captainlynne said:Even with two 750 gig drives there's less than half the total available for data at 696.8 gig

Thats because of the measurement. 1 gig in actual usable space is 1024 mb. But the drive manufacturers say 1gig = 1000mb.

So thats where the difference is. With a 750 gb drive in a computer you will also only see 696 gigs.

captainlynne said:Thanks RHL (I hope its ok to call you that ) I understand the loss of each drive size from its rated amount. But this is basically mirrored RAID? So two drives only gives you one for storage and one for backup? Adding unequal sized drives loses the use of that extra space you get with the larger drive?

You are correct. By not using the same size drives you are going to miss out on space, especially with only 2 drives.

Your example

Drive 1 - 500gb, shows as 464
Drive 2 - 750gb, shows as about 700.

Drobo mirrors drive 1 onto drive 2. That leaves 231 on drive 2, and is unusable since it does not have a separate drive to back up onto.

Add another 750gb. I think you could do this.
Drive 1 - 500gb
Drive 2 - 750gb
Drive 3 - 750gb

It would do 250 from drive 1 onto drive 2. 500 from drive 2 onto drive 3 and 250 from drive 3 onto drive 1. Giving you 1000gb of usable storage and 1000gb backup and no left over.

If drive three was a 1000gb drive you would end up the same but with 250 gb left for expansion.

captainlynne said:BTW try using code "macbreak" for $50 off. I'm not sure if it works on the discounted usb drobo or only the new one.

I'm more interested in the new one. Does anyone know of a cheaper source (for the bare drobo, i'm sure we can all find killer 1tb drive deals on our own) that the drobo store and the $50 off coupon?

captainlynne said:I see the new firewire is 800 and my mobo (IP 35 pro) will only do 400 so I'm assuming the speed increase still wouldn't be as much as advertised even with direct connection to my computer. I'm asking so much about the new firewire because I don't want to buy the "old" technology and wish I had the new one. Its amazing how yesterday the usb 2.0 was enough and today I'm ready to call it out of date! What do you guys think? Is the usb 2.0 still right for someone who wants to use it the way I do?

as a general rule of thumb, firewire (400 _or_ 800) is preferred over usb 1.1 _or_ 2 because it takes a small amount of load off of your cpu. the calculations needed to preform the data transfer to the bus is handled by a controller chip with firewire. with usb, this is done on the cpu. keep in mind, that this is a VERY small performance hit on modern computers, but it is still there. even though the on paper specs for usb2 and firewire400 are very similar, there is generally a small gain in transfer speeds with firewire. these two factors make firewire my connector of choice*

when firewire800 is an option, this is a no brainer compared to usb2 when speed is the issue. i do not know of a comparison off the top of my head for firewire800 vs esata, however, i would think that esata has no overhead while firewire800 would introduce overhead giving esata the lead in transfer times. does anyone have data to back me/correct me on this?

all of that being said, the thing to keep in mind about the drobo is/was that the gen 1 drobos were never able to saturate (or even come close to saturation) of the usb2 interface. unless there were major speed gains with the gen 2 drobos, it seems that it might be a moot point to worry about the interface if speeds were not increased. i would be surprised if data robotics didn't improve the speed on the drobo if they went to the trouble to add firewire800 though. i guess it's time to go find some reviews of the new units to see what the real world performance is.

*note: sometimes i care more about being able to connect to almost anything, in that case, usb is the way to go since almost everything can interface with usb now. keep in mind that the gen 2 drobo has usb and firewire800 connectors; most of this post was speaking in general terms.

The "macbreak" coupon is not valid on the discounted units (as described on offer page).

The new units have upgraded processors, and are faster even when using the USB connection. Also, with regard to arctan's point about USB being more ubiquitous - the new units have both connection types so you can still "connect to almost anything".

Here are some performance numbers.

What is wrong with these people? Seriously, how the heck can you make a state of the art NAS device and not include an ethernet jack? I've been watching Drobo from the presale days of the original units...but there's no way I'm buying a USB or Firewire model. I can only imagine how much money these guys are losing out on, while the competition keeps closing in on their "unique" product.

broadwayblue said:What is wrong with these people? Seriously, how the heck can you make a state of the art NAS device and not include an ethernet jack? I've been watching Drobo from the presale days of the original units...but there's no way I'm buying a USB or Firewire model. I can only imagine how much money these guys are losing out on, while the competition keeps closing in on their "unique" product.

i agree that this really should have a gigE connection (and esata for that matter)--however, keep in mind that this is not a NAS device, it is a DAS device. there are lots of things to nitpick over, and a do think that lack of onboard gigE is one of them, i still think that drobo is a killer product. 350 if you only need one for backup is a steal. 500 if you want a fast das device is a little high, but i like what they have to offer. in my eyes, the biggest fault is that there are not larger drobos. i know you can connect 2 to a droboshare or as many as you like to a real computer/server, but i would like to be able to use the built in drobo redundancy across even more drives (say 6 or even 8). this would give even better redundancy and allow for even larger volumes.

i don't plan on holding out though. i'm looking at getting 2 drobos for the office (1 gen 1 and 1 gen 2) and one drobo for home (gen2).

JIWC said:broadwayblue said:What is wrong with these people? Seriously, how the heck can you make a state of the art NAS device and not include an ethernet jack? I've been watching Drobo from the presale days of the original units...but there's no way I'm buying a USB or Firewire model. I can only imagine how much money these guys are losing out on, while the competition keeps closing in on their "unique" product.

They sell the network option separately through a product called Drobo Share, that can connect up to two Drobos. Check it out on their website.

but they are still slow as molasses...at least that's what the reviews i've read say.

available at Amazon now for $349, no tax to most states + free shipping.

drobo

Amazon still $349 out the door. At drobo store after discount + tax + shipping turns out to be $370 for me