looking for a 4tb solution

[ztirffritz]

I'd go for a cheap box and FreeNAS. It is BSD, so it is a bit closer to OS X if you're not ready to jump in to Linux.

[Harbourmaster]

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[lazydays]

How does the box from owc compare to a drobo? I just got an email that the drobo is on sale.

From what I understand I could put 3x1.5tb drives into the drobo and have 4tb of storage. I could add a fourth 1.5tb drive to boost capacity to 4tb total, all with redundancy. With the unit from OWC I would have to put all of the drives in at once right?

If I were to go with one of these units, with redundancy, then I could sell my external 1.5tb drives. What would they be worth roughly? Two are simple usb units with no fan. The third is a nice metal box from owc with firewire, usb and a fan.

[lazydays]

Getting down to cost, the drobo is $325 after rebate with free shipping. The 1.5tb drives are 2 for $200. So I'd be in $725. Sweet mother. Nice setup though. Slightly more for the owc unit as it is $380 (where did you see $350?) and I don't think it gets free shipping.

[modelamac]

Is it that wise to put all of your eggs in one basket?

[mattkime]

i doubt the OWC solution supports raid resizing. thats a big deal with you have more data in one place than can easily be copied elsewhere. i'm sure the owc option is much faster though.

if it were me, i'd go drobo.

[lazydays]

My credit card is hemorrhaging (or am I just having a heart attack?) but I did it, I finally bought the drobo. Now I just need drives.

[C(-)ris]

I kind of like the idea of the Drobo...but you spent more on it than I paid for my Xserve.