Drobo#BeyondRAID

{{Short description|Company and brand of external storage devices}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Drobo, Inc.

| logo =

| caption =

| type = Private

| industry = Computer hardware
Computer data storage

| genre =

| fate =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| foundation = San Jose, California, US ({{Start date|2005|05}})

| founder = Geoff Barrall
Julian Terry
Ken Rosen

| defunct = {{End date|2023|04|28}}{{cite news|url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/05/15/drobo-parent-company-storcentric-shifts-to-chapter-7-bankruptcy|title= Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy}}

| location =

| location_city = San Jose, California

| locations =

| area_served = Worldwide

| key_people = Mihir H. Shah, CEO
Mike Edwards, CFO
Rod Harrison, CTO

| products = Drobo

| services =

| revenue =

| operating_income =

| net_income =

| aum =

| assets =

| equity =

| owner =

| num_employees =

| parent =

| divisions =

| subsid =

| footnotes =

| intl =

| location_country = US

| homepage = {{official URL}}

}}

Drobo was a manufacturer of a series of external storage devices for computers, including DAS, SAN, and NAS appliances. Their main product was also known as Drobo. Between 2005 and 2011, the company was known as Data Robotics.

History

Data Robotics was founded in San Jose, California, in 2005. The company changed its name to Drobo 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.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_18508466 |title=Data Robotics officially changes name, moves to San Jose |last=Owens |first=Jeremy |website=MercuryNews.com |date=2011-07-21 |access-date=2015-09-10 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073625/http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_18508466 |url-status=live }} 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{{cite press release| url= http://www.drobo.com/news/press-releases/drobo-acquired-by-investment-group-comprised-of-seasoned-tech-executives/| title= Drobo Acquired by Investment Group {{sic|Comprised |hide=y|of}} Seasoned Tech Executives| place= Santa Clara, California| date= May 20, 2015| website= drobo.com| publisher= Drobo| access-date= July 11, 2018| archive-date= July 11, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180711093523/http://www.drobo.com/news/press-releases/drobo-acquired-by-investment-group-comprised-of-seasoned-tech-executives/| url-status= live}} Drobo was later acquired by StorCentric in August, 2018.{{cite press release|website=storcentric.com|date=2018-08-21|access-date=2019-05-18|url=https://storcentric.com/storcentric-to-acquire-drobo-and-nexsan/|title=StorCentric to Acquire Drobo and Nexsan|archive-date=2019-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518165347/https://storcentric.com/storcentric-to-acquire-drobo-and-nexsan/|url-status=live}}

All Drobo products had 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.{{Cite tweet |user=Drobo |number=1230250784907984897 |title= The Coronoavirus outbreak in China ... }} In November, 2021, Drobo stated that more devices would be available in "the next few months".{{Cite tweet|user=Drobo|number=1465384649241227271|title= We are expecting a restock of 5N2's and 5D3's to our US store in the next few months!}} In June 2022, StorCentric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.{{Cite web |last=Gallagher |first=William |date=2022-07-06 |title=Storage firm Drobo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy |url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/07/06/storage-firm-drobo-has-filed-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=AppleInsider |language=en}} After failing to find a buyer or reorganize the company, it shifted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2023.{{Cite web |last=Hilliard |first=Wesley |date=May 15, 2023 |title=Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy |url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/05/15/drobo-parent-company-storcentric-shifts-to-chapter-7-bankruptcy |access-date=May 15, 2023 |website=Apple Insider |language=en}}

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.

As of February 8, 2024, the Drobo website at www.drobo.com is no longer accessible.

Products

=Overview=

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.

==Consumer models==

class="wikitable" ! ! 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 \| {{Yes\|2.0}} \| {{Yes\|2.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0 (Type C)}} \| {{Yes\|2.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0 (Type C)}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes\|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}} \| {{Yes\|1x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}} \| {{Yes\|1x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}} \| {{Yes\|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}} \| {{Yes\|1.0}} \| {{Yes\|2.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{Yes\|3.0}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes\|1.0}}
Max Storage{{cite web \|title=Maximum Volume Size and Largest Size Drive \|url=https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01124.html \|website=Drobo \|publisher=Data Robotics \|access-date=17 February 2025 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707113744/https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01124.html \|archive-date=July 7, 2022 \|url-status=dead}} \| 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{{Cite web \|title=Capacity Calculator \|url=https://www.drobo.com/storage-products/capacity-calculator/ \|access-date=2022-11-27 \|website=Drobo \|language=en-US}} \| 12TB

class="wikitable"

!

