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Everything USB>Portable Hard Drives>

Iomega eGo USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive

Revie

Get Iomega eGo USB 3.0 (500GB, blue) for !"#.$$at%ma&on.'om

Get Iomega eGo USB 3.0 (500GB, blue) for !"(.)0at%ma&on.'om *ar+et,la'e

There is no denying that hard dries are the !ings of "ortable #$SS storage% ho&eer,

,ortable hard drivesare either stylish yet deli'ate or ugly totalitarian tan! li!e dei'es that 'an

ta!e a "ounding &ith seemingly nothing in bet&een the t&o etremes. Iomega and their eGoortable line is trying to 'hange this and offer a "ortable drie &hi'h is not only durable but is

also stylish* $dd in a USB 3.0 inter-a'eand on "a"er these dries my +ust be "erfe't for most

situations. oes the eGo 3.0 500GB "ortable hard drie hae &hat it ta!es to im"ress on both thes"eed and durability fronts- et/s find out*

vervie o- the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive

hile it does 'ome in four different 'olour "ossibilities (ruby red, bla'!belt, midnight blue,siler), the eGo 3.0 500GB "ortable hard drie that I &as sent &as the 1#idnight Blue1 ersion.

To me, it/s a dar! metalli' blue &ith siler a''ents and 'alling it midnight anything is a tad

"retentious. 2ne thing &hi'h is not "retentious is the do&n right beefy dimensions of this unit.hile not 3.51 "ortable hard drie large its 5.01 3.541 .1 dimensions ma!es it a handful to

say the least. $ big reason for these etra large dimensions is the "o&er gri" band &hi'h 'omes"re6installed on the eGo ortable. This rubber li!e band 'an and does "rote't the drie fromblunt for'e trauma. Iomega states this drie is good for a foot dro" and it is be'ause of this

band of "rote'tion that it 'an boast su'h im"ressie states. hile I only tested it at 7 feet (as

that/s ho& tall I am) it too! su'h abuse and laughed it off as if nothing had ha""ened*

http://www.everythingusb.com/http://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=280364&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$74.99&sorder=0&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=280364&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$74.99&sorder=0&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=280364&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$74.99&sorder=0&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=300346&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$78.10&sorder=1&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=300346&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$78.10&sorder=1&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=300346&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$78.10&sorder=1&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/superspeed-usb.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=280364&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$74.99&sorder=0&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=280364&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$74.99&sorder=0&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=300346&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$78.10&sorder=1&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=300346&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$78.10&sorder=1&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/superspeed-usb.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/

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Si8e 'om"arison bet&een Iomega eGo USB 3.0, Seagate /ree%gent Go/le Ultra Portable9

a de'! of 'ards.

$s &ith most :.5 "ortable hard dries the only "orts gra'ing the eterior is a &hite a'tiity ;

and a standard mi'ro6USB 3.0 "ort. here it is bus "o&ered you may need to use both USB "ort"lugs on the atta'hed 'able if you "lan on using it on older USB :.0 systems but by the same

to!en you need not &orry about 'arrying around an eternal "o&er bri'! either. To be honest, the

only thing missing from the eterior of the Iomega eGo 3.0 500GB "ortable hard drie &as an

http://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.html

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on$?T same hard

drie as the Go@le ortable*

Iomega eGo USB 3.0 "ortable hard drie houses a Seagate 54006r"m :.51 drie.

$s an aside, one of the most 'ru'ial 'om"onents that ma!e an Iomega eGo "ortable hard drie so

s"e'ial 'an not be seen as it resides inside the 'ase. This 'ru'ial feature is none other thanhard&are based en'ry"tion

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Iomega eGo Portable Drive So-tare vervie

Unli!e most "ortable hard dries, the soft&are &hi'h a''om"anies the Iomega eGo is a'tually'ru'ial to its first time use. u'!ily, it not only 'omes "reloaded on the drie but a'tually sho&s

u" as a se"arate 1?1 drie. The reason for this is be'ause if you 2A/T use and "ro"erly enterthe "ass&ord in the soft&are the a'tual hard drie &ont be een seen. This is of 'ourse be'ausethe soft&are unlo'!s the en'ry"tion and allo&s the data to be a''essed. u'!ily, if you 2A/T

&ant to ta!e adantage of the soft&are features you 'an leae the drie unlo'!ed and from then

on it &ill a't +ust li!e a normal hard drie and sho& u" as soon as you "lug it in. 2r at least thatis the theory. @rom time to time it does mess u" and need to be unlo'!ed again ia the soft&are.

