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Drobo B1200i
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Drobo B1200i

Application-Optimized Storage for SMB IT

Built on proven BeyondRAID™ technology, coupled with new and innovative Automated Data-Aware Tiering, the Drobo B1200i delivers a level of automation and technical sophistication usually reserved for more expensive enterprise solutions. All in a product as easy to use as a Drobo.

Short Q&A about the Drobo B1200i SSD:

  • Who uses it and what are people saying about it? Take a look at customer facts and quotes from a recent survey. Or see industry reviews below.
  • How are people using it? Check out Drobo solutions for business.
  • How does it save you money? Do the math for yourself.
  • What is the technology behind it? Just scroll down on this page ....

The Drobo B1200i storage array is available from $11,499 US.

Free Eval iSCSI SAN   Live Demo button   Read the ESG Lab Validation Report

Explore

Videos

  • Drobo B1200i Product DemoSee a demonstration of the Drobo B1200i.
  • Erik Pounds Explains How Automated Data-Aware Tiering WorksChalk Talk: Erik Pounds explains how Automated Data-Aware Tiering and SSD acceleration work together
  • DOD 2494 Drobo Storage For BusinessDemonstration of BeyondRAID technology and how Drobo Storage for Business can serve as storage for virtualization, disk-basked backup & IT application solutions

News & Reviews

Drobo B1200i Review
"Easiest ... we've ever tested"

Drobo B1200i Review
Rated 9 out of 10!

Drobo B1200i SAN
Awarded 4.5 stars out of 5!

Working with Drobo B1200i
"great products for businesses"

Available Configurations

In the US and some other countries, Drobo configurations are also available with hard drives for your projects. You can also find other configurations offered by Drobo resellers combining an empty Drobo with supported hard drives.

Product Offering Description
Drobo B1200i with 12TB 12TB Drobo 12-bay SAN storage array for business, iSCSI,
with (6) 2TB SAS drives
Drobo B1200i with 36TB 36TB Drobo 12-bay SAN storage array for business, iSCSI,
with (12) 3TB SAS drives
Drobo B1200i with 12.6TB (SSD/HDD) 12.6TB Drobo 12-bay SAN storage array for business, iSCSI,
with (6) 2TB SAS drives and (3) 200GB SSDs
Drobo B1200i with 27.6TB (SSD/HDD) 27.6TB Drobo 12-bay SAN storage array for business, iSCSI,
with (9) 3TB SAS drives and (3) 200GB SSDs
Click here for more information on these configurations or for help with special configurations

Features

Drobo BeyondRAID

BeyondRAID Technology

A Drobo B1200i iSCSI array can hold up to 36TB of raw storage and beyond. To add capacity, simply insert a new hard drive or replace your smallest drive with a larger one, even when all drive bays are full. Unlike traditional RAID systems, the BeyondRAID technology in Drobo enables you to leverage different drive capacities, allowing for continuous expansion as larger drives become available. With Drobo, expansion is automatic and instantaneous and access to data is always maintained, all while protecting you from two simultaneous drive failures. Learn more about BeyondRAID.

Drobo Tiering Icon

Automated Data-Aware Tiering

The Drobo B1200i moves beyond the days of manually tuning an array for applications that have different storage requirements. Automated Data-Aware Tiering leverages high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) paired with high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) to deliver application-optimized storage that requires no manual tuning.

SSD support with Automated Data-Aware Tiering is a available in firmware version 1.1.0 or higher. Click here for a detailed FAQ document.
Click here to learn how easy it is to add SSDs to your B1200i.

Drobo Thin Provisioning

Smart Volumes with Thin Provisioning

Create new volumes up to 16TB in seconds and manage them over time with ease. The innovative and timesaving Smart Volume management technology with Thin Provisioning integrated into the Drobo B1200i allows volumes to pull storage from the common pool of disks rather than a specific physical disk allocation. The labor of resizing and migrating volumes is replaced with the simplicity of intelligent engineering. Learn more about Thin Provisioning.

IT Environments

Designed for IT Environments

The B1200i is the first Drobo with serviceable modular components. This hardware design provides a removable controller card; dual-redundant, hot-swappable power supplies; and a hot-swappable cooling fan unit. You can source field replaceable units in advance in case of a single hardware component failure, to ensure high uptimes. This delivers the higher level of availability demanded by virtualized IT environments.

Drobo Apps Icon

Optimizing Business Applications

Similar to business applications, Drobo is ideal for building your first server virtualization cluster, highly available email server, or scalable backup server. Drobo technology has been certified for VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer, Symantec Backup Exec, and Veeam Backup environments. Learn more about Drobo business solutions on the Drobo Broadcast Network.

