Drobo + Mac Mini = File/Media Server

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design_angled20090303= File/Media Server

About a month ago, I picked up a Drobo and stopped using my Vista PC for my raid storage.  At first I picked up the Droboshare with the Drobo which is a network interface for the Drobo which has gigabyte Ethernet.  I thought that would be good, but turns out the connection to the Drobo is still USB 2.0. So it basically has a bottleneck from 1000Mbs to 400Mbs.  Also when testing out the Droboshare over my gigabit network I was getting constant disconnects from the Droboshare.
I later decided I would pay about 400 more and just get a new Mac Mini that has Firewire 800 and hook that up to my Drobo and share it over the network.  This solution worked and has been very reliable so far.  I can also run Boxee and other media related applications on the Mini which is a plus.
If anyone is planning on getting a Drobo and a Droboshare, I would highly reccomend checking out this common solution instead.