Bernskiold Media » Hardware

Drobo S: The Backup Robot

Likah Roux — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:00:29 +0000

The Drobo has become a big hit as one of the simplest RAID systems out there for storing your data. It is supposed to be a “backup robot” automatically sharing your files between the drives you put in, minimizing the risk for hard drive failure, in which case a red indicator light will let you know about it, so that you can exchange the drive.

Me and My Drobo

We were instantly friends, just for the peace of mind alone. Drobo is like the superhero that flys in with a red cape at the exact moment of need (be the need real or imagined) But like every relationship, only when you start spending quality time together do you find what exactly what it’s made of. I have spent the past four weeks with Drobo, and am here to give you the tell-all account of the little robot that could –with a bit of help from tech support, drobo support, and a not too shabby techie, yours truly.

My need was real. Working on the Dell Studio XPS345 with a mirrored raid system of 640 GB with a 1TB automatic backup drive attached via USB worked well but it filled up fast. Literally pushed against the wall with less than 5% space on my storage harddrive (bad, very bad as your tech friends will tell you!)

I purchased my first Drobo S online. You can purchase Drobo from several authorized retailers online and if you’re one of the lucky few- locally. Drobo S fits 5 hardrives. You can purchase it as a bundle with drives already loaded into it or buy the robot empty and fill him yourself. Have extra harddrives lying around? Perfect! Put them to work! The Drobo can take different sizes and brands of hardrives. I decided on a bundle which was more cost effective and included my HD company of choice. 5 2TB drives filled my Drobo for an enjoyable 10TBs of space (about 7.4TB of usable storage room).

Plug (in the right cable) & Play

“Plug & Play” is one of the biggest advertised features of Drobo, no tech mess, just plug and it’s ready to roll (of course read the instructions first). I read the instructions, and when I was well educated on the ins and outs of Drobo & my system, I plugged in eSATA… nothing happened.

I plugged in USB and it became a live working Drobo. But USB is slow. Turns out Drobo doesn’t like certain types of eSATA cards, mine in particular. (See DataRobotics support for information on supported eSATA cards DroboS does like.) It took on the up of about 8 hours to transfer 600GB of information using the USB connection. But it was working and I was happy about that. There is nothing that makes you feel more insecure as a professional than data that is not backed up.

After the backup was complete I had total access to all my data on Drobo. I also had the option to start regular back-ups to another location of my data via DroboCopy. This is one thing that gets overlooked by many people- Drobo stores and protects your data, but it does not (necessarily) back-up your data. It can protect against two hard drive failures by making your drives redundant and taking up more of your storage space. More on that here.

So even though Drobo is like a super hero, he needs a back-up. Take care of your data and back it up too.

Simplicity Talks

I have to commend the Drobo creators for the simplicity in which they created the Drobo language: lights. Once you speak fluent Drobo your heart will palpitate to these Drobo messages:

Green: No action required, all drives are healthy

Solid Orange: Replace this drive with a larger drive soon, Drobo is running out of space.

Blinking Orange and Green: Don’t remove these drives; Drobo is working to protect your data.

Solid Red: Replace this drive with a larger drive immediately, Drobo is critically low on space.

Blinking Red: Replace this drive immediately, this drive has failed and needs to be replaced.

Harddrive Failure Already?

Alright, it’s not Drobo’s fault, he performed like a hero, but seriously, 3 weeks into the game and a hard drive fails?! Needless to say, brand matters on your hard drive choice and though I did my research, my choice in Hitachi proved not to be a good one. The ominous blinking red and orange lights greeted me one morning- “Hard drive failed, working to protect your data.”

It was all I could do not to hover like a mother hen. I invested my data to Drobo and now it was the ultimate test, he was in there, fighting 1’s and 0’s against corruption. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait. An entire day of waiting. Drobo came out victorious and my data is safe and sound. Big sigh of relief and I feel one stronger having lives through that.

Conclusion

Pros: Drobo pulls in some strong points for living up to its reputation and protecting my data when push came to shove- that is after all, the most important job for this little machine.

Cons: I am not happy that my eSATA card is not recognized and really, I’m more upset that prior to my purchase I never heard anything about eSATA stipulations. When they say eSATA compatible it needs an *asterisk because you or your techie is going to do some work to make it happen unless your machine is already compatible. Another glitch: DroboDashboard does not always recognize my Drobo even though I can access my data and it is indeed connected.

The Final Word: This machine lives up to its super hero hype and at the end of the day, your data is safe with Drobo.