$s I said, its lu'!y the soft&are 'omes "reloaded as other&ise this &ould not be an annoyan'e

but a do&n right BIG @;$CIAG ;$.

hile sim"le, the soft&are does hae a fe& other features su'h as allo&ing you to reset the drie

to fa'tory defaults (though it does erase all the data off it in the "ro'ess), or 'hange the "ass&ord.=ou 'an also hae the soft&are load on start u" of &indo&s, lo'! (or unlo'!) the drie &hen you

eit the soft&are and other li!e minded features. $ll in all it is sim"le, effe'tie and aboe all

else ;$S= to use% or basi'ally is eerything it should be &ith no bloat&are 1alue added1

features ta'!ed on to ma!e it seem more im"ortant than it already is* ets fa'e it this soft&are isim"ortant all by itself and I really 'an not oerstate ho& refreshing it is to see a streamlined "ie'e

of free soft&are.

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Iomega eGo Portable Drive Per-orman'e 1ests

In these tests, the Iomega eGo USB 3.0 "ortable drie &as 'onne'ted to an %s2s U3S USB 3.0

# ada,ter 'ard"lugged into the se'ondary >D7 slot (running in mode) &hi'h 'onforms to

the ?I6; :.0 standard and run through my usual gamut of test. The results of the tests &ere then'om"ared to those of a Seagate Go/le Portable, Seagate Go/le Des+and ioSa-e SoloPro.

The motherboard &as a Gigabyte ;45 ;treme &ith an Intel EF550 uad ?U &ith 4GB of

$#. unning indo&s 746bit Ultimate, all tests &ere run 4 times only best results aresho&n. #ain 2S drie is a Helo'ia"tor 300GB, se'ondary data transfer drie &as a G.S!ill

hoeni D00GB solid state drie "lugged in to a free I? D0 "ort on the motherboard. $ll USB

:.0 tests &ere a''om"lished ia the motherboard/s built in I? D0 USB :.0 'ontroller.

HDta'h Read Per-orman'e

$s is our &ant lets loo! at the arious seuential read "erforman'e 'hara'teristi's of the these

high "erforman'e dries and by etension see &hat the USB 3.0 'ontroller 'ard and interfa'e

does it. To test this, I used the enerable Ta'h ben'hmar!ing "rogram.

http://www.everythingusb.com/asus-u3s6-usb-3.0-sata-3-pci-express-18307.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/asus-u3s6-usb-3.0-sata-3-pci-express-18307.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/asus-u3s6-usb-3.0-sata-3-pci-express-18307.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/iosafe-solopro-external-usb-3.0-hard-drive-20023.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/iosafe-solopro-external-usb-3.0-hard-drive-20023.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/asus-u3s6-usb-3.0-sata-3-pci-express-18307.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/asus-u3s6-usb-3.0-sata-3-pci-express-18307.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/iosafe-solopro-external-usb-3.0-hard-drive-20023.html

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It is obious that the hard&are en'ry"tion does ta!e u" some oerhead and this is &hy the"erforman'e of the Iomega eGo "ortable hard drie is lo&er than that of the Seagate Go/le

,ortable. emember, both use the ea't same hard drie and are using the same interfa'e and"robably the same 'ontroller but Seagate relies on soft&are en'ry"tion and the Iomega is using

$$; en'ry"tion. To my &ay of thin!ing the Iomega/s more se'ure &ay of doing things

is &orth this minor trade6off.

HD12ne Pro 4rite Per-orman'e

Aet u" is seuential &rite s"eed. @or this test, I used Tune ro.

http://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-ultra-portable-drive-19453.html

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2n'e again the Iomega does lag slightly behind that of other "ortable dries (be they :.51 or 3.51based) but the differen'e is not that big nor all that serious. If you ta!e you data se'urity een

semi6seriously this trade6off is one that you &ill be &illing to ma!e. If you are loo!ing for theabsolute fastest "ortable drie solution than any :.51 based o"tion is not going to be your best

solution.

5rystal Dis+*ar+ Per-orman'e Res2lts

hile seuential tests are all &ell and fine they do not een tell half the story. @or a morerounded loo!, let/s loo! at one of my "erennial faourites ?#. $ll tests &ere D00#B in si8e, 5

runs "er test.

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$s &ith the seuential read and &rite tests ?rystal is!#ar! does sho& a minor hit to the"erforman'e of this drie. ith that being said, I truly doubt most &ill noti'e a 'ou"le

megabytes "er se'ond differen'e in "erforman'e unless you are a "o&er user transferringhundreds of Gigabytes a day from it. If you fall into the latter 'ategory you obiously are not

going to be going &ith a :.51 "ortable drie and most li!ely &ill be loo!ing at a 3.67 based 31B

Seagate Des+ty"e model any&ays.

