I need a big drive with backup features - Page 8

Feek · 05-08-2009, 22:08

Oh look, Apple just released a 2Tb Time Capsule last week!

£336 with HE discount.

petemc · 05-08-2009, 22:22

Heh well theres that but I still need another usb drive or something and its back to drobo money then. But then a drobo needs hd's on top and a further backup... damn this stuff.

Mondo · 05-08-2009, 23:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by petemc

Heh well theres that but I still need another usb drive or something and its back to drobo money then. But then a drobo needs hd's on top and a further backup... damn this stuff.

True but you buy the enclosure once and that's it....

Mark · 05-08-2009, 23:44

Just don't put big Seagate drives in it. Not after that mess at any rate. In fact, it's best suited to 5400 RPM drives like the WD GreenPower (GP) series.

petemc · 06-08-2009, 02:46

That mess?

leowyatt · 06-08-2009, 08:53

Mr Burble bought himself a drobo

Burble · 06-08-2009, 09:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by leowyatt

Mr Burble bought himself a drobo

He did indeed!

First impressions - don't buy the DroboShare, it's slow, slow, slow, slow! And in my case, broken, broken, broken! Mind you, I got the DroboShare free so once it has been replaced I'll be shoving it on eBay.

I've got my Drobo hooked up to my MacMini over USB (the Mini only has a Firewire 400 port and the Drobo has a Firewire 800 connection) and it's doing the job very nicely.

One small quirk which I really dislike is that you can't create a volume the size you want. I've got 4 x 2Tb drives in my Drobo and I have the option of creating either 1Tb, 2Tb, 4Tb, 8Tb or 16Tb volume. 4 x 2Tb drives in a Drobo actually gives 5.6Tb (ish) usable space so that's the volume size I want to create!

Obviously if you create an 8Tb volume (as I did) then there is only actually 5.6Tb available to use but as you get close to that the Drobo will put up some yellow lights telling you. Personally I think it's stupid that you can't create a volume the size you want, but hey, you can't.

If you create 1 Tb volume then you'll actually end up with 6 x 1Tb volumes, 2Tb volumes will give 3 x 2Tb and so on.

Performance is pretty good, not fantastic but perfectly usable.

The data redundancy is nice, I did my usual thing after setting up storage of pulling a hard drive and seeing how it reacts - it carried on working perfectly but put a right light against the bay that I'd removed the drive from.

Noise? Barely audible. The MacMini is louder with the Drobo and bare in mind that the Drobo has 4 x 2Tb drives in it. I'm very impressed with how quiet it is. It's a damn sight quieter than the 2Tb Terastation it is replacing.

If you had a brace of Drobos you can tell the Drobo Dashboard software to automatically copy stuff from one to the other but only if the Drobos are connected directly to a Mac, you couldn't do that if you had them connected to the Time Capsule.

Mark · 06-08-2009, 10:49

Burble has it all pretty much spot on. The fan is temperature controlled so it will spin up if you do a big transfer (at which point it does become noticeable), but it's still very quiet. I got myself a FW800-FW400 cable, so I'm using Firewire with mine. Performance is much the same though. Didn't see any point in getting a DroboShare, so I didn't.

I don't really have a problem with the volume size. If/when 3 Tb drives come out, you just pull two of the 2 Tb drives (one at a time, obviously - pulling both together would be data loss central) and slot in two 3 Tb drives, and your 5.6 Tb volume is now 6.6 Tb. You didn't lose any data and you didn't have to do anything with the volume.

Burble · 06-08-2009, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

I got myself a FW800-FW400 cable, so I'm using Firewire with mine. Performance is much the same though.

I didn't know such things were available! Firewire tends to be kinder on the host CPU than USB so I'll pick up one of these cables and use that rather than USB.

Mark · 06-08-2009, 11:03

9-pin to 6-pin FW800/FW400 cable is what you want. Belkin Pro series are my current favourite, but I think they've discontinued them as they're getting rare. Alternatively, you can get a FW400-FW800 adapter and use the cable supplied with the Drobo. Price is similar either way.

Obviously it'll run at FW400 speed but the reason I got mine is exactly as you stated.

05-08-2009, 22:08	#71
Feek ex SAS Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: JO01ou Posts: 10,062	Oh look, Apple just released a 2Tb Time Capsule last week! £336 with HE discount. __________________

05-08-2009, 22:22	#72
petemc Moonshine Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Nr Liverpewl Posts: 4,371	Heh well theres that but I still need another usb drive or something and its back to drobo money then. But then a drobo needs hd's on top and a further backup... damn this stuff. __________________ Thats no hamster, its a space station!

06-08-2009, 02:46	#75
petemc Moonshine Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Nr Liverpewl Posts: 4,371	That mess? __________________ Thats no hamster, its a space station!

06-08-2009, 08:53	#76
leowyatt Chef extraordinaire Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Infinite Loop Posts: 11,143	Mr Burble bought himself a drobo __________________ "Dr Sheldon Cooper FTW!"

05-08-2009, 23:44	#74
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	Just don't put big Seagate drives in it. Not after that mess at any rate. In fact, it's best suited to 5400 RPM drives like the WD GreenPower (GP) series.

06-08-2009, 10:49	#78
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	Burble has it all pretty much spot on. The fan is temperature controlled so it will spin up if you do a big transfer (at which point it does become noticeable), but it's still very quiet. I got myself a FW800-FW400 cable, so I'm using Firewire with mine. Performance is much the same though. Didn't see any point in getting a DroboShare, so I didn't. I don't really have a problem with the volume size. If/when 3 Tb drives come out, you just pull two of the 2 Tb drives (one at a time, obviously - pulling both together would be data loss central) and slot in two 3 Tb drives, and your 5.6 Tb volume is now 6.6 Tb. You didn't lose any data and you didn't have to do anything with the volume.

06-08-2009, 11:03	#80
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	9-pin to 6-pin FW800/FW400 cable is what you want. Belkin Pro series are my current favourite, but I think they've discontinued them as they're getting rare. Alternatively, you can get a FW400-FW800 adapter and use the cable supplied with the Drobo. Price is similar either way. Obviously it'll run at FW400 speed but the reason I got mine is exactly as you stated.