Backups or backing up means to make a copy of your data (documents, photos, videos, etc.) and store that copy someplace. Traditionally that would be copied to a single or series of hard drives. The potential problem with storing it on one or more hard drives is that one of the drives could fail. Then what? That’s where protected storage can help. I’m using the Drobo 5C for my backups.

What is protected storage?

Protected storage on the Drobo 5C means that if one of the hard drives fails (it can be configured to handle up to two hard drive failures), it has the ability to rebuild the system with the remaining drives so the data isn’t lost and I can continue to work during the rebuild process. It also allows me to remove the bad hard drive, replace it and it will rebuild it. This is a very useful capability that I know first hand. I’ve had a drive fail on me in the 5C and seen it work. The cost for having this protected storage is that a portion of the hard drive space, usually about half of the total storage space, is used to store that information so it can recreate what was lost on a failed drive.

Protected storage on Drobo 5C

I’m currently using the Drobo 5c  direct-attached storage (DAS) unit as my backup solution. Here’s a screenshot of the four hard drives that I installed and that totaled 17TB of available space.

Here’s the capacity screenshot with the protected storage system in place. It has set aside a little more than 1/2 of the total storage capacity for the protected storage portion which leaves 8TB of storage space.

So with the Drobo 5C, I’m not only backing up my data but adding the protected storage layer of data protection to my backed up data as well. This approach gives me additional protection against failure and gives me peace of mind knowing that I have this kind of system in place for my backed up data.

You’ll find the Drobo 5C here. Save 10% off with the coupon code PHOTOFOCUS!