Drobo S gets USB 3.0 version
updated 11:25 am EST, Tue November 16, 2010
Drobo S USB 3.0 launches alongside Drobo Sync
Data Robotics today upgraded the Drobo S to add USB 3.0 support. The 5Gbps connection gives it a speed advantage over even FireWire 800 and is theoretically as much as 10 times faster than USB 2.0. The company's multi-drive storage still works over both of the earlier formats and can handle as much as 32TB of storage across its five bays, although modern drives limit it to 15TB.
The upgraded drive is available today for $799 in a barebones kit for those with their own drives, but a $1,299 pack fills each bay with a 1TB drive. Versions exist at $1,549 with 1.5TB drives (7.5TB total) and $1,799 with 2TB drives (10TB). Data Robotics is already shipping from its own store today, but HP's Small Business channel will have the hot-swappable drive arrays on November 18.
Along with the hardware, the company's Drobo Sync remote backup app is also available and is designed to automatically save content to a network-attached DroboPro FS while dealing with its unique on-the-fly data transfer between drives. The app is a free download for existing users and will come with all new DroboPro FS units.
Professional Poster
Joined: Sep 1999
Hmm...
...don't mean to be negative, but this seems more expensive than just buying a few external USB 3 drives and putting them in a software RAID configuration. What's the advantage of the Drobo?