I was brought up on the east coast, where we enjoyed the monster summertime thunderstorms every year. One of the coolest things about thunder is that you see it first and then you hear the “kaboom” impact – the delay sends anxious anticipation through everyone, and if you’re into science, you can estimate how far away the bolt is based on the length of the delay. Let’s face it, thunderbolts are cool.
Today, Drobo is previewing our new Thunderbolt technology much like the real thing – you’ll see it now (check out our home page for the quick glimpse) and you’ll soon hear the kaboom. Yes, there are some other Thunderbolt products out there now, but I guarantee you that you haven’t seen anything like what we’re building. Nothing even close.
Stay tuned, and start counting – it may be closer than you think!
Thanks – and thanks specifically to the 234,867 emails and tweets we got over the past year asking for some Drobo Thunder – your anticipation will soon be over.
Tom Buiocchi
Tom Buiocchi is CEO of Drobo. He joined Drobo after serving as an Executive in Residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures. Prior to Mohr Davidow, Buiocchi held executive-level roles at Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. where he was instrumental in sales and marketing strategies that resulted in significant market share gains and revenue growth from 2003 to 2008. Prior to Brocade, Tom spent more than 20 years in a range of marketing and strategy management positions for leading technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Apex Systems, and Rhapsody.
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http://blog.drobo.com
Will the DROBO Thunderbolt be for sale on the summer???
Hi Antonio, yes, we’re targeting mid-summer. Victoria
Finally, My FS and Original Drobo will be jealous. I’m glad the wait is almost over. Looking forward to seeing Drobo at the DC Roadshow next week.
And we’re looking forward to seeing you there! Best, Victoria (admin)
[...] pricey, would allow data to run 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 alone. Drobo CEO Tom Buiocchi wrote in a blog post that “customers have been very clear to us about their desire for Drobos with Thunderbolt [...]
[...] CEO Tom Buiocchi wrote in a blog post that “customers have been very clear to us about their desire for Drobos with Thunderbolt [...]
Being a long term Drobo user since the GEN1, the Beyond-RAID is great technology, but the transfer speeds are somewhat of a letdown in comparison. Thunderbolt is the perfect bus to compliment Beyond-RAID and would have been an ideal compliment from day one had the technologies been available at the same time!
A small gripe I have is that the higher end Drobo’s released since the GEN2, have priced the early adopter end user type customers out of the market!
As one of the nearly 250k customers to tell you we want Thunderbolt, in my case as soon as Apple / Intel originally announced it (back when it was still called Light Peak), my only fear is that there will not be a Drobo Thunder suitable for the end user level pricing!
I’m always excited for new Thunderbolt offerings. Even if pricey, it saves me time. However, while I currently use Firewire 800 on my Drobos, the performance in data transfer rate when compared to even a normal Firewire 800 drive is lacking. It’s okay for now…I love the Drobo system — at least it works. But if Firewire 800 on a Drobo isn’t much faster than USB 2.0, how will you make use of Thunderbolt speeds? You guys might not be able to say much now, but can you at least assure us that this time it’ll make use of the extra bandwidth in the wire?
Here is a small clip from the press release: “In addition to Thunderbolt, Drobo will make significant increases in processing power and add support for solid state drives (SSDs) to ensure top performance.” New advances/innovations from Drobo will make a difference compared to the FW800 Drobo 4-bay. Processing power, SSD, and other developments will be huge, be assured that the wait is part of what will make this different! Best, Victoria Thomas (admin)
Awesome! Can’t wait – I’ve got my credit card waiting…THANKS!
As an early adopter of the first generation Drobo it is great to see that this “inside info” is finally available. Looking at the picture on the frontpage a 8/12-bay configuration is pictured. I do hope a 4/5-bay TB is part of the initial thunderbolt push.
My Drobo is long overdue for a update (the 2TB disk limit is killing me right now)…
Hi Kenneth, can’t confirm or deny details, but think small …. Victoria (admin)
Oh, boy. Now I can’t wait!
Thanks Victoria, I guess the pictures on The Verge answers all questions
I am very excited to see that Drobo is going Thunderbolt…. I have been a user since the first generation Drobo (which I still use for an archive unit on my desk) to the latest Pro models. One question, if we have a current generation Drobo FS (5 3TB HD installed) can the RAID pack be simply moved into the new enclosures without data loss? That would simplify upgrading tremendously.
Hi Curtis, We call all the drives in a Drobo a “disk pack”. Disk packs can be migrated between “like” Drobos but not across Drobos of different types. For example, you can migrate drives from a Drobo to a Drobo S (because they’re both direct-attached arrays), but you cannot migrate drives from a Drobo S to a Drobo FS (because the Drobo FS is network connected and the Drobo S is not). We cannot comment about unannounced products, but if we release a new network-attached Drobo that can accept 3.5″ drives, you will most likely be able to migrate your disk pack from your FS to that future array. Hope this helps. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
Hoping there’s a refresh for the Drobo FS in the works as well …
Thank you for your feedback. Alas, we cannot comment on future network-attached Drobos. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
If the new offering could also include an eSATA connection like the Lacie hub & belkin’s hub, that would be awesome. My drobo s could still be used as a backup for the thunderbolt model & not some expensive paperweight.. Please, please, please.
