Drobo FS VS Synology DS411slim

[cberry240]

I'm looking for some suggestions on a solid plan for backing up and storing design files. Currently I have 3 external drives one WD Passport Studio 500GB (FW 400, 800 and USB 2.0), one G-Tech 250GB (FW 400, 800 and USB 2.0), one self-built 500GB (USB 2.0) and a WD MyBook 2TB (FW 400, 800 and USB 2.0)

Each has on overlapping of files so that between the 3 and my laptop I don't lose much if anything should one die.

I've checked out Drobo FS and the Synology DS411slim and am stuck on the fence. I probably think I am a little more tech savvy than I might actually be so a RAID system I have to setup is a bit beyond me.

I'd like it to me a NAS so that the other computers in the house can pull from it.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[DarwinOSX]

You will find alot of unhappy Drobo users and lots of happy Synology users. Do a search here.

 

[maflynn]

I've not read too many positive reviews of Drobo, but on the flip side, Synology has almost no negative reviews.

If you search here at MR, you'll see that Synology is the most recommend NAS.

 

[blevins321]

Synology all the way. Drobo was all full of suck for the short time that I had one. My Synology DS411j is terrific. Search "Synology DS441j Honest Review" for a mostly-software review that I wrote last year. JW though - why are you set on a slim? I only ask because 2.5" drives are much more expensive than 3.5" and have lower capacities. The 411j is the full-size version of this.

 

[firestarter]

If you can't set up your own RAID 5 system then you're going to be stuffed if/when your RAID 5 controller box dies and you have to try recovering your disks.

Stick to a setup where your disks are formatted normally with a regular filesystem. That way you'll just have to dump them in a fresh box and you'll be good to go.

Spend your money on making additional copies of your files and storing in a different location (a proper backup) rather than tooling around with RAID - as it's only really a solution for uptime/availability.

 

[turtle777]

I've got the Drobo FS.

While the transfer speed is nothing really impressive, I haven't had any major issues.
Every couple of months, I need to reboot the Drobo, but nothing too bad.
Can't compare it to anything else though.

-t

 

[ashman70]

I would recommend Synology over Drobo, most Drobo's do not connect to the network and are connected locally to a PC, so they are not true NAS's in that sense.

I hope you are also considering a backup strategy once you get your NAS as a NAS by itself is not a 'backup' only a safe place to store data with redundant drives, you should also be replicating to external drives as well.

 

[turtle777]

Update re: my Drobo FS

Can't mount my shares anymore. All drives and data is ok (according to the Drobo Dashboard), but I can't access the data because I can't mount the drives.

*******.

Have been talking to Drobo Support for 3 weeks now. Support was great, and swapped the Drobo box for free although I'm outside warranty.
However, this didn't fix the problem, so I'm still not able to access the data.

We'll see where this ends, but it seems Drobo is still not ready for prime time. I might return my Drobo (bought it from Costco) and get a Synology or QNAP.

-t

 

[maflynn]

I might return my Drobo (bought it from Costco) and get a Synology or QNAP.

-t

I have a QNAP, and like it very much, but I think Synology has features that Qnap doesn't (unless they added it to their new version of the OS). I don't think you can go wrong with either, but people here prefer Synology.

 

[turtle777]

I have a QNAP, and like it very much, but I think Synology has features that Qnap doesn't (unless they added it to their new version of the OS). I don't think you can go wrong with either, but people here prefer Synology.

Synology uses a Virtual RAID model ("Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR)" similar to Drobo, which maximizes the use of HDs with different capacity.

I'm just not sure I trust these kind of newfangled RAID models.

QNAP uses bare-bones RAID models, which isn't a problem as long as you use all HDs of the same size.

-t

 

[misterbig]

Another vote for the Synology. I've been running 2x DS411slim for the last 6 months or so, one for my home and one for the office and both have been great. They're easy to use, have loads of features (most of which I don't use) and most importantly are very stable.

I frequently get power failures in my home so the Synology is abruptly shut down about once a week, and even then there's been no problems with the drives so far (knock on wood). Just to be sure, I set up the DS411slim to run HDD checks once a week automatically.

 

[maflynn]

QNAP uses bare-bones RAID models, which isn't a problem as long as you use all HDs of the same size.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with Qnap, I have no regret it. I think Synology is faster in adding features, but in looking at the latest firmware for Qnap, I think they're trying to catch up with those features.

 

[theSeb]

Synology uses a Virtual RAID model ("Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR)" similar to Drobo, which maximizes the use of HDs with different capacity.

I'm just not sure I trust these kind of newfangled RAID models.

