Question 1

Does it already come with the SSD for caching or do I need to buy my own? If buying my own are there any specific compatibility issues I need to be aware of?

Accepted Answer

It does NOT come with the SSD. I did some research on the Drobo site and they actually have recommeded SSDs.  Drobo also claims that anything over 64GB was overkill and that 64GB was the optimum size.

I purchased the Crucial 64GB mSata SSD mainly because Drobo recommeded it and the price was great. I dont really know how much difference you will notice if you purchase some of the faster response time SSDs . They get pricey, quickly.

Question 2

Is there a maximum or minimum HD disk size capacity for this Drobo??

Accepted Answer

Hello,
I myself have 5 Western Digital (WD20EFRX-68E) drives inserted.
I also have inserted a Crucial, 240GB, mSATA drive.
I am using them for backup and file sharing mostly, but plan on using the drobo with media editing.
The drobo web site says it can support larger drives up to 4TB for now, with all versions of firmware levels.
For now, the capacity I have is fine.
Check out the drobo web site for more questions and answers.
It has really helped me a lot.

Question 3

Can I put the drives from my current JBOD box into this unit without losing my data?

Accepted Answer

I would say no, because the drobo formats all the drives to its operating system.

When I have installed any new drive, the drobo formats it to the drobo's operating system.

At least, that is what I have experienced.

Thomas

Question 4

How long will the drives be okay in case of an power outage? And what is the normal life span of the drives?

Accepted Answer

From DROBO.COM
Drobo 5N includes a battery that protects all data in memory, or cache, that is, data on its way to the drives. When power spontaneously goes away, the battery keeps the Drobo alive long enough for the data to be written to non-volatile storage, ensuring your important information is safe. This battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of the product.

From this, I would say a few seconds for DATA being written. IF you want better time/protection, get an UPS or add it to your computer's UPS if you have one already.

Life Span of the Drives is a mystery?  It depends on the drives you put in the NAS, how much use do they get? The only thing for sure, is that mechanical drives can and will fail, but that is one of the reasons to get a storage array. Should a drive go bad, you can replace it without losing data.

Question 5

How is Plex application on this device? Can you stream HD video?

Accepted Answer

Plex works pretty well on the Drobo 5N.  So far, it is the only app that I've installed.  There are several apps for Drobo that you can choose to install. Currently (2/2014) there are: Copy (cloud synch), CrashPlan (online backup), ElephantDrive (cloud backup), Firefly (iTunes media server), Modoboa (mail server), Mediatomb, (UPnP media server), MySQL (database), Plex (media server), Transmission (torrent client).  I have over 7.5GB on my Drobo 5N, about 1/3 of that is HD content.  Streaming HD content via Plex is very smooth.  Make sure you are using SataIII drives, plus the mSata accelerator option, as well as full gigabit LAN connections.  The drives are essentially mirrored, so SataIII drives will give about 70MB/sec speeds.  It may take a while for Plex to build a full index of media files, and arranging the content in sensible folder structure will be helpful for navigating.  Plex does a great job with TV shows and movies, getting episode names and summaries, provided you've named the content in recognizable fashion.

Question 6

Can this be used as a VPN server as well?

Accepted Answer

Out of the box, no.

But drobo has apps you can load up. I'd check their website to see what apps are available. I was looking to do a FTP server with it. I haven't seen an app specifically for that on the 5N, but I think they had something for the 8 bay unit. Not sure how interchangeable they are...

Question 7

can i use drives of varied sizes in the drobo? i was going to build a NAS but now i think this may be better after all. please advise thanks.

Accepted Answer

Yes! This is the main reason that I bought the Drobo. It turns out that Synology and others (QNAP?) also have similar technology. The Drobo is supposed to be a low-maintenance device, but I have found it weirdly temperamental. Recently, it's autoupdate caused me headaches. It turns out that restarting the device was not enough... I had to shut it down completely and restart it. There are other issues about saving Linux and OS X file permissions that I am wrestling with, now.

Question 8

Will this accept SSD drives? Is an adaptor available for SSD Drives to fit this enclosure?

Accepted Answer

I believe it should handle SSDs, but you'll have to find an adapter tray for it so that it can use the 3.5" drive bay.

It also has an mSATA slot that you can add to (not an SSD drive slot, as others have said).

Question 9

Can you transfer data through your Ethernet port on your computer or lap top?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  Plug the Drobo and your laptop into a switch and transfer it that way.  4 or 5 port switches are inexpensive.  You could also try a 'crossover" cable but make sure the directories on both devices are sharable.

Question 10

Does anyone know off hand if the new Seagate 6 TB drives will work in this, particularly 5 of them, or is that beyond its capability?  Raid 5 or 6 if that matters.

Accepted Answer

According to the capacity calculator on drobo dot com it appears not. The 5N will probably get an update to support larger drives but there's no telling when that will be. In the meantime you may want to check out the info about drobo's on drobo dot com, you don't specify a RAID level with a drobo, because it uses a proprietary RAID system.

Questions & Answers