After a lot of research I settled on Venus enclosure and a Seagate drive. My single-drive Venus makes NO heat. After haunting forums for many weeks, only Seagate and Western Digital drives were seen to have received good reviews, as far as I could see. All drives can quit.
Depending on your location in Canada, I would get a delivery address ("mailbox") across the border and join the Nexus pass program. Then your US suppliers can send you stuff with a US address. If you go there every 30 days it is economical. Nexus is not currently for business use, except on the ourbound direction with nothing in the vehicle.
The Drobos are a wonderful concept; I do not have one.
Venus are sold in Canada by NCIX, and the dual RAID model at less then $150 is IMO a no-brainer:
"Blazing fast FireWire 400/800 interface with integrated RAID Technology RAID 0, 1, and JBOD options. Hot-Swappable trays with online auto-rebuild function for RAID 1. The DS3R is a perfect companion product for DVD authoring, 2D/3D animation, audio editin, streaming video, and system backup. You can trust the DS3R for your storage protection of your digital photos, MP3s, and other important files than you cannot be without. The DS3R can be stacked, or stand upright on your desk. "
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku...Media%20Systems