Drobo (http://www.drobo.com/) has announced the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini (pictured) with Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, automated SSD acceleration, and more.

Both the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini include industry-first SSD acceleration -- utilizing the performance benefits of solid state drives (SSDs) and the capacity benefits of hard disk drives (HDDs) to deliver an automated, no-compromise system, according to Drobo CEO Tom Buiocchi. In addition to supporting SSDs in any of the drive bays, both units include an additional bay that will accommodate a small-form-factor SSD to achieve significant performance boosts while making all drive bays available for high-capacity HDDs, he adds.

The products also support both Thunderbolt (two ports) and USB 3.0 connectivity. The new Drobo products have been completely redesigned from the ground up with new hardware and software architectures. These enhancements provide a significant increase in processing capability and several optimizations to BeyondRAID that will increase baseline performance by at least five times -- prior to the addition of SSDs -- making the new Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini the fastest storage arrays in their class, says Buiocchi

The Drobo 5D is designed for creative professionals including photographers, videographers, graphic designers and individuals creating and working with large amounts of media. With up to five drives and an additional SSD bay, the 5D can support up to 16 terabytes of protected, SSD-accelerated data. This is the equivalent of 32 million photographs, four million songs, one million HD movies, or 48 hours of uncompressed HD video -- all accessible through Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 interfaces.

The Drobo Mini measures seven inches square and less than two inches tall and weighs less than three pounds. Drobo invented a patent-pending “carrierless” design, which allows up to four 2.5-inch drives to be inserted into a Drobo Mini without the need for any additional drive carriers or screws.

Since the Drobo Mini is portable, it features a ruggedized design that allows it to be transported with drives inside. In addition to being the first Drobo to offer this capability, the Drobo Mini features a custom, miniaturized power supply, and an optional carrying case

Go to http://www.drobo.com/5d or http://www.drobo.com/mini to learn more about the new products. Pricing, pre-orders, and availability will be announced later this summer.