Drobo - 5C USB 3.0 5-Bay DAS - Black

First and foremost, I will let you know that I solely use this for Plex Media Server. For awhile, I have been looking for a way to store my massive amounts of data for Plex. I looked at NAS, external HDDs, and various RAID storage options. My issue wasn't that none of these options wouldn't work, but more so I didn't want it to be a complicated setup, nor did I want it to be complicated if a drive failed. Incomes the Drobo 5c, which is a DAS (direct attached storage). What first enticed me about Drobo is it seemed super easy to setup and configure. It has BeyondRAID, which is a custom RAID configuration simple to use for everyday users. Another thing that made me interested in the Drobo is the fact that it can take any type of drive. I, like many others, purchased several external HDDs from Western Digital, shucked their cases and retrieved the drives. If you read more into it, there were some issues with needing an adapter when you try to use these drives, however, this is not needed with Drobo. I am using 5x Western Digital 8TB EasyStore drives. This gives me roughly 30TB of usable storage. After I shucked each drive, I plugged the drives in and followed the steps given on the online walkthrough. I copied roughly 5TB of data over to it, which took a couple of hours. Afterward, I took that final drive, inserted it and it automatically adds to the data pool. Drobo software is easy to use, it is fast enough for Plex and I stream 4K movies with no issues. Additionally, my system can transcode and stream remotely to users with no issues. I've had 4x concurrent streams and the system goes without any hitches. My only recommendation is that you use a SSD or RAMDisk for "Transcoder temporary directory" in the Plex settings (Settings > Server > Transcoder (show Advanced Settings). My Drobo could keep up before, however, performance skyrocketed with the RAMDisk and SSD on that directory. So overall, I am pleased with this device. It was super easy to use, I had no technical background relating to setting up RAID. It got setup in 10 minutes. It has been great for Plex and I have not had a drive failure yet. My only issue I was having was it was a little on the louder side, but that is what you get for using HDDs sometimes. Fortunately it's in a room where the loudness of it doesn't bother anything. If you are an inspiring Plex power user, contrary to what you may have read, this device is great for it. With it being able to handle massive video files, I can't imagine it having any issues with photos, music, or whatever other data you throw at it.

Drobo 5C is a spectacular device for simple archive needs. Being able to combine different size and speed drives is a game changer. Combined with WD RED 4TB hard drives it's fast enough, but also very very quiet. I'm using it as a archive drive for my commercial photography and videography work, and storing my finished projects and daily files. I'm editing off my MacPro's internal SSD, but this drive is speedy enough even for basic 4K editing using Final Cut Pro X. Unfortunately, this isn't a Thunderbolt version and has no m2 SSD expansion port at the bottom, but it's more than enough for me. That said, at my office I'm using "LaCie 6big", a 36TB Thunderbolt 3 drive which is super speedy and quite amazing in professional workflow. But, it's also annoyingly noisy (both cooling fans and drives themselves) and gives you a glitch or two from time to time while playing 4K video files off it. Yes, it's generally faster but not as much as one would expect given the huge price difference. Anyway, this Drobo is a gem and I would buy it again in a heartbeat. Simple, innovative, fast, quiet and simply brilliant.