Drobo, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryComputer hardware
Computer data storage
FoundedSan Jose, California, US (May 2005 (2005-05))
FounderGeoff Barrall
Julian Terry
Ken Rosen
DefunctApril 28, 2023 (2023-04-28)[1]
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mihir H. Shah, CEO
Mike Edwards, CFO
Rod Harrison, CTO
ProductsDrobo
Websitewww.drobo.com

Drobo was a manufacturer of a series of external storage devices for computers, including DAS, SAN, and NAS appliances. Drobo devices can house up to four, five, eight, or twelve 3.5" or 2.5" Serial ATA or Serial Attached SCSI hard disk drives and connect with a computer or network via USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 800, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet or Thunderbolt. Drobo devices are primarily designed to allow installation and removal of hard disk drives without requiring manual data migration, for increasing storage capacity of the unit without downtime, and for data protection against drive failure.

The company Drobo, Inc. changed its name from Data Robotics in 2011 since the familiarity with the Drobo name (which had only been the name of their product line until then) far exceeded the Data Robotics name.[2] Drobo, Inc. merged with Connected Data, Inc. in June 2013, with the new company taking the Connected Data name. In May 2015, the storage appliance business was spun-off as Drobo, Inc. and acquired by an investment group composed of seasoned tech executives[3] Drobo was later acquired by StorCentric in August, 2018.[4]

All Drobo products have been out of stock or severely inventory constrained in both the Drobo Store and retail channels since the beginning of 2020. Drobo initially blamed this on supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] In November, 2021, Drobo stated that more devices would be available in "the next few months".[6] In June 2022, StorCentric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[7] After failing to find a buyer or reorganize the company, it shifted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2023.[8]

From the Drobo website: As of January 27th, 2023, Drobo support and products are no longer available. Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model. The knowledge base, documentation repository, and legacy documentation library are still accessible for your support needs. We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data.

Products

Overview

Consumer models

Drobo (1st) Drobo (2nd) Drobo (3rd) Drobo 5C Drobo S Drobo S (2nd) Drobo 5D Drobo 5Dt Drobo 5D3 Drobo 8D Drobo FS Drobo 5N Drobo 5N2 Drobo Mini
Model Number DR04DD10 DR04DD14 DDR3A21 DDR4A21 DRDR3A21 DRDR4A21 DRDR5A21 DRDR5A21-T DRDR6A21 DRDR7A21 DRDS2A21 DRDS4A21 DRDS5A21 DR-Mini-1P11
Release Date 5 June 2007 8 July 2008 28 May 2014 4 October 2016 23 November 2009 16 November 2010 2 November 2012 21 June 2016 27 June 2017 13 November 2018 6 April 2010 13 December 2012 21 March 2017 26 October 2012
Type DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS NAS NAS NAS DAS
Drive Bays 4 4 4 5 5 5 5+1* 5+1** 5+1* 8+1*** 5 5+1* 5+1* 4+1*
Redundancy Single drive Single drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive
Hosts Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Up to 10 users Single
Data-Aware Tiering No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
USB 2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 (Type C) 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 (Type C) No No No No 3.0
FireWire 800 No Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Gigabit Ethernet No No No No No No No No No No 1x (AFP and CIFS/SMB) 1x (AFP and CIFS/SMB) 2x (independent, bonded, or failover links) No
eSATA No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Thunderbolt No No No No No No 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 No No No 1.0
Max Storage 4TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 64TB 128TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 64TB
Max Volume Size 2TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 64TB 256TB 16TB 64TB 64TB 64TB
Largest size drive 4TB 12TB 14TB 4TB 14TB 14TB 14TB 14TB 4TB 14TB 18TB[9] 12TB
* Plus one mSATA SSD slot for Data-Aware Tiering[10]
**Plus one 128 GB mSATA SSD card for Data-Aware Tiering[11]
***Plus one 2.5" SATA SSD bay for Data-Aware Tiering

Business models

DroboPro DroboPro FS B800fs B810n DroboElite B800i B810i B1200i
Model Number DRPR1A21 DRDS3A21 DR-B800FS-4A21 DR-B810N-5A21 DREL1A21 DR-B800I-2A21 DR-B810I-3A21 DRB1200I1A21
Release Date 7 April 2009 5 October 2010 8 February 2011 25 October 2015 23 November 2009 8 February 2011 23 February 2016 8 February 2011
End of Support[12] 14 December 2014 30 May 2012 19 September 2016 N/A 30 May 2012 19 September 2016 N/A 7 August 2019
Type DAS NAS NAS NAS SAN SAN SAN SAN
Drive Bays 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 12
Redundancy Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive Single or dual drive
Hosts Single Up to 25 users Up to 100 users Up to 100 users Up to 16 Up to 8 Up to 24
Data-Aware Tiering No No No Yes No No Yes Yes
USB 2.0 No No No 2.0, Admin only 2.0, Admin only No No
FireWire 800 Yes No No No No No No No
Gigabit Ethernet 1x (iSCSI) 2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB) 2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB) 2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB) 2x (iSCSI) 2x (iSCSI) 2x (iSCSI) and 1x (Management) 3x (iSCSI) and 1x (Management)
Max Storage 32TB 32TB 32TB 64TB 32TB 32TB 64TB 128TB
Max Volume Size 16TB 16TB 16TB 64TB 16TB 16TB 64TB 64TB
Largest Size Drive 4TB 4TB 4TB 14TB 4TB 4TB 14TB 8TB (SATA) 6TB (SAS)

References

  1. ↑ "Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy".
  2. ↑ Owens, Jeremy (2011-07-21). "Data Robotics officially changes name, moves to San Jose". MercuryNews.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  3. ↑ "Drobo Acquired by Investment Group Comprised of Seasoned Tech Executives". drobo.com (Press release). Santa Clara, California: Drobo. May 20, 2015. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  4. ↑ "StorCentric to Acquire Drobo and Nexsan". storcentric.com (Press release). 2018-08-21. Archived from the original on 2019-05-18. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
  5. ↑ @Drobo (February 19, 2020). "The Coronoavirus outbreak in China ..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ↑ @Drobo (November 29, 2021). "We are expecting a restock of 5N2's and 5D3's to our US store in the next few months!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ Gallagher, William (2022-07-06). "Storage firm Drobo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". AppleInsider. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  8. ↑ Hilliard, Wesley (May 15, 2023). "Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy". Apple Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Capacity Calculator". Drobo. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  10. ↑ "Drobo Mini". drobo.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  11. ↑ Bolander, Jane (2016-06-21). "Drobo Announces the Drobo 5D Turbo, the Only 5 Bay DAS With Thunderbolt™ 2 and USB 3.0 for Power Users". drobo.com (Press release). Archived from the original on 2016-11-27. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  12. ↑ "End of Life Announcement". Drobo. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
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