Designed from the ground up to be an affordable and secure storage array, the 5C 5-Bay USB 3.0 Type-C Enclosure from Drobo is equipped with five 3.5" SATA drive bays that support SATA III 6 Gb/s and SATA II 3 Gb/s drives. Using separately sold drive carriers, the 5C will also support 2.5" hard drives and SSDs. The Drobo 5C distinguishes itself from the other members of the Drobo "5" series through its single USB 3.0 Type-C port, which operates with data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gb/s.
To facilitate data protection, Drobo's BeyondRAID technology enables single or dual-drive redundancy. If there are any empty drive bays, BeyondRAID allows additional drives to be inserted into the array, where they would be automatically configured. If all drive bays are occupied, simply replace the smallest capacity drive with a larger one and BeyondRAID will handle the rest. BeyondRAID is also what allows drives of varying capacities to work in the same unit, which helps enable future expansion as larger drives become available.
Additional data protection is provided by the included rechargeable battery, which helps protect data stored in the 5C's memory or cache. If there were to be a sudden power loss, the battery allows the Drobo to stay powered long enough for the cached data to be written to an included internal SSD. Cooling is provided by a 120mm variable-speed fan and once installed, the hard drives can be configured to spin down when they're not in use, helping to further reduce noise and energy. Also, the LEDs can be dimmed to reduce light pollution when working in sensitive environments. The Drobo 5C is compatible with both Windows and Mac and also includes a 5.9' USB 3.0 Type-C to Type-A cable, a 100-240 VAC power supply that runs at 50-60 Hz, and a 9.2' power cord. Protection is provided by a limited 1-year warranty within the US or outside the EU, or a limited 2-year warranty within the EU, as well as 90 days of business hour tech support. Using the 1 or 3-year DroboCare warranty renewals, your Drobo 5C is eligible for up to 5 years of coverage.
General Features
Protection From Drive Failure
The Drobo 5C protects your data from a single or dual hard drive failures. In the case of a drive failure, Drobo will immediately rebuild data using the remaining available space. In the background, Drobo performs "data scrubbing and self-healing," which means it validates your data and repairs any inconsistencies.
Power Protecting Your Critical Data
Drobo doesn't just protect against drive failures, but also from potential data loss after a power outage. The Drobo 5C includes advanced battery backup technology that helps protects data in memory or cache. During a sudden power loss, Drobo protects in-progress operations by saving them to an internal SSD. The operations are resumed and written to the disks once power is restored. This helps ensure important information is safe and sound. The battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of your Drobo.
Economical Capacity Expansion
The Drobo 5C supports volume sizes up to 64TB and allows for expansion into this size. You can grow in to this, and provide only the capacity you need today. When more storage space is needed, simply add another drive, or replace a drive with a larger one. Drobo allows you to mix and match hard drives of virtually any size or brand. This empowers you to buy suitable drives when you need more space, instead of paying today for capacity you will not need until the future.
Second Volume for Backups or Full Disk Encryption
The Drobo 5C allows for a second, fixed volume size and limits the amount of storage space you specify for the second volume. The rest of the capacity is available for storing other files.
Two Ways to Use a Second Volume:
1. Apple's Time Machine: Specify the maximum size Time Machine can use for its versioned backups. This solves the problem of Time Machine slowly consuming all space on a drive.
2. Encrypted Hard Drive: Some information requires additional protection. A second volume can create an encrypted disk using Windows and OS X / macOS tools. Sensitive data is protected with a password. Access to sensitive data is password protected.
Simple Setup - No Tools Needed
With the Drobo 5C, 3.5" hard drives slide right into the drive bays. No metal drive carriers or assembly screws are necessary, unless 2.5" drives are being used. The Drobo chassis is constructed of metal and the magnetic front cover is easy to install or remove.
As Easy as Reading a Traffic Light
Lights on the front show alerts of what's happening, making monitoring your Drobo 5C as easy as reading a traffic light. Green, yellow, or red lights show the drive status, and each blue LED light along the bottom represents 10% utilization, showing how much capacity is consumed. Unsure of what the lights mean? Simply take off the magnetic cover and all the information can be found on the back:
"Actions Required" Indicators
- Green: No action needed, system is healthy
- Solid Yellow: Add or upsize a drive here soon, the Drobo is over 85% full
- Blinking Green and Yellow: Don't remove any drives, operate normally. Drobo is optimizing the data layout. You can still perform read and write operations during optimization
- Solid Red: Add or upsize a drive here now
- Blinking Red: Replace this drive immediately, as it has failed. Depending on the capacity of your Drobo 5C, your data could be at risk until you replace this drive
