Drobo FS Gets Benchmarked

The Drobo FS "File Server" came as a welcome surprise to network-loving users wanting to share the Drobo magic with multiple computers, but just how well does it perform?  New owner Timon Royer wasn't content with Data Robotics' own "30-40MB/s" figures, and so he benchmarked the compact NAS/server himself.  He found that, while the Drobo FS does perform better than a second-gen Drobo, it's still not the NAS to get if you're looking for outright speed.

In fact, according to his benchmarks, while the second-gen Drobo scored 34.3MB/s read and 29.5MB/s write, the Drobo FS only edged ahead in read speed, at 39.7MB/s, while write was actually slower, at 27.3MB/s.  That's when both units were using empty 1TB Seagate 7,200rpm HDDs; when 60-percent full, the second-gen Drobo fell to 14.3MB/s read and write, while the 40-percent full Drobo FS maintained a healthier 39.1MB/s read and 26.7MB/s write.

That's considerably slower than a Core i7 iMac Timon benchmarked against, but that isn't so surprising.  The real benefit is Data Robotics' BeyondRAID drive mirroring tech, and that's something that many users prioritize above raw speed.  Still, if you're looking for the fastest network backup system, you may want to look beyond the Drobo FS, too.