Drobo just released a new NAS called “Drobo 5N2”. It’s suppose to have an upgraded processor for increased speed and throughput, as well as nearly twice the performance of the original 5N.
I wonder how this new Drobo would handle transcoding as a Plex Server?
http://www.drobo.com/news/press-releases/drobo-launches-5n2-nas/
The double performance just appears to be the fact it can now have bonded network connections, I can’t find any information on its processor but from one review it appears to compare with a QNAP TS251 (Didn’t state plus) so fingers crossed its a decent processor capable of transcoding.
I have a Drobo 5n atm, can’t say I am tempted by $50 off considering how much this unit cost me in the first place.
I doubt the processor will handle transcoding. I have the b810n (Marvell Quad-Core SoC (1.2 GHz Peak)) and still cannot transcode and I have a feeling this is what they upgraded theh 5n2 to, …just a hunch. My solution is to utilize mcebuddy to convert to mkv or mp4 which most devices can direct stream/play.
Another 5N owner here. I’ve contacted Drobo and asked them for actual specs, not “2x performance boost” marketing speak. In all the time I’ve owned the 5N, I’ve never been able to find out what processor it’s actually running. If I hear back from Drobo with actual specs, I will post their answer here.
I too just inquired to Drobo about details. I know the regular 5N uses and ARM processor, but that is all. We’ll see where this goes.
From Drobo sales rep …
Here are the performance specs for the 5N2-
Up to 190 MB/s Read (average)
up to 197MB/s Write (average)
Approximately 2x performance increase when compared to the 5N
Approximately 7x performance increase when compared to the FS
CPU/RAM - Marvell Armada XP quad core running at 1.6 GHz, 2GB RAM.
Ah so unless it has any hardware acceleration transcoding will either be a no go
Wait… isn’t this the specs for the original 5N?> @tghowe said:
From Drobo sales rep …
Here are the performance specs for the 5N2-
Up to 190 MB/s Read (average)
up to 197MB/s Write (average)Approximately 2x performance increase when compared to the 5N
Approximately 7x performance increase when compared to the FSCPU/RAM - Marvell Armada XP quad core running at 1.6 GHz, 2GB RAM.
Wait… isn’t this the specs for the original 5N?
You would need two Gigabit network ports with bonding to achieve above 120 MegaBytes per Second
@tghowe said:
Wait… isn’t this the specs for the original 5N?> @tghowe said:From Drobo sales rep …
Here are the performance specs for the 5N2-
Up to 190 MB/s Read (average)
up to 197MB/s Write (average)Approximately 2x performance increase when compared to the 5N
Approximately 7x performance increase when compared to the FSCPU/RAM - Marvell Armada XP quad core running at 1.6 GHz, 2GB RAM.
Wait… isn’t this the specs for the original 5N?
From Drobo…
The original 5N has a 1.2 GHz processor and slower RAM. It is the same familiar of processor which is where the confusion may have come from. The Read/Write speeds for the original 5N average anywhere between 90-115MB/s under ideal circumstances as well.
It doesn’t seem like a large upgrade beyond what I already have, and no real indication it would improve transcoding efforts.
Looks like this is ~$475 shipped from Drobo with the Plex Pass discount. I already use a dual-core i3 PC to run my Plex Media Server, so I don’t REALLY need a NAS to do my transcoding as well (like a more expensive QNAP unit).
How are people’s experiences with the Drobo units for simple NAS storage?
That’s odd Qnap are cheaper for me.
The Drobo’s inbuilt battery is the main reason I went for it, I didn’t want to get a UPS for it.
The slot for an SSD on its belly is also a bonus as it means to add SSD caching you don’t need to use up a slot.
Which QNAP do you see cheaper than $475 for the 5N2? I really need a 5 or 6 bay unit and everything I’m seeing from QNAP is at least $100 more than that.
Ah ok sorry I just use 3 bays out of 5 at the moment
@Sturmie said:
Looks like this is ~$475 shipped from Drobo with the Plex Pass discount. I already use a dual-core i3 PC to run my Plex Media Server, so I don’t REALLY need a NAS to do my transcoding as well (like a more expensive QNAP unit).How are people’s experiences with the Drobo units for simple NAS storage?
I use a regular Drobo 5N for media storage and it works very well.
My Drobo craps out on me every year. I have RMA and received refurbished units twice because they seem to get bad over time.
Not overuse, just bad machines
Where as me a large speaker was dropped on the unit whilst it was operating causing a disk to fall out of the array. After inserting a new disk it was fine.
This Server is not powerful enough to convert video
I got this sinds I bought a Plex Pass, on the free mode it played all my video’s, is this strange ore not!
I want my money back from Plex
As its an ARM process its not powerful enough to transcode in realtime, you can get it to trancode your media so devices can play them.
There is an FAQ on https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201373793 which is very clear
