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FAQ: Drobo Mini and Drobo 5D

What are the new Thunderbolt-powered Drobo storage arrays?

Two completely new personal/professional products:

  • Drobo 5D. Five bay direct-attached storage array featuring Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connectivity
  • Drobo Mini. Four bay, portable direct-attach storage array featuring Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connectivity

What performance can I expect to see?

We are expecting performance to be up to 5 times faster than previous generation Drobos. Click here to see results of performance testing for the Drobo Mini and 5D.

What type of battery comes with the new devices?

Drobo Mini and 5D both includes a battery that protects all data in memory, or cache, i.e., data on its way to drives. Yes, Drobo Mini actually has room for a big battery (barely)! When power spontaneously goes away, the battery keeps the Drobo alive long enough for the data to be written to non-volatile storage, ensuring your important information is safe. This battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of the product. No worry anymore about the battery coming on and running out before power is restored.

Is the battery a new feature in these new products or is it the same protection available on older models?

This is new. These products will not only protect all data (metadata and user data) in memory, but after a power fail event, it will also write all of that data to non-volatile storage (an industrial-grade USB drive inside) and then turn off the battery.

What are the key features of these new products?

Key new features in the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini include:

  1. New Hardware Architecture. Redesigned from the ground up with a completely new processor and memory architecture, the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini will be up to 5 times faster than the previous generation Drobos.
  2. Multiple, Modern Interfaces. Both the Drobo 5D and Mini have dual Thunderbolt ports and a USB 3.0 port to provide unmatched performance, flexibility, and compatibility. The dual Thunderbolt ports support daisy chain, allowing you to connect up to 6 Thunderbolt devices. The USB 3.0 port ensures compatibility with millions of USB systems. Most Thunderbolt storage products do not offer alternative interfaces, making the data they contain useless to millions of systems that do not offer native Thunderbolt ports.
  3. HDD Capacity AND SSD Performance. The Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini are the first products in their class to offer both the capacity of hard disk drives (HDDs) AND the performance of solid state drives (SSDs). In addition to supporting SSDs in the standard drive bays, there is an additional bay (the "Drobo Accelerator Bay") on the bottom that supports a very small mSATA SSD. This unique feature allows the standard drive bays to use high-capacity HDDs while still providing SSD performance.

Does the Drobo 5D support disk pack migration from previous Drobo arrays?

Drobo 5D supports disk pack migration from Gen 2 4-bay Drobo with FireWire, Gen 1 and Gen 2 Drobo S. Disk pack migrations are not supported from Gen 1 4-bay Drobo.

What size HDDs and SSDs are supported?

Just like every Drobo, we support drives of all sizes, which is currently 4TB for 3.5” HDDs and 1TB for 2.5” HDDs. When larger drives become available, they will be supported in these Drobos.

Does the Drobo 5D use desktop or enterprise HDDs?

Both. You can find the most current information here.

What brand/type of SSDs are supported?

SSDs are not like HDDs; they are all unique in their own way. Make sure you check the SSD compatibility list to ensure that the drive you're considering works with your Drobo.

Can I purchase SSDs from Drobo?

Drobo Store sells a 60GB mSATA SSD Drive in our online store for the Drobo Accelerator Bay.

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