Review: Iomega Prestige 500GB Desktop Hard Drive
Don Bradbury looks at a new contender in the desktop external drive market
| Product | 500GB Prestige Desktop Hard Drive |
|---|---|
| Company | Iomega Inc |
| Web | www.iomega.com |
| Price | £70 incl (1TB version £110 incl) |
| We like | Small; cool running; reasonably quiet; backup software. |
| We don't like | Universal mains adapter's slack fit; rather short stand for the drive. |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements |
External USB drives are getting less expensive all the time, and adding one to your system can pay handsome dividends if you need to store and access lots of large files without clogging up your system drive.
Data backup is a case in point. Large amounts of data are generated by system backups, and there's little point in storing them on your main drive since, if that fails, your backup goes with it. Adding an external drive is the answer, preferably stored away from the computer for added security in case of fire or theft.
This new Iomega drive was physically small by comparison with others we've seen. At 20 x 12 x 3cms, it was half the bulk of the Buffalo DriveStation Combo that we looked at recently. Having said that, the Iomega drive offered only USB 2.0 as data interface, whereas the Buffalo drive offered two Firewire interfaces as well as USB. The extra bulk of the DriveStation probably also contributed to silent running, though this Iomega drive could not be described as noisy.
Both drives featured an on/off switch, and partly because it was so slim, the Iomega drive added a plastic stand on which to balance the vertically oriented device. This short stand was not altogether suitable as it supported only part of the disk length, so that it tended to tip towards one end when the power switch was depressed. Still, it did the job of holding the drive vertical during operation.
The Iomega Prestige also featured a strip activation LED which, we were pleased to see, was visible on the side of the casing adjacent to the connectors.
The Iomega NTFS-formatted disk was identified by Device Manager as a Seagate drive. Running decently quiet, and quite cool, it served its purpose well. Featuring an 8MB cache, it was fast enough for all normal operations to which external storage might be put.
A power supply unit was, of course, in the pack, but it was fitted with a US-style two pin plug for which a Euro-plug universal adapter was supplied. This lead to a rather sloppy connection with the two pin plug, so the first thing was did was replace Iomega's adapter with our own two-to-three pin shaver style adapter which was more solid. The Euro-plug would no doubt be welcome by travellers.
Backup provisions
Iomega continue their allegiance to EMC and their downloadable Retrospect backup software, though only version 2.5. This, we found previously, to be slow and unintuitive to use. It's free, however, and it works, but you might prefer to use your own choice of backup program instead if you have such to hand.
For those who prefer online backup, MozyHome Online backup is provided, the first 2GB of storage being free.
In conclusion
With it's swish brushed metal casing, and it's basic provisions and running features all that might be expected at the price, the Iomega 500GB Prestige Desktop Hard Drive becomes a recommended buy if a USB 2.0 interface is all you need. Within the buying bracket, there are others you might consider, some with alternative data interfaces.
The plastic stand might have been longer for better support of the drive, and the universal mains adapter was considered rather inadequate for UK use, but in all other respects we liked the device and can recommend it.
