Drobo Reliability

[shinji]

Anyone with a Drobo here happy with it long-term? The reviews on newegg show some mixed feedback, with people complaining of slow speeds and the unit itself failing.

Are there faster/more reliable alternatives at or below the same price point?

 

[avalys]

The Drobo is the easiest option if you need a single drive with a capacity larger than what you can get in a single hard disk, with the ability to withstand a single drive failing.

For any other set of requirements, there are better options. Keep in mind that you still need to keep a backup of data you have on the Drobo.

I have had Firewire Drobo for about a year and a half. This was supposedly faster than the original version, and Drobo has since released an even faster one. I have not found the speed to be a problem - it will do maybe 25 MB/s over Firewire 800.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

It's mixed:

Drobo
Drobo is one of the more popular bulk storage options. Drobo comes in a couple of configurations that allow users to place their own drives inside the unit. In general, users that are using Drobo are looking for 2 TB or more of storage. Because of the nature of the configuration options, each Drobo is different, there is however a mixed debate about the product in general, much of that debate can be found in this thread. A Drobo v. alternative discussion was had here. In general, the Drobo has had positive reviews, but the discussion of the cases of failures combined with the price of the unit sways a lot of users to alternatives. User pprior attempted to switch to a LaCie alternative, but ultimately went back to the Drobo finding that the LaCie produced more noise. The one consistent thought seems to be that DRI (Data Robotics Inc., the maker of Drobo) replaces the drives quick and their customer service is good.


Forum Users Expressing General Support
gatepc, Cynicalone, frunty (unit failed, was replaced quickly and now is happy), whynot83706, DRI. geoffreak, UbuntuFu, pastrychef, Rich1963 & Zyniker


Forum Users Not So Happy
brand, blodwyn, pprior

Link

 

[shinji]

Thanks...I think I'll pass on it and look for an alternative, reading the linked thread from the guide now.

 

[pastrychef]

I've got two and they have worked fine for me. Each and every drive that I started with has been upgraded in them since I originally set the up. I have several friends who have Drobos and none have had problems with their's. Two of my friends have Drobo Pros, several have the 4 bay Firewire models.

In terms of speed, I find my Firewire models bearable. From what I've read, the newer Drobo S is faster but, in my opinion, too expensive.

Are there alternatives? Yes, but they are either more expensive or not a easy to setup.

 

[nanofrog]

Drobo's are software based, and therefore prone to higher failure rates, particuarly for parity based arrays. For 0/1/10, they're fine.

But their biggest achiles heel is the price IMO. You don't get much for the funds. You can do better to build your own system (i.e. AMD based, and run Open Solaris or Linux), and by using say a ZFS filesystem, have increased reliability as well as lower cost (especially if you scale up the drive members, as you can use the same system with a Host Bus Adapter - not a RAID card, and it's cheaper - up to 24 ports on one).

There's some work involved, but once setup, it's not that bad. And given the combination of lower cost and capabilities, worth it IMO.

To each their own however.