RSS Feed
Twitter
Droboshare, Network Attached Companion for Drobo
Droboshare, Network Attached Companion for Drobo Reviews
This is a neat product, much like the original Drobo device in that is very easy to setup and use.
The big problem, however, is that it is very slow. I expected some added latency with this device but I have to say that it is much more significant than I was hoping. The device goes into a sleep mode after a period of inactivity, so waking it up takes some added time, 3 or 4 seconds maybe. But even after it is spun up, it is still quiet slow, particularly when I am moving files around or flipping through photos. This is the first personal home NAS device I’ve used so maybe this amount of slowness is typical with these things.
The convenience of being able to access my Drobo easily from any computer in the house is worth it to me and it integrates very nicely with my Drobo, so I am keeping it.
Update 23 October 2008:
I can’t deal with it anymore. It is just too slow. I am going to look at other options. I should have just done this in the first place.
I generally do not leave reviews, but had to for this product.
I am Trying DROBO as NAS product for my home (amongst many others, nto to be mentioned here). While I have no problems with Drobo, it is great for what it is and requires no IT expertise, Droboshare on the other hand is a BAD and overpriced external USB network card. This product looks to be slapped on top, just to add network functionality. It really needs to be integrated and FREE.. here is why:
While hooking this to my gigabit switched network the Droboshare looks to have connected at 1GBPS, so I am expecting corresponding transfer speeds.
My first test has been to play a 1.4 Gig AVI file located on the DROBO. I wa svery surprised when the video playback came back choppy. Then trying to transfer this same file, it took 15 MINUTES !! or close to 1 Megabyte per second, or about 300 Times slower then the Gigabit speed that it is supposed to deliver !!!
Now, if you store your documents on Drobo, this may be ok, but for VIDEO or even MUSIC, this is unacceptably slow.
Now, some of you will say that my computer must be screwed up (BTW, this was tested on a MAC and 2 PC’s). Other then this, I may only say that I a m a network engeneer with over 10 years experience..
here is my 2 cents.. if you can wait untill DROBO 2.0, I am sure this issue will be fixed with an intergrated NIC. Otherwise stick to the USB cable.. or even try a cheap USB NIC by linksys/dlink. (~50) It just can not be any workse then this.. and the price $$$.. NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE.
This comes so close to being an ideal add-on to the Drobo (which I feel is great, BTW).
* It’s well integrated into the Drobo system.
* It has first-class support for both Mac and Windows systems (neither seem like an afterthought)
* Damn simple to set up
* Has add-ons you can install to make it do other new things like stream audio and video
If it ended there I would give it five stars without a second thought.
However, it’s slow. Not just a “oh, just be patient” slow, but slow to the degree of delivering less than 10% of what the Drobo is actually capable of. I’ve done tests with the Drobo connected directly to my computer versus connected to the Droboshare and sometimes the results were less than 10% of what it could actually deliver.
When connected directly I was regularly seeing 30MB/s (bytes, not bits) being sent from the Drobo directly to the computer. When a Droboshare was connected using gigabit ethernet (and a managed gigabit switch to verify everything was in fact using that speed) things rarely went faster than 3MB/s. Sometimes much, much slower even.
The next question to ask is: “did I do anything wrong?” The real killer for me is unresponsive tech support. After filing a help ticket on their web site I’ve only received one email asking for more information in seven business days (not counting national holidays). No resolutions, nothing to try, nothing.
I’ve since connected the Drobo to an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) MB053LL/A using USB and things seem to have sped up substantially. Unfortunately I no longer have the cool DroboApps that give me streaming video to my XBox, but at least it’s usable. As a plus, however, it’s much more natural to use Time Machine to back up my Macs using the AirPort.
Posted in 
Tags: 
