Customer Reviews

Iomega eGo USB 2.0 320 GB Rugged Portable Hard Drive (Ruby Red)

5 star:		(128)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

This is my third Iomega. First was a "Silver Portable" 40GB drive. Ran perfectly for over a year and I gave it to my son so he could finally back up his WinXP system. Then I bought a 120GB USB/Firewire "Silver Portable" and it ran perfectly for over a year and was just retired to my backup computer so I could buy a larger one, my first Iomega that's not a "Silver Portable".

If you've read complaints throughout Amazon about the Western Digital and Maxtor and others regarding some very important flaws like running noisy, breaking in a few months, and not getting enough power from the USB port, then do consider this one. This drive runs very quietly and only draws around 100mA from a standard 500mA USB port.

You've probably read that it's important with Windows XP to format your USB hard drive using the NTFS file system and then set it in device manager's "Policies" tab to "optimize for performance". That's quite true and worth mentioning. You'll get best speed this way and really don't lose anything except compatibility with Windows 95, 98 and ME. What are they, you ask? ;>) Also, the drive comes with an 8MB cache which helps give it such fine performance.

Comparing this drive to my other Iomega Silver Portables, it's supposed to be more shock resistant but I don't plan to ever test that. On the negative side it is larger and cannot be placed in a shirt pocket like the others. It's just a bit longer, wider and heavier - no problem at all though for a brief case, a laptop's accessory compartment, or even a small woman's purse. It runs a bit warmer also. Not hot at all but I'm just spoiled by the other Iomegas which run cooler. It does not have rubber feet but is not especially slippery either. I'm more comfortable with things like this by placing them atop a piece of Rubbermaid non-skid rubberized shelfing material, cut to fit, but that may be overkill.

From the other reviews I've read including Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, LaCie and some others, there didn't seem to be another manufacturer that I would have faith in. Not to demean this drive at all, but if I were to buy it again or buy another for myself, I would definitely consider another "Silver Portable" for its compactness, lower temperature, and ridiculously low power draw from the USB port. At this writing, they are still available on Amazon but will be selling out in the near future. They are:

1. Model 33634 - USB/Firewire 120GB for $100 (I have this one already)
2. Model 33600 - USB 160GB for $80.

Finally, software. The drive comes with a license for some Iomega licensed backup software. Backup software is very difficult to trust, and usually you don't learn how competent it is until your hard drive fails or some virus eats you alive. Crunch time is a bit late to be disappointed by your backup software. I very strongly encourage you to take a hard look at Acronis True Image software. I have it as do some friends and it doesn't disappoint. Even works on a PC with RAID1 hard drives, if that means anything to you. Probably the only program for PCs that does. It even comes with a bootable CD version which runs slower doing the backup than the installed version, but can be very convenient.

I've run dry and this review has run long. Thanks for reading. Hope I've been helpful

Regards ... Sam

(Last paragraph added Jan. 14, 2008.)
I took a close look at about 10-12 external drives on the Internet, comparing capacities, dimensions and weights and looks. Yes, looks were important to me because I intended the drive for travel purposes. After a business associate had his notebook stolen in the Hong Kong airport I decided that my notebook would never again contain my entire 'business office' again. I wanted a drive that I could put in my shirt, coat or pants pocket whenever leaving my hotel room, and leave only my notebook with the O/S and applications on it. You can move your Outlook.pst file, your Favorites from IE, anything you want, onto the external drive by right-click/drag/move these (and other) O/S folders to another location of your choosing. In terms of data files I decided to keep only my iTunes system on Drive C: and I put all other data files on the external drive. When traveling I keep the drive on my person at all times. If the notebook goes in the overhead compartment the portable drive stays in my pocket. Before leaving home for any kind of trip I first copy everything from the portable external drive onto a desktop external so that I lose nothing much if my traveling drive meets with disaster. I also copy the entire iTunes system from drive C: to the desktop external.
So, I really needed and wanted a small, light and good looking external drive that would not need external power, thereby available for use at any time. The 160GB Ego USB 2.0 by iomega fits the bill in spades. It's very light, looks like a million, no boxy sharp corners like all the rest, and is advertised as having special shock protection in case of being dropped. I'm not planning to do any end-user testing to prove this point. My wholehearted recommendation for this drive.
One more reminder for backups: you can leave the desktop backup at home when you travel, but when you return take the backup out of the house. Take the backup either to the office, or your detached garage, or some other off-premises location. A backup sitting next to your original data is protection only against hard disk failure. Other calamaties like a fire, or theft, requires that the two be separated a good distance. Hey, stuff happens.
Now the follow-up. I will keep it short. The first Iomega 160 Gig. drive failed after a month, went back for factory repair and it failed again shortly thereafter. Iomega replaced it and the second drive failed a few weeks later. I gave up on it, bought a Stor-It 320 Gig. (also red and pocketable, from pexagontech.com), and it has been performing flawlessly for over a year.

I was looking for a portable hard drive to replace the 5GB model I bought a couple years ago. I need to transfer large stereo audio files between my work and home studios and the earlier one was no longer cutting it. This Iomega drive is perfect, and only about $10 more than I paid for the 5GB (which was a bargain at the time)!
The only small drawback is that it requires two USB connections to make sure that it has adequate power. The hard drives I've been connecting to so far have had two open slots available, but just to make sure I went out and bought a small 4-1 USB Hub so I wouldn't be caught flat-footed. My co-workers all really like the drive, and a couple intend to get their own, but their first reaction is that it's a whiskey flask!

