Jan

Iomega 500GB External Hard Drive - Review

Written by Neil Galloway

If you are running short of hard drive space, one of the best options is to purchase an external hard drive. That is what I did when I saw the Iomega 500GB external hard drive go on sale.

It is a 500GB drive that is available from a lot of different retailers. I purchased mine for CA$119 during Dell's Days of Deals.

Why I Purchased The Iomega 500GB Hard Drive

500 GB Size

I want a decent size drive to store pictures and video on. 500GB is a big shot in the arm for my storage capacity.

Price

I paid CA$119, which is the same as the US dollar right now. That is less than 24 cents per GB.

USB Connection

Any computer built in the last 7 or 8 years will have these connectors on them. I can hook my external drive up to anyone's computer. Firewire or eSata are faster, but not everyone has them.

Fanless

This was the big one. This hard drive is very, very quiet. Unless the hard drive is really working, you do not even hear a noise.

Physical Size

It is quite compact and my is comes with a stand so you can stand it up on its side. You could sit it on a shelf like a book if you wanted so it takes up very little desk space if you want it there.

What I Don't Like About the Iomega 500 GB External Hard Drive

Blue LED Light

There is a blue led light on the front that is a little too bright and can be distracting. I usually point my hard drive the other direction or place something in front of the light so that is doesn't glare off of a wall.

No Network Connection

The next hard drive I buy will have an network connection. This lets you plug it into your router and the hard drive is viewable by all the computers in the network without doing any special configuration. It also saves on space as the drive can be placed in a closet or the basement away from everything else.

Other Connections

You can get drives that have firewire as well as USB. This just gives you more options for connecting if you have them.

How the Iomega External Drive Works

If you have not owned an external drive before, here is how it works. The hard drive is approximately the size of an old VHS video tape (the drive would be a bit smaller). It has its own power cord and connects to your computer via a USB cable. When you plug it in and turn it on, the computer will recognize it as a mass storage device and it will show up as another drive on your computer.

The data transfer speed depends on your USB ports on the computer. USB 2.0 is very fast. I have USB 1.1 and you will notice it takes a bit of time to copy a large file across. That being said, I can watch a high definition video file across a USB 1.1 connected hard drive. If you're computer was purchased within the last 3 years I would say you have USB 2.0.

Features

USB 2.0
Fanless (doesn't make much noise)
500 GB drive
One Year Warranty
Pre-formatted with FAT32 (should work out of the box with most computers)
7200RPM (this is fast, but you will be limited by the USB connection anyways)
8MB Cache
SATA hard drive

Check out the Iomega 500 GB External Drive product page.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates. Only one email a day and only if there was a new post.

Email this article

Category: Computers

Original Post: Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

8 Comments

Bigcheap Says:
2010-04-17 05:23:59
Would it be possible to run a laptop of an external hard drive? I'm planning on getting a new external hard drive (1TB), and just was wondering if it is possible to copy everything from my C drive to the external drive.

Genuine BD018635CC Says:
2010-09-14 01:29:09
Nice page.I liked it.For better online shopping check http://www.allpartssource.com/index.php/hard-drives/hard-drives-w-tray/hp-compaq-genuine-bd07264546-72-8gb-10000rpm-ultra-160-wide-scsi-80pin-3-5inch-hard-drive-with-tray-new-bulk-pack-in-stock.html.It will be launch soon.

Genuine BD018635CC Says:
2010-09-18 22:44:15
Nice page.If anyone wants to buy computer products or any kind of electronic equipments pls check http://www.allpartssource.com/index.php/dell-genuine-4r318-146gb-10000rpm-ultra-320-hot-plug-scsi-80pin-3-5inch-hard-drive-new-bulk-in-stock.html.It will be launch soon.Best wishes to you

gregor Says:
2010-09-20 05:31:19
Thanks for the nice post.I liked it.If anyone need hard drive or any computer parts check http://www.allpartssource.com/index.php/maxtor-genuine-5a320j0-320gb-5400rpm-ata-133-40pin-3-5inch-internal-hard-drive-new-bulk-pack-in-stock.html.It will be launch soon.Best wishes to you.

Richardo Areson Says:
2010-10-21 15:16:15
Thanks for the nice post.I liked it.If anyone need hard drive or any computer parts check

http://www.allpartssource.com/index.php/hard-drives.html

Anonymous Says:
2010-11-18 11:47:37
If you'd like to save time, money, and yourself from insane frustration, do not buy IOMEGA:
1...Their support is unprepared and unqualified, be it under warranty or not. You call under warranty for hours, and they have no clue how to resolve it, then ask you to pay for data recovery.
2...Their product is like a lottery; you could be one in a billion having no issues with your product.
3...The information on troubleshooting is inexistent and misleading at best (i.e., "you need a firmware, click here to download" = page doesn't exist).
4...Pay $50 for out of warranty because time passed under warranty without a solution, and you'll get the same: either nothing or have your storage device shipped with your information to someone that you evidently cannot trust.
5...GOOD LUCK to all of you taking the risk; you will need it.

MA Says:
2011-01-05 11:27:30
The worst removal hard drive is IOMEGA, plus if you have a problem with your drive as I did after a few weeks, they replaced it with a reconditioned drive, which only comes with a 90 day warranty. I would recommend that you go with seagate.

Fernando Says:
2011-05-04 21:44:23
Amen to that just bought the blackbelt and after putting some of my files I cannot access it any more. Lucky for me no important documents was tranfered to the hardrive. I wonder what would some of you guys recommend.