Drobo announced a new generation of storage devices. The Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini are designed to accelerate workflows for creative professionals managing data-intensive files, home media enthusiasts looking to consolidate and accelerate video, photo, and music files, and small businesses that need portable backup to protect large amounts of data.


Drobo has added advanced performance with Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, automated SSD acceleration, and enhanced hardware and software architectures to the new systems.

Both the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini include industry-first SSD acceleration—utilizing the performance benefits of SSDs and the capacity benefits of HDDs to deliver an automated, no-compromise system. In addition to supporting SSDs in any of the drive bays, both units include an additional bay that will accommodate a small-form-factor SSD to achieve significant performance boosts while making all drive bays available for high-capacity HDDs.

The products also support both Thunderbolt (2 ports) and USB 3.0 connectivity, an industry first for storage arrays that will provide flexibility to both Mac and Windows users.

All Drobos are based on patented BeyondRAID technology, which automates sophisticated data protection algorithms so users can enjoy the peace of mind of safe data protection without having to be a storage expert.

The new Drobo arrays add an advanced safety feature that also protects user data during and after power outages, another industry first for professional storage and a feature that has traditionally been reserved for more expensive, enterprise-grade storage.

Drobo 5D

The Drobo 5D is the most modern and complete storage system for creative professionals including photographers, videographers, graphic designers and individuals creating and working with large amounts of rich media. In particular, professionals who are power users of Adobe and Apple applications including After Effects, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premier Pro are a great fit for the new product, which is ideal for editing, storing catalogs, and backing up files of all types.

With up to five drives and an additional SSD bay, the 5D can support up to 16 terabytes of protected, SSD-accelerated data. This is the equivalent of 32 million photographs, 4 million songs, 1 million HD movies, or 48 hours of uncompressed HD video—all accessible through lightning fast Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 interfaces.

Drobo Mini

Drobo Mini combines a blend of storage technologies with ease-of-use, all in a small package, measuring seven inches square and less than two inches tall and weighing less than three pounds.

Drobo invented a patent-pending “carrierless” design, which allows up to four 2.5" drives to be easily inserted into a Drobo Mini without the need for any additional drive carriers or screws. The benefit to the customer is not only the ease of drive insertion and removal, but also one of flexibility - because the design accommodates a common industry drive size, customers are free to choose the drive vendor, type (HDD or SSD), capacity, speed, and price that best meets their needs.

Since the Drobo Mini is portable, it features a ruggedized design that allows it to be transported with drives inside. In addition to being the first Drobo to offer this capability, the Drobo Mini features a custom, miniaturized power supply, and an optional carrying case, making it the ideal storage for professionals who travel extensively.

Pricing, pre-orders, and availability will be announced summer 2012.