Iomega Desktop Hard Drive Review:
Iomega Desktop Hard Drive is the affordable way to save precious memories. Not only is this drive economical but it is very easy-to-use and preformatted for simple set up - just plug and play. A simple storage solution.

Iomega Desktop Hard Drive is an unapologetic slab, a brushed-metal brick that looks like something from another decade. Although it offers the same storage capacity as our Labs-winning Western Digital drive, it weighs a kilo more and demands around twice the desk space.

Looking inside the case, we discovered why: while the Western Digital unit uses a single terabyte drive, Iomega has bolted two 500GB units together to achieve the requisite capacity.

It’s wholly transparent to the user and, since terabyte drives currently command a significant price premium, it doubtless helps keep costs down. Twice the drives means twice the moving parts, though, and we’re concerned this approach might reduce long-term reliability.

Whether or not the size is justified, we’re afraid we felt the Iomega looked cold and intrusive on the desk. You can stand it up on its side, but then its small non-detachable rubber feet act as a constant reminder that it’s the wrong way up. We were pleased to find a proper on/off switch at the back, but the single blue LED at the front, which indicates both power and disk activity, looks incongruously tiny and cheap in such an imposing case.

Ergonomics aside, though, it’s very hard to complain about getting a whole terabyte of external storage for just £123. If you want a scratch drive with a huge capacity and don’t care about looks, it’s an excellent deal. Remember, though, that it’s USB-only, and its weight makes it the least portable of this month’s crop.

By PCRro.co.uk

Iomega Desktop Hard Drive User Review:
DESIGN
The Iomega Desktop Hard Drive overall design is pretty slick and the brushed aluminum gives it a very futuristic look. It’s very slim and will fit almost anywhere. You can use it vertically (stand included) but I’d rather use it horizontally.

HEAT
The Iomega Desktop Hard Drive WILL heat up around 40 minutes of use, at least in my case. The aluminum case will not help at all in dispersing the heat, on the contrary, it will sting a bit if you try to lift it while hot. I find that it gets less hot if used vertically.

NOISE
As for the noise factor, other reviews have deemed the Iomega Desktop Hard Drive to be noisy and that it makes clunking noises. It will make some noise, obviously, while working but I find it to be noisier if vertical. So there’s a trade-off between noise and heat based on what I just wrote in the heat factor.

PERFORMANCE
The Iomega Desktop Hard Drive is a total workhorse and I love to beat the hell out of it. I’ve had files going to and from the Iomega Desktop Hard Drive while watching a 600+MB .avi movie and while burning a DVD with files from the hard drive. The movie plays without a hiccup and in my case it makes me wonder how much abuse this baby can take! I’m simply excited to have this toy in my arsenal and I fully recommend it to everyone out there.

MAC EXPERIENCE
I bought the Iomega Desktop Hard Drive to use it with Time Machine and I’m happy to say that I made the right move. TMachine will only use a sector of the HD and will let you upload and download files without any hassle to the rest of the HD… BUT once it has been formatted to be used with a Mac, you won’t be able to use it with Windows. Oh, XP will detect it all right but that’s as far as you’ll get. Luckily I’m less PC-dependent as days go by and don’t rely on the HD to move around files from PC to PC or from PC to Macs for that matter.

By Jonathan Chen

Buy Iomega Desktop Hard Drive