Drobo

For the city, see Drobo, Ghana.
Drobo, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputer hardware
Computer data storage
FoundedSan Jose, California, US (May 2005 (2005-05))
FounderGeoff Barrall
Julian Terry
Ken Rosen
DefunctApril 28, 2023 (2023-04-28)[1]
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mihir H. Shah, CEO
Mike Edwards, CFO
Rod Harrison, CTO
ProductsDrobo
Websitewww.drobo.com Edit this at Wikidata

Drobo was a manufacturer of a series of external storage devices for computers, including DAS, SAN, and NAS appliances. Drobo devices can house up to four, five, eight, or twelve 3.5" or 2.5" Serial ATA or Serial Attached SCSI hard disk drives and connect with a computer or network via USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 800, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet or Thunderbolt. Drobo devices are primarily designed to allow installation and removal of hard disk drives without requiring manual data migration, for increasing storage capacity of the unit without downtime, and for data protection against drive failure.

The company Drobo, Inc. changed its name from Data Robotics in 2011 since the familiarity with the Drobo name (which had only been the name of their product line until then) far exceeded the Data Robotics name.[2] Drobo, Inc. merged with Connected Data, Inc. in June 2013, with the new company taking the Connected Data name. In May 2015, the storage appliance business was spun-off as Drobo, Inc. and acquired by an investment group composed of seasoned tech executives[3] Drobo was later acquired by StorCentric in August, 2018.[4]

All Drobo products had been out of stock or severely inventory constrained in both the Drobo Store and retail channels since the beginning of 2020. Drobo initially blamed this on supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] In November, 2021, Drobo stated that more devices would be available in "the next few months".[6] In June 2022, StorCentric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[7] After failing to find a buyer or reorganize the company, it shifted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2023.[8]

From the Drobo website: As of January 27th, 2023, Drobo support and products are no longer available. Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model. The knowledge base, documentation repository, and legacy documentation library are still accessible for your support needs. We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data.

As of February 8, 2024, the Drobo website at www.drobo.com is no longer accessible.

  1. ^ "Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy".
  2. ^ Owens, Jeremy (2011-07-21). "Data Robotics officially changes name, moves to San Jose". MercuryNews.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  3. ^ "Drobo Acquired by Investment Group Comprised of Seasoned Tech Executives". drobo.com (Press release). Santa Clara, California: Drobo. May 20, 2015. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "StorCentric to Acquire Drobo and Nexsan". storcentric.com (Press release). 2018-08-21. Archived from the original on 2019-05-18. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
  5. ^ @Drobo (February 19, 2020). "The Coronoavirus outbreak in China ..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ @Drobo (November 29, 2021). "We are expecting a restock of 5N2's and 5D3's to our US store in the next few months!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Gallagher, William (2022-07-06). "Storage firm Drobo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". AppleInsider. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  8. ^ Hilliard, Wesley (May 15, 2023). "Drobo parent company StorCentric shifts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy". Apple Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2023.