Drobo 5N Manual page 6

an mSATA SSD installed leaves all drive bays available for high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs)
so that you can get both high-capacity and accelerated performance out of your Drobo device.
Using only SSDs in the main drive bays of your Drobo 5N provides the fastest performance when
reading and writing data to and from your Drobo device.
In summary, here are the recommended number and type of drives you can use with your
Drobo 5N. Note that you need at least two drives in the drive bays to ensure your data is
protected in the event of drive failure.
•
2 to 5 HDD(Hard Disk Drive)s in the main drive bays - enables you to maximize capacity
•
2 to 5 HDDs in the main drive bays plus an mSATA SSD installed - enables you to
maximize capacity and accelerate read performance
•
2 to 5 SSD(Solid State Drive)s in the main drive bays with no mSATA SSD - enables you
to maximize read and write performance
For a performance comparison of these options, see the following illustration.
Important Notes:
If an incompatible SSD is inserted into the Drobo device, the drive light will blink red,
-
indicating the need to replace that drive. Please refer to our web page on
options. for more information.
The mSATA SSD is not part of the disk pack of your Drobo 5N, allowing you to leave it
-
installed even if you transfer drives from the drive bays to another Drobo device, for example.
When Data-Aware Tiering is enabled, an icon displays in Drobo Dashboard, the software
-
companion to your Drobo device.
The Drobo 5N is not compatible with IDE(Integrated Drive Electronics), SCSI(Small
-
Computer System Interface), PATA(Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) or
SAS(Serial Attached SCSI) drives.
Warning! Any pre-existing data on the drives will be erased when inserted into the Drobo 5N.
Drobo 5N Getting Started Guide
compatible drive
6