Data Robotics Launches New Drobo with eSATA

Data Robotics, Inc., the company that delivers the best data storage experience ever, today introduced Drobo S, a professional-class storage solution designed for Windows, Mac and Linux users who require high-speed data transfers and reliable data storage. With the introduction of eSATA and a fifth drive bay, as well as enhancements to FireWire 800 throughput, the Drobo S offers 150 percent of the performance of the current four-bay Drobo, making it an ideal storage solution for creative professionals, small offices and home office users.

Built on the company’s award-winning BeyondRAID virtualised storage platform, which eliminates the lock-in of traditional RAID configurations, Drobo S features a one-click toggle between single- and dual-drive redundancy and provides protection against up to two concurrent drive failures. Drobo S supports on-the-fly capacity expansion along with the flexibility to replace failed drives, add drives, and swap out drives of varying sizes from disparate vendors without ever losing access to data.

“Data Robotics’ Drobo S is an important addition to the company’s product line because it offers professional users a larger, faster, more reliable data storage solution with all of the automation and simplicity that Drobo fans are accustomed to,” said Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Small offices and creative professionals generate large quantities of data that need to be kept secure for both short and long term storage. With its automatic capacity expansion and self-healing technology, Drobo S is an ideal way for customers to manage explosive data growth without becoming or hiring storage experts.”

Drobo S Features and Benefits:

• 5-Drive Capacity and Instant Expansion to 10TB – Customers with growing storage requirements can easily add data capacity with minimal effort. To add capacity, customers simply insert a new hard drive or replace the smallest drive with a larger one, even when all five drive bays are full. With Drobo S, expansion is automatic and instantaneous, and access to data is always maintained.
• Single- and Dual-Drive Redundancy – The Drobo S dual-drive redundancy option protects against the simultaneous failure of up to two hard drives. Customers can engage this option with a single click without ever losing access to their data.
• Self-Healing Technology – With BeyondRAID, the Drobo S continually examines data blocks and sectors on each drive to flag potential issues. The preemptive “scrubbing” helps ensure data is being written only to healthy drive areas and automatically keeps data in the safest state possible – even when a drive fails.
• Interface Options – Users can take advantage of eSATA, FireWire 800, and USB 2.0 connections for ultimate flexibility.

“Drobo S represents our continued commitment to our customer base of professionals and small and home office users,” said Dr. Geoff Barrall, CEO and founder of Data Robotics. “Significant performance enhancements, the addition of eSATA, increased capacity, and the flexibility of single- or dual-drive redundancy make the Drobo S an ideal solution for this increasingly sophisticated set of users.”

Pricing and Availability
Drobo S is currently available at a starting of £509 MSRP (569 Euro) excluding VAT. Drobo S is available now from authorized partners worldwide and on www.drobostore.com/eu. For a list of partners or to learn more about Drobo S, please visit www.drobo.com/drobo-s.

About Data Robotics
Data Robotics, Inc., the company that delivers the best storage experience ever, develops automated storage products designed to ensure data is always protected, accessible and simple to manage. The award-winning Drobo storage arrays are the first to provide the protection of traditional RAID without the complexity. The revolutionary BeyondRAID technology frees users from making the difficult and confining choice of “Which RAID level to deploy?” by providing an unprecedented combination of advanced features and automation, including single- and dual-drive redundancy, instant expansion, self-monitoring, data awareness, self-healing, and an easy-to-understand visual status and alert panel. For more information, visit Data Robotics at www.datarobotics.com.

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Data Robotics, Drobo, and BeyondRAID are trademarks of Data Robotics, Inc., that may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.