Yesterday I had lunch with Tom Loverro, Drobo's Director of Product Marketing, where he briefed me on the next big thing coming out of Data Robotics, the second generation Digital Data Robot aka Drobo -- what I'm calling Drobo 2.0. Beginning today people can now begin placing orders for Data Robotic's second generation Drobo storage device. Drobo 2.0 will cost $499, the same price as the previous model. For a limited time (until they clear their shelves of the old units) Drobo will be selling their first generation Drobos for $349. I blogged about Drobo's first generation device about a year ago here, but this new device is even better -- pure white hot donkey awesomeness. Boasting new and improved Firewire 400/800 support, the Drobo 2.0 is now twice as fast as the old Drobo, according to Tom. The core processor in the unit has been upgraded to improve speed and performance and a new fan has also been installed in the unit to make it quieter as well. Personally I've never had a problem with the noise on my Drobos except on very hot days when the fan seems to kick on in my 110 degree attic. Tom told me that they actually bake their drobos in an oven when testing them to make sure that they can withstand super high amounts of heat. Additional enhancements and modifications have been made to the Drobo Dashboard software that will also help boost speed and performance under the hood. A new version of the Dashboard software will also be rele ...