DDR3A31

Drobo: The Most Advanced 4-Bay Drobo Ever
This third generation of the Drobo is more affordable than ever and features a completely new architecture making it more than 3x faster than the previous
generation. More impressive, rebuild times are 4x faster delivering maximum data availability in the event of a drive failure. With the inclusion of battery
backup technology, Drobo provides even more data protection in the face of an unplanned power outage.
The latest generation of the Drobo 4-bay holds true to the unique design and simplicity that has made Drobo the best desktop storage solution for storing and
protection all your data. No storage expertise is required to ensure your data is always safe and protected. Best of all your Drobo will be ultra quiet and look
great on your desk.
Data Protection Made Simple
Enhanced Time Machine Support
Drobo is simply the easiest to manage storage
solution available. Like all Drobo products, the
third generation Drobo is built upon the awardwinning BeyondRAID™ technology. BeyondRAID
can be configured to protect against one or two
simultaneous drive failures with just one click,
automatically protecting your data without any
user intervention. In addition, you can purchase
the capacity that you need now and increase
space by adding drives into empty slots, or
by swapping smaller drives with larger ones.
When you do, the additional capacity is instantly
available.
Apple’s Time Machine can consume all of the
capacity of an external storage system without
a simple way to set capacity limits. Utilizing
Drobo Dashboard the new Drobo allows users
to easily allocate a specific amount of capacity
to be dedicated for backups and preserves the
remaining space for data storage.
Investment Protection
Drobo takes upgradability to the next level. Not
only can you upgrade capacity as drives become
more affordable and drive capacities increase
with no downtime by adding or swapping in
larger drives, you can also seamlessly upgrade
to the latest platform Drobo has to offer. The
process of upgrading is as simple as removing
the existing disk pack from your previous
generation system, and moving it to your new
Drobo. Upgrading to the latest and greatest
technology not only gives you an instant
performance boost, but also delivers all the new
features and benefits of your new Drobo.
Drobo Data Sheet | Drobo
Designed for You
Drobo Dashboard
Drobo Dashboard is the single tool used to
centrally manage all of your Drobo devices.
Drobo Dashboard displays status as if all
of your Drobos were right in front of you
with the same status lights and capacity
gauge that are on the front panel. All
administration tasks are a single click away.
Drobo devices have always been space efficient
and this latest Drobo is no exception. It has
been designed to provide high capacity without
taking up a lot of your valuable desk space. It is
compact because of Drobo’s unique carrier-less
drive bay design, allowing drives to be installed
very close to each other.
Power Protecting Your Critical Data
Drobo doesn’t just protect you from a drive
failure, but also from potential data loss after
a power outage. This latest generation of
Drobo includes battery backup technology that
protects all data in memory or cache. When
power spontaneously goes away, Drobo moves
any in-flight data to onboard flash in your
Drobo so it will be protected. The protected
data will be moved to your disk drives once
power is restored. This ensures your important
information is safe and sound. Even better, your
battery recharges itself and is designed to last
for the life of you Drobo.
As Easy as Reading a Traffic Light
Lights on the front tell you what’s happening – if
you can read a traffic light, you’re already a
Drobo expert. Each blue LED along the bottom
represents 10% utilization letting you know
exactly how much capacity is consumed. Green,
yellow or red LEDs keep you informed of each
drives status at all times. Unsure of what the
lights mean? Simply take off the uniquely
designed magnetic cover and all the information
is right there on the back.
1
Drobo Data Sheet
Power Modes
“Actions Required” Indicators
Green
Green
Power on, Drobo ready
No action needed
System is healthy.
Yellow
Standby mode
Solid Yellow
Add or upsize a drive here soon
Red
Drobo is over 85%
Over temperature
Cool down & power cycle to restart
Blinking Green and Yellow
Don’t remove any drives, operate normally
Space Used
Drobo is optimizing data layout. You can still read and write
Drobo during optimization.
Blue
Solid Red
0% - 100% of capacity used
Add or upsize a drive here now
Drobo is over 95%
Blinking Red
Data Transfer
Replace this drive immediately!
Green
This hard drive has failed. Depending on capacity, your data
could be at risk until you replace this failed drive.
USB activity
You can take advantage of even greater capacity as larger hard disk drives become available.
Specifications
Connectivity
–– 1 x USB 3.0 port
Hardware Features
–– Carrier-less drive bays
–– Power fail protection
–– Kensington Lock Port for security (lock not included)
Drives and
Expansion
–– Up to four (4) 3.5”SATA II/III hard disk drives (sold
separately).
–– Drives of any manufacturer, capacity, spindle speed
and/or cache can be used. No carriers or tools
required.
–– Expandable by adding drives or hot-swapping drives
with larger ones.
Additional
Software Features
–– Drive Spin Down
–– Dim Lights
–– OS X Time Machine Support
BeyondRAID
Features
–– Thin Provisioning
–– Instant Expansion
–– Mixed Drive Size Utilization
–– Automatic Protection Levels
–– Single or Dual Disk Redundancy
–– Virtual Hot Spare
–– Data Aware
–– Drive Re-ordering
Warranty
–– One (1) year warranty in the US or outside the EU or
two (2) year warranty in the EU
Management
–– Drive bay indicator lights, capacity gauge, status
lights
–– Drobo Dashboard version 2.6 or later
Size and Weight
–– Desktop Form Factor
–– Width: 5 in (152.4 mm)
–– Height: 6.3 in (160 mm)
–– Depth: 10.7 in (271.8 mm)
–– Weight: 6 lb 11.3 oz (3 kg) without hard drives,
power supply or packaging
Operating System
Support
–– Mac OS X 10.7 and higher
–– Windows 8/8.1 32 and 64 bit
–– Windows 7 32 and 64 bit
Power and Cooling
–– External Power Supply:
• AC Input – 100-240VAC~2A, 50-60Hz
• DC Output – 12V, 4.16A, 50W max
–– Dual, fixed, variable speed cooling fans
File Systems
Supported
–– Mac OS X: HFS+
–– Windows: NTFS
Box Contents
–– Drobo
–– 6 ft (1.8 m) USB 3.0 cable
–– 6 ft (1.8 m) power cord with power supply
–– Quick Start Guide
How to Choose the Right Drive
More Information
Drobo gives you the flexibility to use a wide variety of drive types
and capacities. To find out which drive is right your the Drobo, visit
www.drobo.com/products/choose-drive.
Drobo’s innovative technology at www.drobo.com/how-it-works.
Read Drobo BeyondRAID at www.drobo.com/how-it-works/beyond-raid.
2460 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95131
www.drobo.com • 1.866.997.6268
©2014 Drobo, Inc. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The information contained therein is subject to change
without notice and is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Drobo shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Drobo DS-0520