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Tech
Dec. 1, 2007
Rosie's Reviews
Use Data Robotics' Drobo to squirrel away your file bits for a RAID-y day.
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RAID: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. These are complicated to set up, and, for most small firms and solo practices, overkill. Still, they're a godsend for automated backups and expandable storage. I never expected to write about RAID, and I don't intend to now. However, I have a lovely, expandable data-storage robot?Data Robotics' Drobo?that you might call the anti-RAID, except that no one would know what you're talking about. It works its little boot sector off, storing parts of each file on each drive (up to four) so that, should one drive fail, the others jump right in and keep you going. Without even a flicker. Drobo is a highly automated version of RAID 5, if you want to know the truth. To set up a normal RAID array, you have to either install some pretty complex software or get yourself a hardware RAID controller. With Drobo, you take the unit out of the box, plug it in to both power source and computer, and insert two, three, or four drives into Drobo's drawer-like slots. Then you check under My Computer in Windows to see if the installation registered, et voilá, there's your new drive. The My Computer directory sees all those Drobo disks as one single drive?which is only right, after all, because each of your files is spread across four hardware disk drives. No single drive can act on its own. Because no file goes onto a single drive in a single piece (except when you use a two-disk array), this storage drive isn't for backups. Using algorithms and math that I don't even want to imagine, Drobo breaks each file into little pieces and allocates the bits to the various drives in your array. Automatically. Untouched by human hands. Drobo keeps your business going if one of your drives fails. No shutting down the computer, logging off, or any other disruptive actions are required. The world just keeps spinning. In concept, Drobo is about as sexy as bleaching the kitchen sink. So let's try a little Drobo in action. Let's say you're running a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation for all of the judges in Rhode Island. And one of the drives in your current Drobo array decides to fail, right at the best part of the Devil Beside You film clip. You're prepared. You tear a brand-new disk drive (80GB? 160? 500?) from its box and slip it into the slot. Drobo formats it and puts it to work (and then you don't have to slit your wrist). The film continues through all of this without so much as a flicker on the screen. ($499. BYOD?bring your own disks; www.drobo.com) Drobo also can be part of your disaster planning. As you know, California's Business and Professions Code says that lawyers must protect their clients' data to their (the lawyers') peril. And Hurricane Katrina taught us that lawyers must have a disaster plan already in place when the next Big One hits. That plan must include sending backup and data-storage disks off-site. Of course, RAID was developed when the cost of hard disks was high. Drobo was developed when the cost of hard disks was low. So if you're going to buy all new drives to populate those little Drobo drawers, why not buy four 500GB SATA drives (discount prices around $118)? Just remember that to figure out your total capacity, you add up only three of the drives. (The fourth drive administers the other three.) This means that about $350 gets you 1.5 terabytes at your fingertips. That should last you for a few months, no? You can also mix and match with drives you already have stored under your footstool?Drobo doesn't care what the participating disks' capacity is. "Docs" to Go For Palm and Windows Mobile handhelds, Skyscape's mobile transfigurations of some of the best-known clinical medical texts offer lawyers tremendous information (www.skyscape.com). Even I am tempted to take up personal injury or medical malpractice law. Besides, such complete and unexpurgated titles as A to Z Drug Facts ($49.95) and The Medical Letter's Adverse Interactions Tool ($24.95) make fascinating after-dinner reading. |
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Megan Kinneyn
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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