%11 Per-orman'e

Besides ?rystal is!#ar! another great tool for seeing the "o&er 'ure of a gien storage item

(or in this 'ase the effe'ts the 'ontroller board has on it) is $TT2. This is es"e'ially true &hen

you line gra"h the results as I hae done so for you. $ll settings &ere left at their defaults.

http://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-19351.html

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$s e"e'ted the read and &rite "erforman'e 'ure of this drie is slightly lo&er than that of

others. This really doesn/t tell us anything ne& as hard&are based en'ry"tion obiously is

introdu'ing a tou'h of oerhead to the euation.

Real 4orld 1ests

hile syntheti's are great for sho&ing the "erforman'e in theori'al terms, nothing beat good old

fashioned em"iri'al data. @or this, I used i'h?o"y and hae bro!en this test u" into t&ose"arate and distin't subtestsJ large file and small file and ea'h test 'onsisting of t&o "arts. art

1$1 &as 'o"ying data to the drie and art 1B1 &as 'o"ying from the drie to a se'ondary

internally atta'hed drie. @or large file testing stage, t&o 4.00GB 'ontiguous $ files &as used

for a total of GB being moe to and from the drie. @or the small file test a folder 'ontaining:45 subfolders &ith a total D0540 files arying in length from :0mb to D!b for a total of 5.00GB

being moed to and from the drie.

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In the real &orld the differen'e is a little larger than I had e"e'ted based on the syntheti'sresults. The differen'e is still not deastatingly huge or anything but you "robably &ill from time

to time noti'e a differen'e bet&een this drie/s "erforman'e and (for eam"le) that of the

Seagate Go/le Portable, but the differen'e &ill be under most 'ir'umstan'es in the se'ond and

not minute range.

4here to B2y8Iomega eGo USB 3.0 (500GB, blue)

Store ri'e $ailability

%ma&on.'om!"#.$$9oest

In sto'!

%ma&on.'om

*ar+et,la'e!"(.)0 2n ba'!order

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5om,US% !((.$$ In sto'!

5D4 5or,oration !($.$$ In sto'!

Iomega !)0$.$$ In sto'!

Re'a,

2erall, there is a lot to li!e &ith the Iomega eGo USB 3.0 as it is as good loo!ing as it is

durable. It also "a'!s in uiet the selling feature &ith its hard&are based en'ry"tion. ith thatbeing said it does suffer in the "erforman'e de"artment be'ause of its relian'e on a slo& Seagate

5400 hard drie. This really is short sighted of Iomega and I really &ish they had o"ted for a

:006r"m drie. If they had done so the "erforman'e issues &ould hae been rendered moot asthe etra horse"o&er of the high "erforman'e :00r"m drie &ould hae mas!ed it 'om"letely.

e'!, at this "oint I "robably &ould hae been raing about ho& this &as the "erfe't 1tri"le

threat1 &ith beauty, brains and "erforman'e.

$s it stands, if you are loo!ing for a :.67 based ,ortable hard drive sol2tionthat 'an ta!e ali'!in/ and !ee" on ti'!in/, then the Iomega may be a good 'hoi'e. This assumes of 'ourse that

you faor durability oer shear "erforman'e. Sadly, if you don/t 'are about en'ry"tion or

ama8ingly aboe aerage durability then you are "robably better off loo!ing else&here. In theend only you 'an de'ide if the Iomega eGo "ortable is right you or not.

eie&ed by %nthony Garland, Te'hni'al ;ditor

http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=6305825&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$88.99&sorder=2&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=6305825&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$88.99&sorder=2&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275005&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$89.99&sorder=3&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275005&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$89.99&sorder=3&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275143&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$109.99&sorder=4&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275143&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$109.99&sorder=4&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlhttp://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlmailto:feedback@everythingusb.com?subject=Iomega%20eGo%20USB%203.0%20Portable%20Hard%20Drive%27s%20Feedbackhttp://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=6305825&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$88.99&sorder=2&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=6305825&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$88.99&sorder=2&ttag=cnet&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275005&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$89.99&sorder=3&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275005&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$89.99&sorder=3&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275143&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$109.99&sorder=4&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5http://offers.cnet.com/redir?tag=lst&pg=1&stype=mplevel_desc&siteId=9&channelid=3000&lop=lst&merId=275143&ontId=3190&pId=34196882&prc=$109.99&sorder=4&ttag=pgrabber&part=everythingusb&fo=5%27http://www.everythingusb.com/portable-hard-drives.htmlmailto:feedback@everythingusb.com?subject=Iomega%20eGo%20USB%203.0%20Portable%20Hard%20Drive%27s%20Feedback