Buy.com has the Data Robotics Drobo DR04DD10 4-Bay USB 2.0 & FireWire 800 Storage Array Enclosure for $370 + $0 shipping = $370 shipped. Drobo’s built-in software automatically self-heals around drive failures and data errors and expands capacity dynamically when you add a drive. [Compare]
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#1
LJW - Posted 10:15 am PDT 08/25/09 (1013 Posts)
$368 at Amazon, free shipping, no tax, and there's a $50 MIR.
#2
scott1000 - Posted 10:17 am PDT 08/25/09 (877 Posts)
The price on this thing is like a basketball, it goes up and down. Didn't I see this a week or so ago on here for $299?
#3
tekgk - Posted 11:09 am PDT 08/25/09 (63 Posts)
This isn't remotely a deal.
#4
DrumDude - Posted 11:43 am PDT 08/25/09 (334 Posts)
DNS-323...that is all.
#5
LJW - Posted 12:39 pm PDT 08/25/09 (1013 Posts)
I have a DNS-323, and while I think it's a fantastic box, it does not compare to the Drobo for several reasons. First, the Drobo is not an NAS, it's direct-attached through USB or Firewire. Second, it has 4 bays instead of only two for the DNS-323 (D-Link makes a pricier DNS-343 with 4 bays).
Third, the Drobo elegantly handles adding media of any size, whereas the DNS-323 only offers limited RAID options.
Third, the Drobo elegantly handles adding media of any size, whereas the DNS-323 only offers limited RAID options.
#6
scott1000 - Posted 12:44 pm PDT 08/25/09 (877 Posts)
They are both crap. Qnap makes the best units.
#7
revenant - Posted 3:53 pm PDT 08/25/09 (205 Posts)
I think the drobo is a nice unit for the price.. having redundancy and the flexibility of adding new and varied sized disks on the fly is worth the price alone..
#8
gfx - Posted 4:55 pm PDT 08/25/09 (80 Posts)
Any enclosure is a crap especially w/o network and for $400. Dont be stupid buying this.
#9
pastrychef - Posted 7:40 pm PDT 08/25/09 (262 Posts)
I have one and think it's great. As indicated by #7, the ability to replace an old, smaller drive to expand on storage space is fantastic. Remember, you can expand storage by purchasing just one larger drive, there's no need to upgrade all the drives at the same time. As far as I know, neither the Qnap nor the DNS-323 are capable of this. Since the DNS-323 is only a 2 drive enclosure, RAID 5 isn't an option and really can't compare.
#10
scott1000 - Posted 1:10 pm PDT 08/26/09 (877 Posts)
| pastrychef wrote: |
| I have one and think it's great. As indicated by #7, the ability to replace an old, smaller drive to expand on storage space is fantastic. Remember, you can expand storage by purchasing just one larger drive, there's no need to upgrade all the drives at the same time. As far as I know, neither the Qnap nor the DNS-323 are capable of this. Since the DNS-323 is only a 2 drive enclosure, RAID 5 isn't an option and really can't compare. |
Qnap does have units that will do that. I believe you have to get a 4 bay or higher.
#11
mattropolis - Posted 10:20 pm PDT 08/26/09 (232 Posts)
This doesn't seem like much of a deal.
You can probably buy a cheap case, motherboard with raid support, proc, 2gb ram, and networking/usb/firewire support for about the same price - and you get a whole machine to boot vs just a single-use box like this...
You can probably buy a cheap case, motherboard with raid support, proc, 2gb ram, and networking/usb/firewire support for about the same price - and you get a whole machine to boot vs just a single-use box like this...
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