Data Robotics DroboPro

DroboPro is a business-class RAID storage array that accepts virtually any SATA disk on the market, supports iSCSI and pretty much looks after itself. What more could you want?

Mix and match disk speed and capacity, Automatic array resizing and data migration, Optional dual-disk redundancy, ISCSI SAN support, Thin provisioning of virtual Smart Volumes

USB port can't be used for backup

A pull-off front cover gives access to the drives, while the interfaces are all at the back, with FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports for direct attachment to an Apple Mac or PC workstation, plus a Gigabit Ethernet port for network sharing. However, if you...

A network attached storage device that's simple, safe and scalable

While the DroboPro isn’t exactly cheap it’s worth its asking price. It offers great performance under load, is easy-to-use, is well-built, provides exceptional data redundancy and doesn't tie you down with traditional RAID-system limitations.

Storage arrays aren't exactly known for their good looks, but with its shiny black casing the DroboPro is nothing like your average array. Neither is it as complicated to setup or manage, with built-in intelligence to ...

The DroboPro takes all the hard work out of configuring and managing a storage array and can take a mix of ordinary SATA disks in any combination of spin speed and capacity. Simply add extra disks or swap to larger drives as needed, and connect to the...

This is a super easy product to use in your Windows environment if you're using USB or iSCSI. Setup and manement is beyond easy and the way BeyondRAID works gives me the assurance that my data will always be there. I can use any SATA II disk drives to...

Extremely easy to setup and manage with off the shelf SATA drives, basically plug and play. BeyondRAID technology that heals itself means I don't need unused hot spare drives in the system. I can expand capacity as I need it without downtime penalty

Nothing at all

I\'ve used other raid products both at home and at work like FreeNAS and unRaid. And at work with complete sas raid setups. But using the Drobo Pro in iSCSI mode has an amazing performance. It is extremely easy to use and configure. Another amazing...

Attractive Design","Durable","Easy To Install","Quiet

None

Firmware update released September 2010 killed my Drobo Pro. I will now be without access to all data for several days while waiting for an RMA. If you do not need the Drobo features listed in the "Pros" section above, buy a MUCH more full featured...

Slick technology allows you to use mixed drive sizes and expand your storage as needed (thin provisioning). If you plan to slowly fill this unit with more and/or larger drives, it is a nice unit

Unreliable and overpriced. Over the last year I have has this unit drop offline and require tech support assistance 4 times. I have never lost data, just access to it ; Terrible company tech support and RMA processing time frames. This device should...

I bought this for video and photo storage and it meets my needs. Setup and connection is dead easy. Management software is a bit clunky, I eventually disabled it at start-up to avoid a nagging error message, but this is a minor issue.

I bought this for video and photo storage and it meets my needs. Setup and connection is dead easy. Management software is a bit clunky, I eventually disabled it at start-up to avoid a nagging error message, but this is a minor issue.

In 18 years of IT this is some of the worst tech support I have ever had the joy of experiencing.

Nice setup, OK interface. It performed as advertised

Until after a month when all the drive lights went red. No access via iscsi or their dashboard. Call tech support and they open a case and step me through some very basic diagnostics. It still will not boot with drives in it. Now the case has to go to...

supports the device

This doesn't span all 4 posts in a 4-post rack; it just sits on the front two posts. Even without disks in the drobo, the thing sags in the back. I have no idea why they didn't bother to make it a full rackmount kit, but if I could go back in time, I...

While my "cons" list was quite long compared to the "pros", most, if not all, of the issues can be fixed with firmware upgrades.

They made an effort to even make the packaging look nice. I was amazed at how simple it was to get all the drives in. You just push them into the slots -- no screws, no drive caddies, etc. Once you set it up via USB and configure ISCSI, you can manage...

Minimal linux support. Because the device needs to know the filesystem in order to properly store your data, the freedom of iSCSI doesn't apply as you think it would. To begin with, they state that there is no official support from them for Linux....

For single purpose storage it's hard to beat the price to performance of this device. The magic that makes it work seems well enough designed that I don't need to know what it's doing. I am interested in seeing what the new DroboEite can do with it's...

Very fast. It was able to write at near 100% of the theoretical max for gigabit iscsi for over 10 minutes (108 MB/sec) with only half of the bays populated with "green" drives. Would be interested to see what it could do with Jumbo Frames enabled...

Only 1 iSCSI target can be connected at a time so not a SAN replacement device. Doesn't support EXT4 yet so you can't have 1 16TB EXT4 LUN, you need to create a bunch of 2 TB EXT3 LUNs (I hope Data Robotics will fix this with a firmware update). Can't...

We are using this in place of 7 or 8 2 TB external drives. We have several satellite imagery projects that each require 10 to 12 TB. Using the DRobo Pro allows us to access all the imagery for an individual project without playing old time operator...