External Hard Drive on Sale: Iomega Prestige 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 34474
Save: $50.00 (25%)
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By Fishstick - A few things to consider when buying this drive.
First, unlike many externals on the market, this one does not use the USB port for power. You must plug in a wall wart. That's OK with me, since my house current is more reliable and predictable than USB power, but be advised. The ON/OFF switch is a nice feature. It is quiet.
Second, about the "free" software: It's not free; nothing is. THe cost is built in to the price of the hardware. Whether you elect to use it is your business. The good news is that installing the backup software--in my case, it was Retrospect Express HD v. 2.5 for Windows--is optional. It's not loaded onto the drive itself, so you don't have to install it. The bad news is that you may not like it if you do install it. There have been quite a few problems. The software will install a startup program that runs when you boot up and can't be removed or opted out of. I uninstalled the software itself, but the startup program remains and EMC tech support can't tell me how to get rid of it.
It will also establish an internet connnection to the Mozy Home online backup service. You cannot opt out of this during installation either. And why would you want online backup if you've just bought a new external? If, like me, you don't appreciate software creating unwanted startup programs and net connections on your machine, you may want to avoid Retrospect. I just use MS Backup. It's not the slickest ap but it does the job, it behaves itself, and you probably already have it on your Windows machine.
By Big Sesame Seed - Great 1 TB drive. Extremely cheap, given the capacity, and not at the cost of reliability, it seems.
It's a bit slower than I thought it would be, probably because I expected it to be somewhat closer to the "max speed" of a USB 2.0 device (an unrealistic expectation in retrospect). Oh well. I usually get speeds anywhere from 1 MB/s to 13 MB/s when transferring to my high end PC (8 MB/s seems the average speed). The cache size of the hard drive is also not too big, around 8 MB.
Still, it's not really a big deal though unless you plan on transferring large files very often. I personally use the external hard drive for archival-- putting things away that need to be safe but are otherwise rarely accessed. It serves this purpose well.
The drive is very stylish. The aluminum frame looks very nice and appropriate next to your next gen aluminum macbook and is good at dissipating heat. You'll be surprised how cold the drive feels when you first remove it from the box.
The hard drive is essentially silent aside from the startup, when it gives a "whirrr click!" When transfer begins, you'll sometimes hear some "thwacks" but they stop quickly. Basically, it shouldn't bother most people.
Oh, by the way, the free backup software that comes with the disk is terrible, don't use it.
This is a good drive overall, especially when you compare the price to the capacity. If you are not in need of a high performance external hard drive (at the time of this writing, such a drive would include a 32 MB cache and Firewire), but a dirt cheap, big, reliable solution, then this could be it. Just don't buy too many. USB 3.0 is coming out in a year or so.
It's a bit slower than I thought it would be, probably because I expected it to be somewhat closer to the "max speed" of a USB 2.0 device (an unrealistic expectation in retrospect). Oh well. I usually get speeds anywhere from 1 MB/s to 13 MB/s when transferring to my high end PC (8 MB/s seems the average speed). The cache size of the hard drive is also not too big, around 8 MB.
Still, it's not really a big deal though unless you plan on transferring large files very often. I personally use the external hard drive for archival-- putting things away that need to be safe but are otherwise rarely accessed. It serves this purpose well.
The drive is very stylish. The aluminum frame looks very nice and appropriate next to your next gen aluminum macbook and is good at dissipating heat. You'll be surprised how cold the drive feels when you first remove it from the box.
The hard drive is essentially silent aside from the startup, when it gives a "whirrr click!" When transfer begins, you'll sometimes hear some "thwacks" but they stop quickly. Basically, it shouldn't bother most people.
Oh, by the way, the free backup software that comes with the disk is terrible, don't use it.
This is a good drive overall, especially when you compare the price to the capacity. If you are not in need of a high performance external hard drive (at the time of this writing, such a drive would include a 32 MB cache and Firewire), but a dirt cheap, big, reliable solution, then this could be it. Just don't buy too many. USB 3.0 is coming out in a year or so.
By S. Roper "rope" (Logan, Utah United States) - I have used this 1 TB hard drive for about 3 weeks with no major complaint. It was a simple plug and play device that immediately showed up on my device manager and began accepting data. I have had good luck with Iomega portable drives and decided to give this drive a try, and I am glad I did.
The bonus was that the cost is similar to drives that only have half the amount of storage. I use this primarily to store music and dvd back ups. Transfer is nice and the addition of the manual on/off switch was great for me as I don't need it to be on every time my computer is on. My only complaint is that the provided usb cable and power cord were far too short and both required extensions to reach the outlet and computer.
The bonus was that the cost is similar to drives that only have half the amount of storage. I use this primarily to store music and dvd back ups. Transfer is nice and the addition of the manual on/off switch was great for me as I don't need it to be on every time my computer is on. My only complaint is that the provided usb cable and power cord were far too short and both required extensions to reach the outlet and computer.
