Drobo: Automated Hard Drive Management
A problem faced by many of us is how to expand external hard drive storage while maintaining our existing investment in hard drives and keeping it all safe from data corruption. Data Robotics has a solution named Drobo that is being well received by designers and photographers. This unique black cube holds an array of up to four bare 3.5-inch SATA hard drives that can be swapped out by simply pulling them out of the front of the cube. When stocked with multiple drives, your Mac displays all of them as one hard drive.
Drobo automatically configures the drives to keep a redundant copy of all data. If a hard drive malfunctions, or you want to replace it with a new drive, you can do it on the fly and Drobo takes care of reconfiguring everything you. Red, yellow and green indicator lights tell you when you’re nearing capacity, or need to replace a full or bad drive. Their website has some compelling videos illustrating its use. The empty Drobo costs $499.
Jeff Gamet is a contributing editor for Design Tools Monthly, the executive summary of graphic design news. He is also the morning editor and reviews editor for The Mac Observer and iPodObserver.com, and contributing writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User. He writes the InBrief column for InDesign Magazine, and is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X,” from Peachpit Press
When Jeff isn’t writing about the graphic design world, he’s talking about it on the Design Tools Weekly podcast with co-host Jay Nelson. He also talks about Apple and the Mac world every week on The Mac Observer’s Apple Weekly Report.
Jeff studies, tests and reviews new software and technologies for the Macintosh community as well as the design and print industries. He is a former Pre-press specialist, and has nearly 25 years experience with computer technology. Jeff trains, lectures and consults on techniques for more efficiently using Mac OS X in creative environments throughout the country.
In the rare moments when he can get away from his MacBook Pro, Jeff spends his time climbing and biking in the Colorado mountains.
Drobo looks really handy love the design.