Drobo releases Twins, they’re kinda like the old twins, but with better genetic engineering this time around. At first, I was a little shocked that the fine folks at Drobo were announcing two new models to their lineup instead of replacing the current models with new updated editions. On first glance, the specifications being offered for the Drobo S and the Drobo Elite didn’t seem like it was worth it, but after chatting with Mark Fuccio over at Drobo, their decision actually makes a lot of sense. They’re attempting to offer both a consumer and pro-sumer/small business model with the Drobo S. When I started to actually think about it, it made a ton of sense for them to do that in todays market.
How many home users are struggling with backups today, and more importantly how many home users could afford an S model at $799.00 USD? The extra drive, duel disk redundancy and esata availability in the S model might not be all that necessary for someone backing up at home. Keeping the price at $399USD starts making all the sense in the world.
So, if you’re interested in backing up some files at home you might want to stick with the regular Drobo model, but if you’re looking to get this into a more professional environment the Drobo S model might be right up your alley.
Drobo S Specifications
- 50% Faster than the current Drobo model
- Now has eSATA connection
- 5 Drive Bays instead of Four
- Dual-Drive redundancy
Most of those things might not be that big of a deal, but once you factor in the extra drive redundancy and the 50% speed increase, the Drobo S starts looking like it’s worth the price increase if you’re using this in a professional production environment.
The ‘Other’ twin is for people in large offices who need to share information across multiple machines, and multiple settings. If you work at a design firm, or an editing firm of any kind then this is the device you’ll be looking at. It allows multiple users to check in and check out resources so that changes can be made to files.
Drobo Elite
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet
- 8 Drive Bays
- Supports 255 Smart Volumes
- Supports Single or Dual-Drive redundancy
- Upto 16 Hosts
If money was never an issue the Drobo Elite would be mounted under my desk, but unfortunately it’s not exactly in this years budget. I’ve drooled over xServer Raids in the past, and the Drobo Elite might have replaced that as my new item to lust after. But, to be quite honest, most of us won’t need something more than a regular Drobo, or at the very most a Drobo S. When it comes to backing up your machine 300-700, might seem like a ridiculous price to bare financially, but I guarantee you won’t feel that way if you lose your graduate thesis because you were relying on some voodoo like backup practices. If you’re in the market for a back up failsafe, you need to at the very least check out the Drobo product line.
Awesome Gallery of the New Linup
