That makes particular sense when you consider the shifts we're seeing in computing, particularly from Apple (though arguably where the Mac goes, the PC tends to follow), with traditional HDDs phased out in favor of faster solid-state memory with generally smaller capacities.
DROBO DASHBOARD 2.2.X ARCHIVE
As we've found with Thunderbolt drives before, the Drobo Mini is sufficiently swift that you can effectively treat it as another internal drive, keeping project files – whether photo, music, or video editing, or something else – stored externally, rather than having to copy them onto your main drive and then archive them again afterwards.
Where the Drobo Mini succeeds, then, is in day-to-day use: solid data access rates, and the flexibility and convenience of the BeyondRAID system. Four green LED strips around the corners of the fascia correspond to the status of each drive, while status lights and a useful capacity gauge run along the bottom, showing you roughly how much space you have left. No tools required, and swapping out a drive is as simple as clicking it in and pulling it free you can even do it with the Drobo Mini running, and rebuilding the array begins automatically. Another option is dual disk redundancy – where the Drobo Mini can handle up to two drives failing simultaneously with no data loss – but then, with four 1TB HDDs installed, you'll only have 1.8TB to use.įitting the drives themselves is incredibly straightforward: no caddies, rails, or other attachments, simply push the HDD in port-first and, like clicking a pen, it slots into place.
DROBO DASHBOARD 2.2.X INSTALL
It's worth noting that you needn't install four drives of the same size: you can mix and match, then take advantage of Drobo's auto-rebuilding of the array by swapping out a smaller drive for a larger version.