InfoTech: Iomega's portable hard drive - fast, secure and robust

During our hunt around the office, we found an old Iomega Zip drive from the days when external drives used a form of removable disk technology. We tried to find a machine to plug it into: nothing produced in recent years has a compatible port, we discovered.

That's because, these days, the RS232 / Parallel port that the drive needs has been superseded in its primary function as a printer port by the ubiquitous USB port. A very old laptop, persuaded to creak into something approximating life and running on Win95, was the only machine with the required port.

USB 1.0 and 2.0 have an unhappy co-existence: a Seagate external drive simply beeps in protest if connected to a USB1.0 port. So that's a pain. Worse, on one machine, the Seagate won't run if plugged into a multi-port USB2.0 extension running from a 2.0 socket. It runs if plugged directly into the socket.

So the news that Iomega has launched a portable hard drive with USB3.0 left us somewhat underwhelmed. In fact, the only reason it got any attention at all was due to the bald fact that it came from Iomega. And in the "old days," Iomega was our favourite response for portable high-capacity (for those days) storage.

We've not seen the new drives yet, but Iomega's statement bodes well - and as a company it is not prone to hyperbole.

USB3.0 - for those that have the sockets - will deliver transfer speeds of up to 10 times those with USB2.0. For those of us who use portable external drives as a matter of course, those transfer times can translate into a considerable saving - especially as data transfer is, usually, the last thing one does before leaving the office because that's when the PC can be most dedicated to doing it (true multi-tasking still being a fiction for the vast majority of PC users). For many users, it might translate into something as brutal as seeing the kids before they go to bed on the last night before a parent goes on a trip.

So, it'll be fast.

Iomega promise that the new drive (and all future developments) will be 100% backward compatible with USB2.0. That is especially important as, over the next few months, all existing models will be upgraded to the new USB3.0 standard.

First to migrate to the new standard will be the eGo 500GB and 1TB capacity drives. Importantly, there will be no price increase in the product. That means that users must be cautious to make sure they are not purchasing old stock.

And getting the new stock is important because there are other new features, too.

First is hardware-based encryption: 256 bit security is standard on the new specification drives.

The second is that the drives have a "drop test" protection from just under seven feet - that, Iomega says, is more than twice the industry average. And why would your drive fall from seven feet? The answer is that that's where overhead bins and storage racks are in trains and aeroplanes.

And for those of us trapped in the USB2.0 dark ages, Iomega has produced adapter cards "to insert into USB2.0 laptop and desktop computers so users can experience native USB3.0 transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second," says the company. The RRP in the USA for the adaptors is USD40.00.

So, where are the downsides?

Well, first, the encryption is for PCs only: by that, the company means machines running Windows. So Mac and Linux users are excluded. That's bad. One of the main user groups of the old Iomega portable data drives, particularly the Jaz with its 1GB disks, were media companies. And many of them they use Macs.

It's small (so are all modern portable drives) being, in form, a 2.5 inch hard drive in a case. That's a security issue for many companies: the drive can be slipped into a wallet which is put in a tray and therefore bypasses security screening. Interestingly, Iomega - along with all other manufacturers of such items - has not thought to include an RFID tag in the case.It would be an obvious and valuable addition to tech - and warn security personnel if someone is using, for example, an unauthorised disk to remove data from a company.

The new drives come with a software bundle:

- 12 months' subs to certain Trend Micro security products for PC or Mac (giggles at irony)

- Roxio back up (also for Windows and Mac machines)

- the client software for a paid-for online back up service (Win & Mac)

- A simple Iomega file back up program

- v.Clone. The name is trademarked, the concept is old but not generally available in the consumer market. v.Clone "an Iomega exclusive, captures a complete virtual image of your PC -- including the operating system, all applications, your settings, and all your files to your Iomega hard drive. Access the cloned copy and use it seamlessly on another computer, just as if you're working from your own PC." Not Mac or Linux machines.

Hm..... We just had to replace a motherboard in a desktop PC running WinXP Pro. That meant using a different CPU. The hard disk, however, remained untouched. Windows and Adobe's FlashPaper 2 refused to recognise that they were authorised and registered copies and the usual nightmare of trying to get both products through their registration process ensued. It will be interesting to see whether Iomega has addressed the challenge of draconian "security" on software products in its cloning process.

The drives have a three year "limited warranty." And there is a qualification on the drop test:

"Drop Guard(TM) Xtreme utilizes the rubberized Iomega Power Grip Band, which cushions the drive for added protection from drops of up to 7 feet on to industrial carpet; however, Drop Guard(TM) Xtreme does not guarantee data will not be lost."