced settings. There is no built-in router-style web interface. (You can still copy data and use the basic functionality without a desktop application, though.)
- If you want to move or copy a folder between locations within the Drobo, the data will pass through your computer, so you need your computer to be on during the move/copy. There's no faster user-friendly way to move or copy files purely within the Drobo. (You CAN work around it by enabling and using SSH, but that only works well for computer-administrator types, and is at your own risk.)
- If your Drobo breaks, but your hard drives are intact, you will need to buy/borrow another Drobo FS to restore your data. There is no software available anywhere to recover the data.

Those missing features are enough to remove one star for me--particularly the lack of recovery software, because I'm buying the device for permanent access to my data, and don't want to count on the company or device existing when (not "if", "when") my Drobo itself finally breaks. However, I don't regret buying the device, and hope it provides me with many years of use.

UPDATE: I have since found the Synology Diskstation, which (despite being a bit MORE expensive) provides USB ports, a full in-browser "operating system", and similar dynamic RAID features. I wish I had seen this two weeks ago! Look at both and see which fits your needs better.

I initially had a problem with my drobo unit within the first week of purchasing it due to firmware issue.

After explaining the issue to customer support I had my drives taken care of and sent back with my data intact.

Over all I am extremely happy with my Drobo... It does exactly what I need it to do :)

I bought the Drobo-FS to provide storage for CrashPlan network backup software; for several computers in our home, and for family members out on the Internet.

Unfortunately, CrashPlan (as of July 2010, under Mac OS X) doesn't see the Drobo-FS. CrashPlan sees only directly attached drives. Back to the drawing board! (I'm going to try a Drobo-S attached directly to a Mac mini next.)

In researching the problem after the fact, I found a thread suggesting that Lightroom and Aperture also can't use network drives like the FS either.

The enclosure was a bit white noisy, and I found I wanted to shut it down at night. It does put the drives to sleep after a user-settable interval, reducing power consumption to about 15 W, but it never turns off (or slows down) the fan, which is the source of most of the noise.

On the plus side, the intake vents were all on the front face, and the exhaust vent on the back face (where most of the noise came out), so I was able to sandwich the enclosure within a row of manuals on a bookshelf, reducing the noise noticeably, without impairing airflow. (Of course, being a network drive, I could have put it in another room entirely!)

I have a lot of good things to say about the Drobo-FS, and give it 4 stars overall, but I thought the problems I experienced were worth mentioning here.

I don't often write reviews, but this product is clearly the exception that deserves one. I have the original 4 drive Drobo and now bought this Drobo FS with the gigabit connection. Loaded it up with 5 2TB Caviar Green drives for a little over 7TB of useable space. Both units work absolutely flawlessly and they're both FAST. My household runs both Macs and PCs and it's a perfect file server for both. I also store a ton of movies and music on it to serve up in my entertainment centers. No buffering issues over the network, even with BluRay rips.

If you want super easy, fast, reliable storage, there really aren't any other comparable options. Sure you can set-up a SAN and fiddle around with it for a while to get it going. However, if you don't want to mess with it or don't have that type of tech expertise, this is the ONLY choice. The technology "just works"! Maybe Apple should buy them!

I'm a software engineer and have dealt extensively with NAS solutions. The drobo sounded like a great piece of technology. After I bought mine, I have had nothing but trouble. While the device works, it's throughput is simply terrible. I'm lucky if I get 1MB/sec. It becomes increasingly slow on large data transfers. It is hard to manage and generally user unfriendly. I highly recommend looking for a different option.

Performance is a huge problem, I couldn't even play an mp3 and transfer files to it at the same time. Media files are constantly skipping, even over a wired network. Transfer rate is slow. My Drobo kept going down, forcing me to have to manually reboot it because the dashboard doesn't detect it. I had a mount failure and had to run their disk maintenance that took several hours. I was misled about apps on the drobo - I told them that I required FTP access, web server, torrent downloader, which I was that they had those - but the fact that they were not supported, hadn't been updated in years, and some (ctorrent) didn't even have a GUI and were linux command line only, were facts that I only discovered after buying it.

If you want a simple NAS that does nothing more than store your files and make it easy to upgrade/downgrade hard drives, then this may be for you, but the price is certainly too high for just that. Personally, I expect much more out of a NAS. I bought a Synology Diskstation DS411+ for cheaper, and I will NEVER look back. The thing is awesome, and has every application I could ask for.