Logitech Performance MX Mouse

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:05:54 +0000

If you like me, spend a lot of time in front of your computer and are not a full-time tablet user, chances are you are using a mouse. Spending a lot of time in front of the computer also means that how this mouse is shaped is of importance, unless you want to get aches. Plus, it helps if the mouse is well dressed and doesn’t run away from you! Today, I am trying out the Logitech Performance MX.

Design

The Logitech Performance MX mouse is made with ergonomics in mind and rests surprisingly well in my, normal sized hand. It is fairly large and something that I probably would not take with me when traveling. It looks stunning and definitely is made with the high-end user in mind, who spends a lot of time with it.

Functionality

As you would expect to find on a mouse of this size, it is complete with shortcut buttons to get you where you want quicker.

There are two buttons right above the thumb rest for going backwards or forwards in the browser with a zoom button just underneath that after pressed, will let you utilize the scroll wheel to zoom.

Of course the mouse has the usual scroll wheel that scrolls in both horizontal and vertical direction (as well as clicks). Using a little button right behind it, you can change it between a faster scrolling mode, and a more precise mode with notches while scrolling.

The final button (apart from the default two main buttons) is one located at the thumb rest. By pressing downwards, you can access a, by you, customizable part of the operating system. A very handy button indeed!

As you would imagine, all of these buttons are fully configurable into doing what you want them to do.

A major bummer with the mouse is that you have to use Logitechs receiver in a USB port. It may be small, but it takes up another valuable USB port!

Power

The mouse is powered using a standard double A battery but wait for it! The best feature in regards to the power consumption is that it is fully rechargeable using a USB cord that comes with the mouse. It also comes with an extender cord as well (as well as a wall plug) and a neat touch is that the USB cord has a little strap that wraps around itself to keep it together, all tidy.

Conclusion

Using the computer a lot? Need a mouse that can do some heavy-lifting and make sure your hand don’t stop and protest? I would recommend the Logitech Performance MX mouse in a heartbeat. It is very comfortable to use and has all the functionality you typically need in a mouse.

Mophie Juice Pack Air

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:52 +0000

The battery in the iPhone, despite getting better and better battery life, cannot last during a longer flight or a longer day when you are using battery heavy features. Rarely you have the option then of just plugging in the iPhone into the wall and charge it (especially not if you are in the air) or into your computer to do the same. Here, the Mophie Juice Pack shines!

The juice pack is available in both black and white colors (as well as a purple) to match both the white and black iPhone. It works with both the 3G and the 3GS and is a little slide on device that connects to the iPhone via the dock connector. With it on, the iPhone is noticeably thicker, but still amazingly thin for adding that much more battery life.

When using the pack, you cannot dock your iPhone, nor can you use a standard sync cable that is provided. This is because the dock connector is used by the pack. Instead, you can use the miniUSB cable that is shipped with the product, the same cable that is also used for charging the pack by itself.

In terms of battery life, it says to provide up to 270 hours of additional standby time or up to 9 hours of video playback (more specifications on the Mophie website). After a six hour flight a couple of weeks ago, the pack and iPhone still had a lot of juice in it to last the rest of the day, without charging (I was watching video and gaming practically the entire time in the air, then listening to music most of the day)! Pretty stunning.

All in all, the device is great if you need the extra battery life although the iPhone gets a lot more clunky with it on. If you keep it in a pocket, you will definitely notice the extra size, more so than the little extra weight. I have used it not only on flights, but in day to day use in city life and it is not too obtrusive with the pack on.

Wacom Intuos 3

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:00:15 +0000

The Wacom Intuos 3 tablet is perhaps the widest known tablet in the Wacom tablet lineup. Wacom is one of the best makers of tablets, if not the best which they certainly prove with the Intuos lineup.

As a classic tablet layout the Intuos series has got tablets down from the A6 version up to the large A4 size, all featuring Wacom’s patented pen technology that makes the pen not need any batteries to operate. The tablet itself is complete with a sensitive touch area with eight express keys available to you (four on each side) that you can program to do what you wish. The tablet also sports two scroll-bars, useable for either scrolling or zooming purposes.

Wacom has successfully made a tablet that is the widest used by artists worldwide, that allows you to use a pen as the input-device instead of a mouse so that you can draw with great sensitivity. The Wacom Intuos 3 lineup gives a tremendous amount of high-quality tablet for your money. I really recommend it, to anyone.

Manufacturer: Wacom
Website: www.wacom.com
Price: Depending on size

Apple Aluminium Keyboard

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:30:22 +0000

With the release of the previous generation, aluminium iMacs, Apple released a new keyboard. Having just bought a keyboard before that, I was very hesitant to upgrade to this new slim model, with keys like in the Apple laptops. There is however, a time and place for everything and after just recently upgrading to a MacBook Pro, I thought the time couldn’t be better to get myself a matching aluminium keyboard, instead of the old white one.