! 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

| NAS

|DAS

Drive Bays

| 4

| 5

| 5+1*

| 5+1**

| 5+1*

| 8+1***

| 5

| 5+1*

| 4+1*

Redundancy

| Single drive

| Single or dual drive

Hosts

| Single

| Up to 10 users

|

| Single

Data-Aware Tiering

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

USB

| {{Yes|2.0}}

| {{Yes|3.0}}

| {{Yes|3.0 (Type C)}}

| {{Yes|2.0}}

| {{Yes|3.0}}

| {{Yes|3.0 (Type C)}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes|3.0}}

FireWire 800

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

Gigabit Ethernet

| {{No}}

| {{Yes|1x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}}

| {{Yes|2x (independent, bonded, or failover links)}}

| {{No}}

eSATA

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

Thunderbolt

| {{No}}

| {{Yes|1.0}}

| {{Yes|2.0}}

| {{Yes|3.0}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes|1.0}}

Max Storage{{cite web |title=Maximum Volume Size and Largest Size Drive |url=https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01124.html |website=Drobo |publisher=Data Robotics |access-date=17 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707113744/https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01124.html |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |url-status=dead}}

| 4TB

| 16TB

| 64TB

| 16TB

|

| 64TB

| 128TB

| 16TB

| 64TB

Max Volume Size

| 2TB

| 16TB

| 64TB

| 16TB

|

| 64TB

| 256TB

| 16TB

| 64TB

Largest size drive

|

| 4TB

| 12TB

| 14TB

| 4TB

|

| 14TB

| 4TB

| 14TB

| 18TB{{Cite web |title=Capacity Calculator |url=https://www.drobo.com/storage-products/capacity-calculator/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=Drobo |language=en-US}}

| 12TB

:* Plus one mSATA SSD slot for Data-Aware Tiering{{cite web |url=http://www.drobo.com/storage-products/mini/ |title=Drobo Mini |publisher=drobo.com |access-date=2015-09-10 |archive-date=2015-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906065738/http://www.drobo.com/storage-products/mini/ |url-status=live }}

:**Plus one 128 GB mSATA SSD card for Data-Aware Tiering{{Cite press release|url=http://www.drobo.com/news/press-releases/drobo-announces-the-drobo-5d-turbo-the-only-5-bay-das-with-thunderbolt-2-and-usb-3-0-for-power-users/|title=Drobo Announces the Drobo 5D Turbo, the Only 5 Bay DAS With Thunderbolt™ 2 and USB 3.0 for Power Users|date=2016-06-21|website=drobo.com|first=Jane|last=Bolander|access-date=2016-11-27|archive-date=2016-11-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127214924/http://www.drobo.com/news/press-releases/drobo-announces-the-drobo-5d-turbo-the-only-5-bay-das-with-thunderbolt-2-and-usb-3-0-for-power-users/|url-status=live}}

:***Plus one 2.5" SATA SSD bay for Data-Aware Tiering

==Business models==

class="wikitable" ! ! 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{{cite web \|title=End of Life Announcement \|url=https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01378.html \|website=Drobo \|access-date=17 December 2019 \|archive-date=17 December 2019 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217230211/https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01378.html \|url-status=live }} \| 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 \| {{Yes\|2.0}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes-No\|2.0, Admin only}} \| {{Yes-No\|2.0, Admin only}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
FireWire 800 \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
Gigabit Ethernet \| {{Yes\|1x (iSCSI)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (AFP and CIFS/SMB)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (iSCSI)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (iSCSI)}} \| {{Yes\|2x (iSCSI) and 1x (Management)}} \| {{Yes\|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)

class="wikitable"

!

! 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{{cite web |title=End of Life Announcement |url=https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01378.html |website=Drobo |access-date=17 December 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217230211/https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01378.html |url-status=live }}

| 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

| SAN