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, including APFS/macOS High Sierra, 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.
