Iomega has been interesting to watch after its claim to fame, the Zip drive, was unceremoniously killed off years ago by the proliferation of USB flash drives. Its latest entry into the market is its aptly named Portable Hard Drive.
Design/Features
The Portable Hard Drive (marketing genius, that) follows an extremely minimal design -- a silver box with white ends. A single activity light defies convention and is positioned on top at the back of the drive, near the interfaces.
USB2.0 and Firewire are the connections of choice, and the drive can be powered over both interfaces, although the option for 5V DC is also there, should your ports not supply enough power.
EMC Retrospect Express is included for PC users, but as usual Mac users are left wanting on the software side.
Performance
The Iomega performed excellently, although was beaten by the LaCie Mobile Hard Drive over both USB2.0 and Firewire. It is however quite a bit cheaper than the LaCie, so those willing to sacrifice a tiny bit on the speed will find the Iomega well up to the task.
IoMega's Portable Hard Drive is available in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and 200GB capacities.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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