QNAP uses bare-bones RAID models, which isn't a problem as long as you use all HDs of the same size.

-t

Synology has both. You can use a SHR, or normal, old-fashioned RAID.

 

[mac-user-apple]

I have a DS411j that I use with my Mac and like it. Have never used a Drobo.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Update re: my Drobo FS

Can't mount my shares anymore. All drives and data is ok (according to the Drobo Dashboard), but I can't access the data because I can't mount the drives.

*******.

Have been talking to Drobo Support for 3 weeks now. Support was great, and swapped the Drobo box for free although I'm outside warranty.
However, this didn't fix the problem, so I'm still not able to access the data.

We'll see where this ends, but it seems Drobo is still not ready for prime time. I might return my Drobo (bought it from Costco) and get a Synology or QNAP.

-t

SMB share? Is this after a Mountain Lion upgrade? If so, I've seen the problem...no access to root level of SMB share. Don't know a fix, but the workaround was to go directly to a folder at the root level, that is add /sharedfoldername to the address.

 

[SmithErick]

I just got my Synology 212+ setup with 6TB Love it so far!!!

 

[ixodes]

I have a 5 bay Synology DS 1512+.

I chose the brand based on the reliability we've enjoyed with Synology at work.

With SSD's in place it's ultra fast, and silent.

 

[turtle777]

Follow-up on my Drobo crapping out.

After weeks working with Customer Service, they advised me to install a custom firmware that allowed me to SSH into the Drobo and copy all data off of it via SCP.
Was a pain in the butt, but all data was there.

Then I had to do a reset in order to be able to use the Drobo again, all data was deleted, and now it would finally mount again.

According to a Tier 3 customer support specialist, they had never seen this happen before. Dunno if they were truthful.

What a freaking PITA. I returned the Drobo and ordered a Synology. Fingers crossed.

-t

 

[MiamiC70]

I have the Synology slim and love it way better UI and Synology continually tweaks and updates their devices firmware /software.

 

[NotMyCupOfTea]

What would you consider a "backup."

Thanks

I hope you are also considering a backup strategy once you get your NAS as a NAS by itself is not a 'backup' only a safe place to store data with redundant drives, you should also be replicating to external drives as well.[/QUOTE]

 

[misterbig]

Another vote for the Synology. I've been running 2x DS411slim for the last 6 months or so, one for my home and one for the office and both have been great. They're easy to use, have loads of features (most of which I don't use) and most importantly are very stable.

I frequently get power failures in my home so the Synology is abruptly shut down about once a week, and even then there's been no problems with the drives so far (knock on wood). Just to be sure, I set up the DS411slim to run HDD checks once a week automatically.

As a follow-up to my own post, both of my DS411slim have had problems within the last 4 months. One had a HDD (Samsung) that died, not sure if it had anything to do with the Synology. Samsung gave me a new HDD within a week and all has been well since.

The other DS411slim had a bigger problem where the network connection would crap out all the time and the power button would stop working so I had to pull the plug to restart and connect to it. I eventually brought it in and they swapped the main board so it's a hardware issue. It took 3 weeks to fix which I was not happy about.

 

[flynz4]

Follow-up on my Drobo crapping out.

After weeks working with Customer Service, they advised me to install a custom firmware that allowed me to SSH into the Drobo and copy all data off of it via SCP.
Was a pain in the butt, but all data was there.

Then I had to do a reset in order to be able to use the Drobo again, all data was deleted, and now it would finally mount again.

According to a Tier 3 customer support specialist, they had never seen this happen before. Dunno if they were truthful.

What a freaking PITA. I returned the Drobo and ordered a Synology. Fingers crossed.

-t

Couldn't you just have reset the Drobo to begin with and restored from backup? Why did you need the special firmware?

/Jim

 

[maflynn]

Couldn't you just have reset the Drobo to begin with and restored from backup? Why did you need the special firmware?

/Jim

I'm assuming that he didn't have a backup of what was on the drobo.

 

[Giuly]

As a follow-up to my own post, both of my DS411slim have had problems within the last 4 months. One had a HDD (Samsung) that died, not sure if it had anything to do with the Synology. Samsung gave me a new HDD within a week and all has been well since.

If hard drives were to never fail, we'd all run RAID0s without backups. This one failed sooner rather than later, but that's why you can just pop in a new drive and rebuild the set.

 

[turtle777]

I'm assuming that he didn't have a backup of what was on the drobo.

Yes, about 25% of the data was not backed up.

It wasn't the most important data (a lot of old ripped movies), but I still wanted to try to get them back.

Point is: if you pay for a RAID, recovering from the raw HD data shouldn't be that painful.

-t