What I must instantly credit to this keyboard is the slimness. It’s slim enough to fit inside of my laptop bag making is portable right away. I’ve always been a fan of the keyboards that Apple’s put into the laptops and always found them great to write on. This one is just the same. The speed of which I write has really improved as my fingers don’t need to travel as far for this as they would do on a keyboard with deeper keys.

I do have a complaint though and it is about the bluetooth version. I would really have liked to have a bluetooth keyboard, since I have a laptop computer and it would’ve been even easier to take along with me. What I can’t stand about it is Apple’s decision to remove the numpad on it to slim it down further. I do understand that it could potentially be good for some times, but it is something that I really don’t want to be without. It feels just wrong to purchase another laptop sized keyboard, without the numpad and full extension. No, Apple. Offer two bluetooth versions in that case. I want my numpad!

Otherwise, I’m really digging the keyboard and would overall recommend it to anyone looking for a simple, good-looking keyboard that is really good and fast to write on.

Brenthaven ProLite III 17″

Erik Bernskiold — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:49:57 +0000

As with a lot of people I chose bags very carefully. Granted I have far to many that are just lying around, but in the end I always end up using them a lot of times in situations I didn’t first imagine them in. With that being said, this is one of my bags that I always use when carrying my computer with me.

The Brenthaven ProLite III 17” is really a brilliant bag I must say. Although I don’t have a 17” laptop, I wanted the larger size to be able to carry my Wacom tablet with me and it does fit perfectly into the 17” bag. The bag is really well planned, especially for an Apple laptop. There are specially designed pouches even for your power cord. You have a super padded laptop compartment where, after seeing the bag in person, actually would trust that it’d handle a drop with no problems. There is also a big, divided document compartment.

The exterior of the bag is equally thought out. You have two comfortable handles for carrying it, as well as a strap with a padded part, for your shoulder. If you travel a lot, you may also like that you can hook it on any type of rolling case as this bag has a simple yet effective strap for that too.

Coming to a conclusion here, I really do like this bag and I think it does great and performs great. It’s not the kind of bag I regret the purchase of at all. From me, it gets full marks.

Wacom Bamboo

Erik Bernskiold — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:22:35 +0000

The Wacom Bamboo Tablet is a compact and small A6 tablet that is made by the popular Wacom company that is famous for their high-quality tablets and it is perfect if you are just getting into the world of tablets, if you are on a limited budget or if you want a portable travel tablet.

The Bamboo makes it easy to get into tablets and it also looks good at the desk as well in a nice matte black finish. The pen is pretty comfortable although if you have used one of the Intous pens you will not find the grip as good as the pen grip is much smaller.

It has got four buttons that are programable to any keystroke or action however it is a downer that they didn’t make the option to program the buttons depending on the application, so that you could have had different keystrokes programmed depending on the application you have open!

In the end the Wacom Bamboo is a nice tablet that is easy to use and will probably suit most users that won’t need a larger size. It works well even when a widescreen screen is mapped to it despite it being in the 4:3 aspect ratio. I’d recommend this tablet to anyone that is either getting into tablets/are on a tight budget or need a compact travel tablet. Once you enter the world of tablets, you won’t be going back to the mouse.

Eizo FlexScan S221W

Erik Bernskiold — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:21:41 +0000

The Eizo FlexScan S221W is a 22 inch, widescreen model of the low-line Eizo screens and that is something you should know from the start that it isn’t their high-end series. However Eizo has done an incredible job on this model to get a great screen for the money and it works wonderfully for design and general computer tasks alike.

The screen features the popular 22-wide resolution of 1680×1050 and it works well for design although it sometimes can be just a tad too small because you cannot fit two windows next to eachother but rather a much larger instead however once you are working with Photoshop or other applications like it, you will begin to see the beauty of the larger screen space. It’s also got a pivot function that lets you tilt the screen to become a more document suited screen for when you are writing or doing word processing.

The graphical quality of the screen is remarkably well for a screen in its priceclass and you’ll be really happy with it for most work. It obviously doesn’t render as good in colour management as the better screens would but it is certinaly enough to keep you happy for most work.

You get the advantage of built in speakers on the screen but unless you are only planning on playing up computer sounds you should be fine, but don’t expect any good quality music sound or even podcasts from it. Another good feature is the two-port USB hub that will be USB powered which is all in all pretty good.

If you sum up the quality with the prize you’ll start to see that you are not sacrificing a whole lot for the price of the screen but rather get a whole lot instead! I don’t see any major disadvantages on the display and I’d not hesitate a moment to recommend it to someone!