Data Robotics DR04DD10 Drobo 4-Bays USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 Fully Automated SATA Robotic Storage Array

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Binding: Electronics
Brand: Data Robotics
EAN: 0094922903457
Format: CD
Label: Data Robotics
Dimension: 6.3 x 10.7 x 6.3 inches
Manufacturer: Data Robotics
Model: DR04DD10
Publisher: Data Robotics
Studio: Data Robotics
Warranty: 1 year warranty

Features and Descriptions

• FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 compatible)
• Enhanced USB 2.0 performance
• Redundant data protection
• Hot expandable up to 16TB
• Mix n match drive capacities

The safe, expandable Drobo storage solution protects your data against a hard drive crash, yet can expand dynamically at any time in just seconds. With nothing to configure or manage, Drobo is now the ideal solution for primary storage as well as backup.

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Ratings & Comments(Average:)

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- AVOID!!! - Inferior Product does not deliver
Failed in less than a year. My hard drives function perfectly, but when the unit failed it rendered the data irrecoverable. Drobo's "solution" was to reformat the drives and purchase a new Drobo unit. This is not a solution and the product clearly is inferior, as it caused a problem with the disk pack. The icing on the cake was Drobo was not even going to offer a discount on the new drive.

I had to send off the disks to a data recovery service, which will cost THOUSANDS. Expensive lesson in the necessity of backing up, which is not drobo's fault. However, my overall satisfaction is zero as the product failed after 20 uses and rendered the disk pack unreadable. Who knows if it will protect against a drive failure as it only lasted 20 boot ups.

AVOID. There are better and CHEAPER solutions out there.

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- Junk Junk Junk
This thing is so unreliable, it's unbelievable. I have had 3 of these now sent to my by the manufacturer to replace the one I purchased, and I'm still having trouble. It has locked up my iMac multiple times and I have to reformat it almost constantly. It seems that if you use Firewire 800 with this drive, you cannot attach another firewire 800 device to it to daisychain. So, your Firewire 800 can ONLY be used by the Drobo. Technical support is very nice, but it takes so long to get them to make a decision, I have spent thousands of dollars of my time to debug their horrible product. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. Now, I can't get my money back. I bought a $400.00 door stop.

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- Quality and support terrible
My Drobo stopped working within the first few months, and I called for tech support. First they misdiagnosed the problem, and then wanted another $69 to ship a replacement unit. There are many simpler, cheaper, and more reliable options. Not recommended.

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- Terrific Storage Device but NOT Complete Backup "Solution"
First off, this device is WONDERFUL. It performs a function that "complete packages" do for thousands of dollars. I have mine setup via an Airport Extreme router with a large iTunes library and Aperture Library being shared between multiple computers and also a large movie library being streamed to a Playstation 3. I've never experienced any hangup time besides the wireless delay (not Drobo's fault). I started off with 4 1TB hard drives in it from Amazon..the Western Digital Green drives. This resulted in 2.7 GB of available space. Perfectly within norms because of size misadvertising as well as Drobo taking one complete drive to backup the others.

The drive saved me already once within a month of purchase. I got one defective drive apparently that suffered a cooling failure. Woke up one morning and noticed the drive flashing bright red. It does a good job of notifying problems..including the blue capacity lights on the front. Note that if you're like me and have the drive networked via Airport Extreme or a similar network bridge, the Drobo Dashboard application on your computer WILL NOT recognize the Drobo because of the lack of specific firmware signals. You can still plug the into your computer occasionally to do firmware updates when they are available. Anyway, the Drobo was about 1/3 full after I moved my near-death 1.5TB old external's data to it. Morning after I transferred all the data, that one internal Drobo drive failed, and Drobo was busy shuffling the data around to ensure continued drive failure protection. When this happened, my free space available was cut drastically due to the Drobo claiming another drive's space to protect the existing data again. Western Digital RMA'd the drive for free (did that rather than return to Amazon due to WD doing free overnight shipping of replacement). After a few hours of Drobo shuffling, the lights were again green because Drobo had copied all of the stored data to another drive again to ensure redundancy. When I got the new WD drive in the mail, I plugged it in the Drobo and 10 seconds later after Drobo initialized and formatted the new drive, the free space returned to its previous state.

So far, the drive has performed flawlessly to my expectations; especially considering I wasn't sure if I ever would need the redundant storage. But I did a month after I started using the device. A quick note about backups. The Drobo serves as an excellent local/network backup tool. However, it doesn't protect against flood, fire, curious children, and the like. The use of this device shouldn't impede offsite backup techniques. Mozy, Crashplan, Carbonite, etc... should still be used if you want to make your data both accessible from anywhere (although the Airport Extreme has a nice remote file access feature) and protected against localized electronic disasters.

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- AWFUL SUPPORT!
I have had my 2nd generation Drobo almost 16 months. Just get a large drive somewhere rather than this.
They have no support after the first year, all you get are some out of date help bulletins which say "drobo knows about this and are working on the problem" some of these bulletins have been up since I bought mine.
IF YOU ENJOY NO SERVICE OR HELP, THEN GO BUY ONE!
If you like to know how to get something to keep running without problems, then buy something else.
They charge for service. So they go and change firmware or upgrade their software after the first year, you are out of luck! Too bad!
I am throwing mine away after 16 months.
It will not wake up from sleep anymore since the last upgrade...but they are aware of it and working on it!
HOLD YOUR BREATH. Another good idea not supported. Sales is their game!
DROBO DRIBBLE!

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