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I'm currently rocking a 1TB external HD with all my stuff on it... no back ups.
Before I kick my own ass when this thing dies, I decided to make the jump and get a drobo for extra protection. I know USB 3.0 is in the pipeline for all hardware products, but does anyone have an insight when this will happen and when it will hit the drobo line? Trying to see if I should buy now, or just hold out if it's within the next few months possibly a year.
Why not getting a NAS? Then you don't need to attach it via USB but can use a LAN cable and can even store in a different room than your compputer! Furthermore, it can work as a file server so you gain additional space on your computer with all the files that you don't need every day. I found the synology diskstation very useful since I bought it and wouldn't want to give it back anymore. I was flirting with a drobo myself but didn't like the need to attach it via USB. Just a thought for consideration!
Take a look at the HP WHS servers. There is a major OS revision due soon, which will also change the hardware - but the current WHS servers are excellent. Plus, since it uses a decent chipset it's fast over a LAN. The mix & match drive aspect of Drobo is not quite replicated with WHS, but it's close.
www.amazon.com/EX495-1-5TB-Mediasmart-Server-Black...
It's actually a surprisingly powerful and useful box. I would have to say it's my single most worthwhile home LAN purchase.
www.amazon.com/EX495-1-5TB-Mediasmart-Server-Black...
It's actually a surprisingly powerful and useful box. I would have to say it's my single most worthwhile home LAN purchase.
the synology I have has two hard drives in it. If you set it up as a RAID5 (I think) they will automatically copy each other. Should you exchange one of the hard drives the new one will be filled with the same data again. Basically, you have the same functionality as with the Drobo, only more. The software is pretty fantastic, especially offline torrent download or the use as a web server or mail server. Accesss from outside your home network onto your data is also quiet nice.
You get RAID1 - drive mirroring - on a two-box system. You need a minimum of three drives for RAID5. The Drobo, and WHS for that matter, don't run RAID - and they offer (far more, if you consider the practical aspects) more flexibility than RAID in drive install, while maintaining drive redundancy on a par with RAID5.
I still have a Thecus N5200, which offers pretty much the same features as your Synology but is a 5-bay system and is faster than the Synology under RAID5, but I consider the WHS a definite upgrade over the N5200.
These Linux-based NAS's are generally speaking cheaper though - but do research before you buy, as you do ultimately get what you pay for. smallnetbuilder is a great resource for doing that.
I still have a Thecus N5200, which offers pretty much the same features as your Synology but is a 5-bay system and is faster than the Synology under RAID5, but I consider the WHS a definite upgrade over the N5200.
These Linux-based NAS's are generally speaking cheaper though - but do research before you buy, as you do ultimately get what you pay for. smallnetbuilder is a great resource for doing that.
What does WHS use in terms of a redundancy? I was planning to build an UnRaid box for the simple fact it doesn't use a true RAID config so in the event of hardware failure it'd be easier to recover the data. If WHS can do what I need it do but easier and far less "configuring" I may consider it.
It's an UnRaid/Drobo-like 'not RAID'.
However the forthcoming version seems to have dumped it. Apparently they found issues with highly transactional use and compatibility with software which expects to be talking to a drive letter when they tried to scale the WHS tech into the new version of SBS - and rather than saying "OK, we'll stick with this for home use where it's worked nicely" they've dumped the feature altogether. Dumb.
However the forthcoming version seems to have dumped it. Apparently they found issues with highly transactional use and compatibility with software which expects to be talking to a drive letter when they tried to scale the WHS tech into the new version of SBS - and rather than saying "OK, we'll stick with this for home use where it's worked nicely" they've dumped the feature altogether. Dumb.
From an everyday-use standpoint for home Windows users the HP EX495 walks all over the Drobo FS. True, the FS offers two-drive-failure redundancy but is weaker in all other aspects - and it costs the same (the HP ships with one 1.5Tb drive. The FS is driveless).
Even with USB 3.0, the speed bottleneck is with the Drobo software. Firewire is plenty fast and if the data throughput gets more efficient with better software, firmware updates are free. I currently stream 1080p content from mine, over gigabit, which is shared out by a computer, using the firewire connection. One caveat, I drop frames when transferring to the Drobo and am playing 1080p video. Standard def OK.
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