Drobo: 1st Gen USB 2 or 2nd Gen FW800 & USB 2 = $150 price difference

[dcl]

Was waiting for Firewire 800 on Drobo, but review below only shows a little difference is speed between Gen 1 & Gen 2

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/08/drobo-second-gen-mini-review/

Drobo 1st = $ 349
Drobo 2nd = $ 499

If the r/w speed isn't that much more substantial, are there any other reasons to pay $ 150 more for ?

Sure can go up to 16Tb of space, but it will take me more than 5 years to out grow 4Tb, and will probably be looking to upgrade to Drobo Gen 5 by that time.

 

[marcus1060]

The review says it can actually be a lot faster.

 

[macworkerbee]

FW800 will destroy just about all read and write speed tests against usb2.

If speed is a factor for you then the extra money looks to be worth it.

 

[err404]

FW800 will destroy just about all read and write speed tests against usb2.

That's only true if the interface is your bottleneck.
I just got the second Gen FW Drobo and so far speed has NOT been a strength. While the FW800 interface is faster than USB2, if a device is barely pushing USB2 limits, then FW won't be able to buy you as much are you might like.

I have not yet been able to run any controlled tests, but my Drobo does appear to have gotten faster after running for a while. I looked at it briefly this morning and was getting 37MB/s on a few small copies, whereas I was getting 15-20MB/s last night.

Does anybody know if there is a background optimization/build process that needs to be completed before the Drobo can settle into it's full speed? I expanded my array yesterday and was surprised to find that extra space was available and protected instantly.