Anyone Use a Drobo

[ianbarber]

I'm quite interested in the Drobo system for my backups and was wondering if anyone is using one or has tried one.

I would want to use it with Windows 7

 

[mike weeks]

Been using it for about a month and it does what it says on the box, running Vista and XP.

Mike

 

[ianbarber]

Been using it for about a month and it does what it says on the box, running Vista and XP.

Mike

Thanks for the reply, do you have any regrets buying it and have you had any issues with it

 

[neil_g]

out of interest why are you leaning towards a drobo?

 

[ianbarber]

i have 4 external USB drives which I use as backups with a backup program but I liked the idea of having 4 drives in a single box which is hot swappable and the way in which it spreads the data across all drives and also the way in which Windows shows it as a single volume

 

[neil_g]

i have 4 external USB drives which I use as backups with a backup program but I liked the idea of having 4 drives in a single box which is hot swappable and the way in which it spreads the data across all drives and also the way in which Windows shows it as a single volume

fair enough but personally i think the drobo is overpriced for what if offers..

id have a shop around with other devices from netgear, synology etc, theyll all offer the same sort of kit with more features (NAS support etc) and any RAID box will give you disk redundacy.

you also say youre looking to use it for your backups, how are you planning to configure those?

 

[ianbarber]

At the moment, my backup workflow is with SyncToy with the aid of the Windows Schedule Manager and a couple of bat files which allow me to backup open programs like outlook etc

 

[neil_g]

so the drobo will be your 1st or 2nd copy of your data and you have another drive?

 

[ianbarber]

The Drobo would be my 1st Backup Copy, the 2nd backup would probably be one of my 1TB Western Digital MyBooks

 

[aligibbs]

The drobo looks very nice and does a good job, but in my opinion, its very over priced for a caddy + some funky software. I would prefer spending less money on a solution from netgear/qnap etc

 

[WeddingHack]

I had a Drobo and the best way I could describe it is flaky - it never lost any data, but occasionaly would lose connection, fail to start first time after firmware updates, sometimes would drop a volume which would only come back after a power recycle. I never quite trusted it.

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS now and it's worked flawlessly for the last year, a much better product IMHO. A bit more complicated to setup, but a much more professional bit of kit.

 

[aligibbs]

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS now and it's worked flawlessly for the last year, a much better product IMHO. A bit more complicated to setup, but a much more professional bit of kit.

I almost wish I had gone for a readynas rather than a stora- not that there is anythign wrong with a stora, just want some more power.

 

[neil_g]

the readynas was a nice bit of kit but their support is utter tripe. they're not the fastest of boxes either, my synology that replaced it blows it out of the water.

 

[ianbarber]

the readynas was a nice bit of kit but their support is utter tripe. they're not the fastest of boxes either, my synology that replaced it blows it out of the water.

Which synology model number do you have

 

[neil_g]

Which synology model number do you have

yes good point its worth noting i run the DS1010+ which in all honesty "should" blow the readynas out of the water... lol

the DS1010+ is far from cheap but id suggest the rest of the synology range such as the DS410 should offer excellent bang for buck.

 

[mike weeks]

Thanks for the reply, do you have any regrets buying it and have you had any issues with it

I have looked at a lot of the other options and whilst not cheap it allows good flexability in what hard drives you can use and the amount of them. I can load events (the Photos) onto it from any computer, upload to web, lab etc. and it has done all of these without issue as you would expect.

Mine was second hand but I know the history of why bought and why sold (all for the right reasons). Mine is the 4 drive bay model with the extra share base, if I was buying new I would probably have one of the newer higher bay capacity machines.

Might not be everybodys choice but so far so good and no issues.

Mike

 

[crashtestmac]

I use a QNAP which is similar to the DROBO but when i looked and got mine it was significantly cheaper.

I am planning on setting up my Mac to sync to it but never got round to it. I have Time Machine running on the iMac and Carbonite making an offline copy of anything important....

Mac

 

[Tyke Tiler]

I'm quite interested in the Drobo system for my backups and was wondering if anyone is using one or has tried one.

I would want to use it with Windows 7

Drew Gardener has had some fairly serious issues with Data Robotics:

http://photography-thedarkart.blogspot.com/2010/09/end-of-my-tether-with-drobo-iscsi.html

Maybe the issues aren't so bad with Windows though :shrug:

the readynas was a nice bit of kit but their support is utter tripe. they're not the fastest of boxes either, my synology that replaced it blows it out of the water.

How much was that Neil? I've been tippy toe'ing around a NAS system but don't know too much about them.

I seem to be getting more enquiries for images when I'm out and about, it be great to have the info on my HD's accessible from the t'interweb.

 

[neil_g]

How much was that Neil? I've been tippy toe'ing around a NAS system but don't know too much about them.

I seem to be getting more enquiries for images when I'm out and about, it be great to have the info on my HD's accessible from the t'interweb.

a fair bit.. i chopped in 2 readynas nv+ for it (sent one back for refund and another sold on ebay) so that covered most of the cost.. at the time i paid £537 for it, the same place is now selling for £591 unfortunately.

but like i say it blows my old readynas's/es/i (?!) out of the water, previously lightroom took a couple of seconds to render large previews etc even on a cabled gigabit and in large collections stalled on scrolling, but its plain sailing on the synology.

 

[grumpybadger]

I use a Synology DS408+ (the older version of the DS410) and have done for a couple of years now. I'm halfway through adding bigger drives but its been faultless so far (apart from a drive failure which is not Synology's fault) so I'd recommend them

Paul

 

[Tyke Tiler]

a fair bit.. i chopped in 2 readynas nv+ for it (sent one back for refund and another sold on ebay) so that covered most of the cost.. at the time i paid £537 for it, the same place is now selling for £591 unfortunately.

but like i say it blows my old readynas's/es/i (?!) out of the water, previously lightroom took a couple of seconds to render large previews etc even on a cabled gigabit and in large collections stalled on scrolling, but its plain sailing on the synology.

Cheers for the info mate, having a look at Synology stuff now...

Can you recommend a good seller?

 

[neil_g]

Cheers for the info mate, having a look at Synology stuff now...

Can you recommend a good seller?

i got mine from www.redstore.com was the cheapest supplier i could find for the DS1010+ at the time (and still is according to google shopping), mind you its also the cheapest for the DX510 add-on unit for the DS1010+ at the moment too..

id never heard of them before but shipping was reasonably quick and didnt have any problem.

 

[Tyke Tiler]

i got mine from www.redstore.com was the cheapest supplier i could find for the DS1010+ at the time (and still is according to google shopping), mind you its also the cheapest for the DX510 add-on unit for the DS1010+ at the moment too..

id never heard of them before but shipping was reasonably quick and didnt have any problem.

Your a champ Cheers Neil