This week, Drobo took the cover off of a product that’s been in development for quite some time: The Drobo Mini.  As is the case with all Drobos, the Mini features the company’s proprietary BeyondRAID technology, but it also does something more.  It allows an administrator to cram up to four 2.5” SATA disks into a 7.3” wide x 1.8” high x 7.1” deep space.  That makes the Mini a perfect traveling companion for pros that need their data on the go.

No corners were cut

Although the mini is pretty mini, it still boasts the full array of features found in other Drobo arrays.  As mentioned, it supports BeyondRAID, Drobo’s hands-off data protection technology that supports a combination of drives of varying size and speed and even from different vendors.  The mini also includes Drobo’s unique status LEDs, but they have been significantly rearranged because of the shape of the new chassis.  Drobos do a good job of alerting users about array status using these LED indicators.

When used with 1 TB 2.5” SATA disks and single-disk protection, the Mini supports up to 3 TB of capacity today; as bigger 2.5” drives make their way to the market, this upper limit will rise.

To keep things tool-less, the Mini sports carrier-les drive bays.  Simply purchase a 2.5” SATA disk and slide it into an available bay until it clicks into place.  It’s tough to get much simpler than that.

On the enhancement front, Drobo has also added battery protection to the unit to protect data against power failures and improved the base software to improve the overall performance of the unit.  One common complaint with Drobo is that they can be slow at times, depending in the model.

Hands on… to a point

I had the opportunity a couple of months ago to handle a Drobo Mini while at Drobo HQ in San Jose.  At the time, the device was still under wraps, so we were asked to hold until the official announcement.  I can say with certainty that the Mini  really is portable, but it still feels substantial.  You don’t feel like you’re holding a lesser device just because it’s a bit smaller.

With a carbon fiber and rubberized exterior, the unit is strong and, without drives, weighs in at just 3 easy-to-carry pounds.  If carrying it by itself is too cumbersome, you can just use the carry case.

Just add flash

The Mini also brings what Drobo calls Data-Aware Tiering to this SMB/SOHO/Pro level product.  Drobo accomplishes this through what is becoming a common method: Adding SSD-based storage to arrays of spinning disks and leveraging that SSD storage to improve overall performance.  With the Mini, you might think that this would mean severely limiting overall capacity; after all, you have to use one of the four slots for an SSD, right?  Not so fast!  Rather than force you to give up capacity in the name of performance on the Mini, Drobo allows you add a standard mSSD disk in a hidden compartment in the device, thus allowing you to add this automatic performance tier when you’re ready and without having to sacrifice capacity.

And now… The bad news

In my opinion, the Mini is a very good device, but it falls short in one very critical way.  The device carries with it a plethora of extremely high speed direct connectivity options, including Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 and it even includes both kinds of cables.

But that’s it.

The Mini includes no other connectivity options.  If this unit had iSCSI capability, I predict that it would fly off the shelves.  But, without it, we’re left with an awesome device that can expand local storage, but it doesn’t help anyone with shared storage needs.

Sure, you could use the unit in conjunction with something like Microsoft’s iSCSI target software, but that adds complexity where it wasn’t necessary.  The addition of iSCSI capability would massively broaden the market for the device.

Personally, I see this omission as a major shortcoming that I hope is addressed in a future product version.

Summary

With the primary caveat being that the Mini has no remote connectivity options, for those that need a lot of local, portable storage or that need to fit reasonable storage into a small physical space, the Drobo Mini is an interesting device.  With current capacity for up to 3 TB and an option to add a performance tier that can boost speeds without sacrificing capacity, the Drobo Mini is a compelling choice for those that are in the market for enterprise-grade features without enterprise-grade complexity.

Pricing and availability for the Drobo Mini are not yet provided.