Aug
2008
The dream that was the second generation Drobo was too good to be true. As you may have read, shortly after I got my Drobo, then they came out with the second generation Drobo that offered faster speeds and a quieter fan, two of the biggest complaints among Drobo users.
When Kevin Rose offered up 100 more coupons for $100 off the new Drobo, I couldn't pass it up again. I wanted to get rid of the noise and slowness my current Drobo offered me.
Now that it has come in and I've had some time to use it, did I get what I wanted? Nope. Here's a small breakdown:
- Speed: I was expecting a far greater jump in speeds going from USB 2.0 to Firewire 800. Instead, I only see about a 30% increase in speeds. Shouldn't I be getting close to 80MB a second of transfer speeds? I'm getting more like 25-30MB. The increase in speed is barely noticable.
- Noise: It's still noisy as crap. In fact, it may be worse. Instead of a soothing fan sound, I get that sound, plus a low-level hum, kind of like florescent lights. Very unpleasant.
Now the question is, do I put up with the new sounds and disappointing speeds? Or should I send it back for a refund? It seems it just was not worth the upgrade.
Comments (3)
Jason Emerick on August 29, 2008 10:44 AMAt least your 2nd gen drobo works :P
Wes on August 29, 2008 2:58 PMI'd return it...if its louder and not that much faster, why spend the extra money. Especially since your other one stillw orks just fine.
Mike on August 30, 2008 6:26 AMI'd also return it. You bought it for the upgrade and the upgrade seems like a downgrade. It's a lot of money to spend for almost no improvement. I'd return it and wait for the 3rd gen.
Plus, you can try to build an enclosure that allows for airflow but dampens the noise. It'd be a lot cheaper especially if noise is your biggest complaint.