I was pretty excited when I received my new Drobo. I’m brand new to Drobo and how they work and heard some pretty good things about them so to finally get one in my hands is a big deal for me. I’m always in need of more space and backups because not only do I do photography but I keep busy shooting and editing videos. I have used a variety of hard drives and backups in the past and I can say hands down, Drobo was easiest set up I’ve ever done.
The Unboxing
I open the box and the 1st thing I see is a white box that says, “Welcome to the World of…”
Then you open the small white box and it reveals the name “Drobo” I like it when companies do things like this. It creates a fun energy while opening a new product. I pull out the box and finally reveal my new Drobo. The Drobo came inside a nice reusable bag that will go to good use around the house or grocery shopping. It was a nice touch.
Getting Setup
Now the fun part really begins.
1. I went to drobo.com/start and downloaded the dashboard
2. Inserted my drives. I used empty hard drives. You can find a list of recommended brands here.
3. I connected my Drobo and turned it on.
4. Formatted my drives with one click of the button.
5. Finally, I set up my time machine backup under the volumes section.
From opening the box to complete set up, it took less then fifteen minutes. My Drobo was up and running including my time machine backup for my laptop.
For someone not comfortable with technical aspects of computers, I did this all without having to ask for help and I feel better having time machine backup running again.
The process was simple and the dashboard guided me through the steps with ease. I highly recommend this to anyone from family memory makers to the advanced professional. You can go onto Drobo and they have a section which helps you decide which Drobo is best for you and your workflow.
Whats New with Drobo?
The new Drobo 3rd Generation introduced a special volume that can be created even after you have initialized the Drobo called the Time Machine/Backup Volume. This allows both Windows and Mac users to create a dedicated space for backups without having to partition the main volume in order to reserve space for backups. You also do not have to create special files for the backups to be stored. You can start a new backup data by simply deleting and re-creating the backup volume. I feel this is a wonderful easier step for those wanting to create backups without the extra technical steps to make that happen.
Drobo USB 3.0 4-Bay Storage Array
Here are the essential specs
- 1 x USB 3.0 port
- Holds 4 x 3.5-Inch SATA HDD’s for up to 24 TB
- BeyondRAID automated data protection
- On-the-fly and instant capacity expansion by just adding a larger drive to an empty slot or replacing a smaller drive
- Battery-backed up memory to protect against power interruptions
- Operating System Support: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher; Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)
I’m grateful to have an easy, safe and reliable back up to my workflow. Thank you Drobo for making that possible.
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I used to have a Drobo FW800 a few years ago but it was very slow. Well to be honest back then that was expected. I was wondering if you would do blog post or update on your user experience. Things like file transfer speed, read/write using Blackmagic design disk speed test. Please let us know how well or if not well it is working for you. Thanks
I’ve written about this before… the speeds are much faster. The Drobos with the SSD Disk cache 5D and Mini are fastest on this front. The USB 4 bay is much faster than older models, but the cache units are fastest.
I agree Rich. Adding the cache memory chip on the bottom of the Drobo (something that doesn’t ship with the unit) makes it much faster.
I am curious what the cost is for a drobo?
there are many models… visit drobo.com
I am curious what the cost is for a drobo?
there are many models… visit drobo.com
I used to have a Drobo FW800 a few years ago but it was very slow. Well to be honest back then that was expected. I was wondering if you would do blog post or update on your user experience. Things like file transfer speed, read/write using Blackmagic design disk speed test. Please let us know how well or if not well it is working for you. Thanks
I’ve written about this before… the speeds are much faster. The Drobos with the SSD Disk cache 5D and Mini are fastest on this front. The USB 4 bay is much faster than older models, but the cache units are fastest.
I agree Rich. Adding the cache memory chip on the bottom of the Drobo (something that doesn’t ship with the unit) makes it much faster.