![]() ![]() Pull the front cover off and slide in the drives. The front cover is attached magnetically, which I like a lot. The power supply is a small black box that sits on the floor. However, I would really like a twist-lock power connector to keep it from accidentally disconnecting simply because the cord got bumped, which happened to me during testing. It is impossible to screw up these connections. There are exactly two cables to connect: power and Thunderbolt. Anything that decreases my stress in setting up a new piece of gear is a good thing. From the nice cloth bag containing the unit, to the casual writing style of the Quick Start Guide, Drobo wants to do more than make this hardware a part of your computer system Drobo wants to be your friend. After wading though far too many opaque setup guides, I like this approach. With the exception of Apple, no one understands how to make technology friendly and accessible like Drobo. However, I didn’t need the drives as I had five 2 TB Seagate drives just sitting around after a recent upgrade to the DroboElite, so I used my own drives for the test. The Drobo 5D arrived in two boxes: one containing the Drobo itself, and the other containing the hard drives to go in it. Drobo uses a technology called “BeyondRAID,” which you can learn about here. Read this for a description of what RAID levels mean, as well as other general definitions. NOTE: The Drobo 5D is similar to a RAID-5. All other RAID vendors require you to decide total capacity when you buy the RAID, and any upgrades require getting all new hardware. It is impossible to overstate how unique this flexibility is in the market today. ![]() However, the heart to efficient video editing lies in the storage system.ĭrobo is justifiably famous for manufacturing gear that is easy to use, expandable, and allows you to mix-and-match drives as your resources allow. It demands fast computers, fast storage, and extremely efficient system components to handle the massive amounts of data flowing through the system in real-time. NOTE: Video editing is THE most taxing task we can do on a computer. While I am grateful for the 18 TB of online storage space, the performance of the DroboElite over the network is too slow for video editing. This is attached to our network switch via iSCSI and accessed via Ethernet as network-attached storage (NAS). My first Drobo was the original FireWire, 5-bay unit which I’ve since given to my son.Ĭurrently, my company uses a maxed-out DroboElite, which I purchased about a year ago. I’ve used and reviewed Drobo storage for several years. It is not the fastest RAID available, but for most editors, it doesn’t need to be. The Drobo 5D is an easy-to-use, expandable RAID-5-like device that provides capacity, data protection, and performance sufficient for almost every video editing task. I used both the AJA System Test utility and Activity Monitor to measure data speeds. This week, the good folks at Drobo offered to send me a 5D for a few days to review, and I’ve spent the last two days working with it.įor my testing, I used a one-year old MacBook Pro with 8 GB of RAM and OS 10.8.2. I have eagerly looked forward to the Thunderbolt-based Drobo 5D since it was first announced last July. Drobo has been a past sponsor of my Digital Production Buzz podcasts. ![]() For an explanation of how I review products, click here. NOTE: I am a firm believer in ethical product reviews. ![]()
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