Reviewed: 4-bay RAID enclosures

Posted today are my review of the Other World Computer Mercury Elite AL-Pro QX2 4-bay RAID enclosure and my review of the Data Robotics Drobo 4-bay RAID-like enclosure.

Photographers should take a close look at the capabilities provided by these units, but the choice of which to get is clear, and it’s about reality once the slick marketing hype is bypassed.

I advise using the QX2 in RAID 5 mode, which allows one drive to fail with no data loss. Use eSATA for vastly superior performance over Firewire 800.

Beauty is more than skin deep, and sometimes it’s a thin skin (literally) and not really very beautiful upon closer inspection. The Drobo might be the world’s slowest Firewire 800 enclosure, or at least the slowest one I’ve ever used.