After researching portable Hard Drives for about a month and comparing drives from the likes of Toshiba, Seagate & Western Digital, I decided on this drive mostly because of the review I read on cnet.com.

The drive is super fast at writing files and is very easy to use.

I also purchased the Small External HD Case Black to hold and protect the drive when not in use. The two were made for each other!

One point I feel I must mention is that if you're using Windows you MUST re-format the drive. The drive comes standard formatted to FAT32 which basically means it can be used on Macs and PCs. However, for it to function at a top-notch level with Windows, you must format it to NTFS format. For example, on my first day of using it I thought something was wrong with my drive as every now and then it would cut out as though it had been unplugged. After taking a look at the online manual on the Iomega website I realized it needed to be formatted to NTFS to really work to its full potential.

The Iomega website gives easy and straight forward advice on how to do this. It would have been nice for Iomega to ensure that people know this right away however. The drive comes with a quick-start guide that basically just says "plug it in and start writing files" and it doesn't even suggest that you should format the drive if using Windows. However in the online manual on the Iomega website, re-formatting it for Windows users is suggested right away.

In closing, this drive is fast, well priced, and, of course super stylish. It has been shown to be a top performer in independent reviews, but, if you're using Windows, don't forget to re-format it!

This drive ships with a "Y" cable, a second USB connector on a six-inch pigtail off the cable, to enable plugging into a second USB port for sufficient power (apparently drive spinup requires more than the 500mA USB spec). Neither an aluminum PowerBook G4 (1.67GHz model) nor a white iMac G5 (1.8GHz model) will mount the drive from just the main USB connector. So on desktop Macs you'll need to use 2 USB ports. Since the 6" pigtail connector will not reach both USB ports on opposite sides of a PowerBook or MacBook Pro, it requires use of either a powered hub or supplemental power supply (available from Iomega for $20, not shipped with the drive), either of which somewhat defeats the portability feature. A Firewire drive may be a better option, but the Iomega USB/Firewire drive cost significantly more.

This portable hard drive is cool looking and works great. Amazing you can fit 160 GB in such a small device. Would definitely recommend purchasing a carrying case to protect it when transporting. A slight drawback - needs to use 2 (two) USB plugs to function properly since it needs more power than most USB "keychain" or "thumb" flash memory drives. Overall is a great solution for backing up your desk top - definitely beats burning DVDs for back up that take forever.

I have purchased a 160 GB drive from Amazon, it was delivered FREE and on time. I opened the package and excited to see the drive so elegant. I then formatted it to NTFS, so as to copy large files over 2 GB. The formatting took a while to complete.

My wife accidentally dropped it on the carpet from 6-8 feet. I just thought I lost the drive, but then after a while I hooked it up back to the computer and Voila!!!! and it works and continues to do so even now.

Truly IOmega.

First of all, I want to mention that the specs listed at Amazon are not correct for this drive. I was concerned when I saw the dimensions that I wouldn't find a case to fit it. Turns out the actual size for this drive, as listed at Iomega (and about every other site that lists this product) is: .75" x 3.5" x 5.25" (L x W x H) and is .48 lbs.

The drive itself is stylish and well made. It's got a nice feel to it and definitely seems rugged. My biggest complaint about this drive is the fact that I have to use both USB connectors to power it on my laptop (MacBook) and on my desktop (G5) which makes it really inconvenient. At least on my laptop, I have two ports handy. On the desktop, there is just the one free on the front. I can plug it into the ports on my Apple cinema display, but again, it's inconvenient. I'm considering buying a hub to help with the port availability issue, but I'm afraid that it will need to be a powered hub in order to power this Hard Drive. That means more cords and hassle. I'm also considering purchasing the AC adapter available for the drive at the Iomega site.

I'm also having issues with file name length and format. I'm guessing I need to reformat the drive, because when I copy certain files from my internal hard drive, I get error messages that some files can't copy because the names are too long or they contain invalid characters, such as the slash symbol (/). It's frustrating and annoying. I really don't want to have to rename files especially since this is supposed to be Mac compatible, yet appears to have issues with Mac file naming.

If you're looking for the most convenient option for a portable hard drive, this is not for you. It looks nice, but has some pretty strong drawbacks.

This is a nice little external hard drive -- compact, stylish, rugged, and quiet in operation. I am deducting two stars, however, because of the backup software Iomega provides. First there is NO software disk in the package. You have to download it. If you have dial-up internet, figure the download will tie up your phone line for six hours or more. Yuck. Second, I find that backup software seems to bog down a PC, both with Windows 98 and XP, interfering with screen savers and making system shutdowns a ten-minute battle of the wills. I recommend, therefore, that you turn the automatic backup off and backup manually once a day or as needed.

WARNING: When things go wrong, Iomega isn't going to help you. This drive got so many good reviews that I was excited to get it. The drive worked great out of the box with the Retrospect software. I got 2 weekly back-ups and then the drive died. I was about to return it for warranty replacement, but then my computer's hard drive died, too (THE WHOLE REASON FOR HAVING A BACKUP). I contacted Iomega regarding their data recovery service. I asked if data recovery was covered under warranty since it was THEIR product that I am trying to recover data from. They told me that I first have to send the drive to the warranty department. After that, their data recovery fee starts at $700. Wow, what service! And to think, I bought thousands of Zip disks for my clients in the 90's. I wish I never helped this company grow in the first place. I'll be going back to LaCie!