{"id":179,"date":"2011-09-16T14:18:30","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T18:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/?p=179"},"modified":"2011-09-16T14:24:01","modified_gmt":"2011-09-16T18:24:01","slug":"nas-drobo-vs-freenas-vs-synology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2011\/09\/nas-drobo-vs-freenas-vs-synology\/","title":{"rendered":"NAS: Drobo vs. FreeNAS vs. Synology"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been psyched for Drobo ever since the first time I saw their video years ago where the guy played back a movie while pulling out and putting back in drives. \u00a0Wicked awesome.<\/p>\n

But they haven’t kept up, imo, with the times. \u00a0They still have some really cool underlying tech, but the apps aren’t there. \u00a0And just like Windows Phone vs. iPhone, if the apps aren’t there, it’s not such a great platform.<\/p>\n

So anyway, last night I was setting up a new AsRock Vision 3D Media Center with Windows 7, and I noticed that it wasn’t seeing the Drobo S that I had plugged in via eSATA. \u00a0I went to the closet with the Drobo and noticed its lights were occasionally blinking on for about 50ms, but nothing else. \u00a0Drives weren’t spinning, etc. \u00a0I tried unplugging, replugging, using another outlet, disconnecting eSATA, etc. \u00a0No luck. \u00a0I noticed that the light on the external power supply was relatively dim and varying in intensity, so my conclusion is that the power supply is dying.<\/p>\n

This is when I decided to switch away from Drobo. \u00a0I realized that if I wanted my data back, I only really had 3 options:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Buy a new drobo and stick the drives in it<\/li>\n
  2. Buy a new power supply for this Drobo and hope it works<\/li>\n
  3. Try to use data recovery software to cobble together the data from the pieces.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    #3 is obviously a horrifyingly time consuming prospect. \u00a0#1 isn’t much better. \u00a0I’m trying #2, but so far Drobo customer support isn’t super fast. \u00a0If this were truly mission critical stuff, I’d be pwned.<\/p>\n

    It was at this point I decided to get a non-Drobo NAS appliance.<\/p>\n

    I narrowed in on the Synology DS2411+ being what I wanted pretty quickly. \u00a0It’s quiet, can hold 12 drives, can accept external expansion, and can connect to IP cameras. \u00a0The applications that run on it seem quite good. \u00a0Sadly, Amazon said the DS2411+ was “usually available in 1-4 weeks”.<\/p>\n

    That just won’t do. \u00a0So I’m having a Synology DS1511+<\/a>, which is identical except that it can only hold 5 drives rather than 12, delivered to me tomorrow.<\/p>\n

    I considered FreeNAS, an open DIY NAS built on FreeBSD, and the hacker in me was really intrigued… \u00a0 but in the end realized\u00a0I could click buy it now on Amazon and have a Synology DS1511+ delivered to my house tomorrow for something like a $6 delivery fee. \u00a0And that’s awesome.<\/p>\n

    Plus, just because I have the Synology doesn’t mean I can’t try a FreeNAS as well… It’s free after all.<\/p>\n

    I’ll update with how the Synology works and whether the Drobo (with all my ripped DVDs, and tons of important documents) is resurrected or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve been psyched for Drobo ever since the first time I saw their video years ago where the guy played back a movie while pulling out and putting back in drives. \u00a0Wicked awesome. But they haven’t kept up, imo, with the times. \u00a0They still have some really cool underlying tech, but the apps aren’t there. … Continue reading NAS: Drobo vs. FreeNAS vs. Synology<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[19,20,21],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers-and-internet","tag-drobo","tag-nas","tag-synology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3ictG-2T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":203,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2011\/11\/drobo-s-vs-synology-1511-performance-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":0},"title":"Drobo S vs. Synology 1511+ Performance Numbers","author":"john","date":"November 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Drobo S soundly beats Synology 1511+ in file copy performance test.","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2011\/09\/synology-arrived\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":1},"title":"Synology Arrived","author":"john","date":"September 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Synology arrived, but I need drives. Drobo customer support is slow.","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":289,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2014\/01\/new-home-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":2},"title":"New Home Office Setup – New Mac, Desk, and Organization","author":"john","date":"January 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's 2014 and my home office has been in total disarray for, I think, at least 2 years. As a reward to myself \/ carrot to convince me to do it, I ordered the following goodies: A new desk: The Stir Kinetic Desk. \u00a0Mine's supposed to come in just a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":194,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2011\/09\/where-do-you-keep-your-files\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":3},"title":"Where Do You Keep Your Files?","author":"john","date":"September 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I describe where I keep important files and how I ensure they're backed up safely.","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":160,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2011\/08\/setting-up-a-new-mac\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":4},"title":"Setting Up A New Mac","author":"john","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When Apple released new revs of the MacBook Air and the Mac Mini, I decided to go for it and get one of each. \u00a0As I find migrating my old stuff to a new computer distasteful and somehow unclean, I set them up from scratch. \u00a0Here's a rough description of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":294,"url":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/2014\/02\/setting-new-mac-redux\/","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":5},"title":"Setting Up A New Mac Redux","author":"john","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I get new Macs somewhat more regularly than most folks and since I want a consistent work \/ productivity environment across all of them, I have gotten a pretty decent way set up for going from zero to hero on a new, tabula rasa Mac. It basically comes down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers and Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Computers and Internet","link":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/category\/computers-and-internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forawesome.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}