Drobo Mini
Manufacturer: Drobo Part number: DRMINI1A21
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The esoteric Drobo Mini seems to strive to be unique mostly for the sake of uniqueness, and offers very little, if at all, in terms of usability considering its crazily high cost.
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show CNET editors' review
Drobo Mini price range: $599.00 - $1,065.00
- Reviewed by: Dong Ngo
- Reviewed on: 11/21/2012
The good: The Drobo Mini is compact, can host four drives with dynamic storage scalability and protection, and supports both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0, and its drive bay design is excellent.
The bad: The Drobo Mini is very expensive, it's comparatively slow, hot, and noisy, it takes a long time to start up, and overall it's cumbersome to use.
The bottom line: The esoteric Drobo Mini seems to strive to be unique mostly for the sake of uniqueness, and offers very little, if at all, in terms of usability considering its crazily high cost.
Read CNET's full review
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Write Review Showing opinion 1 to 5 out of 5
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10 stars
Drobo Mini in my home studio! Homerun!
by beatsjam1234 on November 25, 2012
Pros: -easy to use
-quite
-internal power supply
-trusted Drobo name
-works fast moving data
Cons: -might get a bit warm
Summary: I'm in the audio engineering field and used Drobo's trusted reputation in my professional life and seamlessly transitioned it into my personal studio and workplace with the Drobro ...
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Summary: I'm in the audio engineering field and used Drobo's trusted reputation in my professional life and seamlessly transitioned it into my personal studio and workplace with the Drobro Mini.
I received my Drobo Mini last week and have been tracking and backing up all my files from Protools. I also use video editing applications like Final Cut, Adobe After Effects and other Avid programs. It is certainly a different beast when it comes to protecting and being a storage unit. I travel a lot and this product has already proven to be great on the road and using it on those pesty layovers and cancellations. It has a high-quality look and feel that I had hoped for, and runs pretty quietly, maybe a but warm at times, but all the people in the airport where wondering what was hooked up to my MacBook Air and I had to tell them about it.
I started simply with 4 Seagate Momentus drives (will add the mSATA SSD at a later date if need be), and I am very happy with the performance of Thunderbolt connected to my new Macbook Air. It's plenty fast for me, and I've been moving a couple of TB of video and audio files to the unit.
I'm sure you can find a faster (or a cheaper) system out there, but I like Drobo's redundancy and flexibility to add bigger drives over time, and their new battery feature that protects data in case I suddenly lose power. After hours of recording with different takes that's worth the money alone after hours and hours of tracking or editing.
I trust Drobo in the workplace so naturally I trust it when it comes to my personal home studio and office. I trust and have told everyone I work or collaborate with about this product. If your serious about making quality stuff, use the BEST to store your hard work on.
So far, A+'s here and I will update this as I learn more.
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1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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10 stars
My friends are jealous!
by fotojock on November 25, 2012
Pros: It looks very slick, and people always ask about it. Usually work on the road, my MacBook internal SSD is fast but small, and the Seageate GoFlex works well, but I worry about it failing. Cloud not ok for backup, needed to invest in something safer.
Cons: None so far. It's been great!
Summary: I saw a review from David Pouge who said it was a good backup device but it costs. It made me think more about protection, and so far I am ...
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Summary: I saw a review from David Pouge who said it was a good backup device but it costs. It made me think more about protection, and so far I am happy with it. It was up and running in no time it seemed, and I chained my GoFlex with it to my MBP and transferred my Aperture library and it is running faster on the Drobo.
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10 stars
Ecellent Product !
by pfb6736 on November 23, 2012
Pros: -size
-speed
-battery backup feature that allows clean writes/shutdown in case of power loss
-portability
Cons: none really- maybe differnt color options for the unit
Summary: I upgraded to the Drobo Mini for my backup solution for my home office/personal use. It is absolutely bulletproof. The speed and size of the unit is a great ...
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Summary: I upgraded to the Drobo Mini for my backup solution for my home office/personal use. It is absolutely bulletproof. The speed and size of the unit is a great asset when I travel for work. The "battery backup" feature which allows a clean write before shutting down saved my data while I was right in the middle of a copy of Video files and the power went out. ( happens quite in bit in New Hampshire). I highly recommend this product!
Updated on Nov 23, 2012
:-. spellcheck "Excellent Product"
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10 stars
I love my Drobo Mini.
by MBress on November 23, 2012
Pros: Easy to install and setup. Extremely fast. Looks great. WELL worth the price I paid!
Cons: None that I have encountered thus far.
Summary: I don't know what Dong is talking about, I just bought my Drobo Mini and have had a vastly different experience than what he's described in his review....
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Summary: I don't know what Dong is talking about, I just bought my Drobo Mini and have had a vastly different experience than what he's described in his review.
First, the Drobo Mini is incredibly easy to install and setup - it took me minutes from box to fully setup and running.
Secondly, the Drobo Mini is extremely fast and, unlike Dong, I've encountered little to no decrease in speed despite the large amount of data stored (volumes and volumes of large video files).
Lastly, Dong's complaints about the price are completely unwarranted. For the speed, ease and reliability of the Drobo Mini, the $633 price tag I paid was MORE than worth it. The VALUE that comes with the Drobo brand is unparalleled - plain and simple.
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10 stars
Like my other Drobo, but faster
by EventLaurie on November 23, 2012
Pros: - safer and faster than other portable drives
- very fast setup, just a couple of minutes
- very easy to use, plug and go
Cons: - not bus powered (has too many drives for that)
Summary: I have always liked Drobo. I am not a techie which is why I have liked them, and have been eager for a faster one. I got this one and ...
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Summary: I have always liked Drobo. I am not a techie which is why I have liked them, and have been eager for a faster one. I got this one and am happy to say it is really fast, even faster than I expected on my MacBook Air. And I can take it with me when I go to events to protect what I capture when traveling.
For me, I don't find it expensive or esoteric, which is why I wanted to post this when I saw the review. Even full of hard drives, it is lower cost than my laptop, software, camera, and the travel cost when I go to events. As a creative pro, the design is just what I look for. I might not choose this for desktop-only, but it was a great choice for what I and other photographers use it for.
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