If you’re looking for a nice stocking stuffer for the tech-guy then Iomega has a good and inexpensive gadget that will fit nicely in a Christmas stocking. Iomega’s eGo Portable Hard Drive is a very affordable USB 3.0 storage device that puts 500gb of storage in your pocket…or Christmas stocking.
There’s a lot of nice things about this storage solution. It comes with USB 3.0 support, which is completely backwards compatible to USB 2.0, but at 3.0 speeds it’s about 10x faster! It doesn’t require a separate power supply so all you have to do is pop it’s cable into your USB port and that’s it. The USB port powers the drive and interfaces it to your computer. It can’t get much more simple than that. It’s a rugged package that can take a lot of jostling in your bag and comes preloaded with software.
The only drawback we saw is that the included drive is only rated at 5400rpm but this is likely to be a tradeoff made to keep the unit cool since it uses passive cooling (no fans). However it’s quiet and for a USB drive it’s still very fast overall.
Conclusion
The eGo is stylish, rugged, and holds a heckuva lot more than any flash drive you’ve got. The price is right ($69.95 MSRP) and it’s ready to go.
- Dimensions: 5.07″ x 3.54″ x .87″
- Weight: 7 oz. (500GB)
- Available color(s): Ruby red, blackbelt, midnight blue, silver
- Available capacities: 320GB, 500GB, 1TB
- Drive type: 2.5″ 5400-rpm SATA drive
- Speed: Undisclosed
- Data Protection: 256-bit AES hardware encryption
- Power source: Bus-powered
- Software bundle: Seagate Manager
- Warranty: Three years
- Released date: August 2010