Hi, Thank you for your feedback. Alas, we cannot comment on features of future products – even with three “please’s”! Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
That’s the thninkig of a creative mind
this is really good news
Great news. Can you also throw in a completely dead silent Drobo at the same time? I’m using my Drobo as a media library next to my home theatre system and when the fan kicks in, which is pretty much all the time, we can hear it in low sound scenes.
Agree – less is more where noise is concerned. I can’t comment on future product/features – sign up on http://www.drobo.com/thunderbolt and you’ll get news about the Thunderbolt-powered products when it comes out! Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
This new smaller Thunderbolt device is nice and all… How long before we see similar performance improvements in your larger devices like the Drobo Pro (which is in much need of a refresh)?
Hi, just responded to a similar question as follows: DroboPro has a high-speed interface in iSCSI which is available on any computer. If the computer you wish to connect to the DroboPro does not have an Ethernet port available, you can use an adapter like the one just launched this week by Apple: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD463. Victoria Thomas, admin
I just bought 2 new drobo pros.. are these able to be converted to thunderbolt!?!?! or did I just waste $7k?
Hi Nick, DroboPro has a high-speed interface in iSCSI which is available on any computer, so you’ll continue to get great use from them for years to come. If the computer you wish to connect to the DroboPro does not have an Ethernet port available, you can use an adapter like the one just launched this week by Apple: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD463. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
I’m looking to buy a Drobo S. My computer has a Firewire 800 connection, but I plan to get a computer with Thunderbolt in the next year or two. Will this new Thunderbolt Drobo be in the Drobo S sizes? Will it have a way to connect Firewire 800 as well as Thunderbolt? I need to know if I should wait a few weeks to buy my Drobo or do it now. I’m hoping the new Drobo will have connections for both Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt. If not, I can’t use it until I buy a new computer. Can you give me a recommendation? Should I wait and see the new Drobo?
Hi Jeanne, if you can wait until later this week, you should have an answer to your question about the new Thunderbolt models. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
[...] is really penetrating on Thunderbolt,” Sherhart said, and a association is teasing a opening into a Thunderbolt market. “There have been a lot of requests for smaller Drobos. That might be interesting. We sell to [...]
If I daisy chain a couple of 5D’s with thunderbolt, to they appear as 1 drive to the OS?
Hi Time (posting response from Erik) No. Daisy-chaining Drobos does not create one big logical Drobo. They will appear as separate devices. Since each Drobo can have volumes (one or more) of up to 16TBs, two Drobos 5Ds gives you two 16TB volumes. That’s a ton of fast storage! Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
I HOPE the new drobos will be QUIET. Because I am just looking into storage for my home office, where both the new Drobos would be a great option – but as far as I know the “Drobo S” is quite noisy, thats why I initially ruled out Drobo just yesterday.
I didnt make my purchase decision just yet, so I sincerely do hope that they have a quiet, intelligent fan design / temp regulated fans.
And USB 3 + Thunderbolt is a great option!
Thanks!
Hi Alexander. yes, the new Drobos should be quieter than the current models. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
Sounds like some welcome product news will ship next month!
Regarding the Thunderbolt + USB 3.0 ports — If I am connected via Thunderbolt from iMac to the new Drobo… can the iMac take advantage of the Drobo USB 3.0 port at full 3.0 speeds? My Nikon D800 is USB 3.0 and I need to offload those huge photo/video files at 3.0 speeds rather than downshift via the iMac 2.0 Port. Client projects are now averaging 30-50GB apiece of mixed media. I think I am your target customer!
One other question: It is also possible for the Nikon D800 to output uncompressed 1080p via its HDMI port, directly to an HDD or SSD (one mounted in a Ninja, or via BlackMagic into an HDD recorder. Massive files, but highest resolution and can be read directly by Final Cut for direct editing…) Can I then swap that drive into Drobo as a live disk to be recognized independently, rather than as part of the storage array? I am thinking “no”, but perhaps you can figure out a product roadmap that would allow for this type of scenario. It’s coming!
Hi Travis (posted for Erik) That would be cool…but unfortunately it does not work that way. The ports on the back of the Drobo are for direct communication with the computer and cannot operate as a “hub”. Once a third-part Thunderbolt-to-USB bridge is created or are Thunderbolt card reader, you could connect those to the second Thunderbolt port on the Drobo to create a daisy-chain.
If a disk is inserted into a functional Drobo, it will become a part of that Drobo’s disk pack. It will remove all of the data on the Drobo, so please do not try that (there’s a warning sticker on the front of the Drobo to alert you of this). Thank you for both of these feature requests. Much appreciated. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin
Will it be true SATA III support? support SATA IIi speed (6gb/s)? Will the chipset/CPUs be fast enough to handle SATAIII throughput to thunderbold?
Hi Steve, (posted for Erik) Yes. SATA III will be supported, but in a multi-drive array like Drobo, it does not matter that much. HDDs cannot stream at 3Gb/s and while some SSDs can, the array leverages the performance capabilities of all drives inserted (minus one for data parity). This means that if a drive can stream at 150MB/s, then 4 drives can do much more. That’s plenty of drive performance for Drobo to work with. What really helps the most is being able to carve off the transactional I/Os and put them on an SSD. SSDs are great at small reads and writes, while HDDs are not (they’re good for larger, sequential I/Os). These new Drobos do that automatically. Best, Victoria Thomas, admin