About iSCSI SANs

Drobo Apps Icon

Similar to business applications, Drobo is ideal for building your first server virtualization cluster, highly available email server, or scalable backup server. Drobo technology has been certified for VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer, Symantec Backup Exec, and Veeam Backup environments. Learn more about Drobo business solutions on the Drobo Broadcast Network.

With an iSCSI SAN, centralized storage is provided to each server over a high-speed Ethernet network and storage can be allocated or expanded instantaneously. Also, no single server can tie up free space and there are fewer storage devices to maintain. Learn more about iSCSI SANs.

Specifications

  • Connectivity

    • 3 x 100 / 1000 Mbps Ethernet port for data (iSCSI)
    • 1 x 100 / 1000 Mbps Ethernet port for management

    Capacity

    • 12 drive bays for hard disk drives or solid state drives (click here for SSD compatibility)
    • 3.5" SAS-1/SAS-2 drives
    • 3.5” SATA I / SATA II / SATA III drives
    • Expandable by adding drives or hot-swapping drives with larger ones. Use the 12-bay Capacity Calculator to estimate available storage in various configurations

    BeyondRAID Features

    • Thin Provisioning
    • Instant Expansion
    • Mixed Drive Size Utilization
    • Automatic Protection Levels
    • Dual Disk Redundancy
    • Virtual Hot Spare
    • Data Aware
    • Drive Re-ordering

    Additional Software Features

    • Automated Data-Aware Tiering
    • Smart Volumes (LUNs, up to 255)
    • Drive Spin Down

    Warranty

    • One (1) year warranty in the US or outside
      the EU or two (2) year warranty in the EU
      (as provided by EU law)

  • Network Protocols

    • iSCSI
    • CHAP Authentication

    Ethernet Features

    • Connection Failover
    • Jumbo frames (up to 9000 bytes MTU)

    Management

    • Drive bay indicator lights, capacity gauge, status lights
    • Drobo Dashboard version 2.0 or later

    Operating System Support

    • Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 or later (Intel Only)
    • Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 or later (Intel Only)
    • Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1 32 and 64 bit
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 64 bit
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Intel only)
    • VMware vSphere 4.1.x (ESXi)
    • VMware vSphere 5.0.x (ESXi)
    • Citrix XenServer 5.6

    File System Options

    • Mac OS X: HFS+
    • Windows: NTFS, FAT32
    • Linux: ext3
    • VMware vSphere: VMFS
    • Citrix XenServer: LVM

    Hardware Features

    • Carrier-less Drive Bays
    • Field replaceable controller card, power supplies, and cooling fan unit

  • Size and Weight

    • 3U rack mount form factor (rack mount kit included)
    • Width: 17.17 in (436.1 mm)
    • Height: 5.20 in (132.1 mm)
    • Depth: 21.85 in (555.0 mm)
    • Weight: 47 lb (without hard drives or packaging)

    Power and Cooling

    • Dual, redundant, hot-swappable power supplies: AC Input - 100/240 VAC, 8/5 A, 50/60 Hz
    • Redundant, hot swappable cooling unit

    Environmentals

    • Operating Temperature: 10°C – 35°C (50° – 95°F)
    • Non-Operating Temperature (storage): -10° – 60°C (14° – 140°F)
    • Operating Humidity: 20% – 80%

    Certifications

    • Environmental: RoHS, WEEE, REACH
    • Regulatory: FCC Part 15 Class A; Canada ICES-003 Class B; CE Mark; CISPR22:19973rd Edition Class B; MIC Mark; VCCI Approval to V.3; BSMI Approval to CNS13438; ACA Approval to AS/NZS 3548
    • Safety: UL, cUL, TUV, CB

    Box Contents

    • Drobo B1200i
    • Rack mount installation guide
    • Rack mount parts
    • 2 x 6 ft power cords
    • Getting Started Guide (printed)
    • Resource CD, which includes Drobo Dashboard application

  • Scott Bourne and Rich Harrington discuss Drobo in the January 15th, 2013 edition of the PhotoFocus podcast.

    Listen now »

  • Drobo announces availability of Drobo 5N, designed with one purpose in mind: to deliver the best ever experience sharing storage and accessing data!

    Learn more »

  • "It's a new Drobo from the ground up and includes USB 3.0 as all as a new and unique reliability feature normally found on much more expensive systems …"

    Read the review »

  • "Go home and come up with a backup system that you’ll actually keep current." advises David Pogue, NY Times

    Read more »

  • Drobo B1200i Update Combines SSDs with High-Capacity Drives

    Read the article »

  • ZDNet gives Drobo B1200i a 9 point rating out of 10, "Network storage doesn't come much easier than this"

    Read the article »