The most promising new data storage device to come out in a long time, the Drobo is being billed as the “world’s first storage robot.” Though it’s not a true robot (i.e., it can’t get you a drink), the Drobo is pretty smart. A hard drive enclosure about the size of a loaf of bread, the Drobo can accept any standard SATA internal hard drive. Plug a drive into the first slot, and the Drobo chugs along until it begins to fill up. The unit will then warn the user first with a yellow, then red light. When the light is red, it’s time to add capacity with another drive, and so on. But the unit not only is a hard drive with a flashing case; it also spans data across the multiple drives, protecting it from failure. Each time a drive is added, the unit automatically re-spans the data across the included drives. As drive capacities increase, it’s easy to pull a drive out of the housing and replace it with a larger one, letting the system automatically reconfigure itself. This process gives the average user the benefits of a high-end RAID system without having to know how to configure it. The Drobo works with both Macs and Windows PCs.

Retail price: $499 (for enclosure)
Further information: www.drobo.com