Digital Home Thoughts: Drobo Fully Automated SATA Robotic Storage Array

"If it fits the bill for what you're looking for, the second-gen Drobo is still our favorite home and prosumer storage device in this class. The new interface and speed increases are easy to appreciate, but even if you trade those in for slower access over a network-attached DroboShare, you still stand to take advantage its forthcoming DroboApps and unusually simple auto-mounting system. And running four hot 7200 RPM drives -- which should be fairly high up on the device's thermal envelope -- the new model is indeed noticeably quieter than its predecessor, even despite the unfortunate loss of the previous model's jet engine exhaust motif. Dropping $500 on a device with no included drives (or even network access) is still pretty tough to swallow for many buyers, but the benefits of having a dynamically expandable, redundant, easy to manage storage pool are still as strong an incentive as ever to be a little spendy -- if not on a Drobo, than perhaps on a ReadyNAS with X-RAID. It's your data, after all, so treat it right."

If you are looking for the top end of external attached storage and are willing to bring your own drives, it looks like this should be on your short list. However, I will concur with the reviewer that they really need to add built-in network connectivity. You can pick one up at Amazon (Affiliate) for $349.