Drobo user reviews (Second generation)

Pros nothing else like it and that is a good thing. you will fall in love with how easy it is to use and how useful it is to pool a large capacity storage device that protects your data from bad disks.

Cons Their update mechanism isn't pretty, but it works. Also wish the activity light was visible through the front panel.

Summary A great product. I never would have thought of using a product like this until the drobo came out. It is disruptive in that what was once only something highly technical people would be able to use is now available to the non-technical masses like myself.

As for the performance and reliability, I've had no problems with either yet. With copies it feels as fast as any external hard drive and I know all my data is safe, so it has lots of peace of mind. Besides, it is cool looking on my desk and I get a lot of people asking me about it. I think this is going to be a very popular device.

Pros If you lose a drive you can replace it and not lose your data.

Cons If the device fails there is no recovery - your data is gone!

Summary I would not recommend this product. If you lose a drive you can replace it and not lose your data. You'll spend days on the phone with tech support. In the end they won't be able to help you recover your data. It takes a long time to boot up and I hold my breath hoping to see data on every reboot. Must and I repeat MUST be on a power backup or you are asking for disaster. The fans are noisy. I hate this product.

Pros From what I can tell, it does everything they claim when it comes to protecting against a drive failure IF it's a hardware problem. Yes, it's very cool that you can hot swap volumes and easily, big plus.

Cons Major issue:The Drobo Dashboard can and will report it's self as "I am Healthy" and say nothing else while it is actually having problems. This requires a chkdsk to be run (by a person, not via robot). Corruption can occur while "Healthy".

Summary I?m overjoyed by a company making an effort to automate what are tedious and annoying chores. The device does many of the things that Data Robotics claims.

However, the hype that the company puts forth portrays a device that?s practicly bullet proof due to its proprietary software and functions. and the software can mislead a customer to loose data even when the software is all smiles and sunshine -"I am healthy". Not only should the mis-reported health issue be fixed, but the 'data robot' should, in theory, be able to monitor the volumes in this fashion along with its other duties so as to provide a more complete service. Who is this product for? It should match all of the hype that the company is generating about their product, or regretably, speak just as loudly about this weakness.

Pros <Can't think of any>

Cons 1) The device is still slow, even the 2nd generation.
2) It took the Drobo people 5 day to respond to my LAST support request.
3) Support and yearly licensing is insane!

Summary You will have a better expereince if you buy from one of the big boys, Data Robotics needs to bake a bit longer. Save yourself the trouble.