With the phenomenal growth of data and a better awareness of the need to back it up, there is always a market for a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. Last I really knew of Iomega was back in the ZIP drive days where they ruled the home storage world. But with EMC bringing their enterprise level experience to the SOHO arena, can it revive this company’s fortunes with the Iomega StorCenter ix2 NAS? Thanks to the good people at Iomega, DigitalReviews gets up close and personal with a 2 Tb edition of the ix2.
First Impressions
For a NAS enclosure housing two 3.5″ (desktop size) hard drives, the Iomega StorCenter ix2 is actually quite remarkable with its compact size. The device has a simple matt black design with an embossed Iomega logo on both sides. The front and rear of the enclosure have vents for temperature control and there is a good level of metal involved in the unit’s quality construction. The unit feels quite heavy and solid for its size.
From an aethestics point of view, the Iomega StorCenter ix2 is not going to win any design awards for its looks. That said and done, a NAS is unlikely to be the centerpiece of your lounge room or a general topic of conversation for most parts. Ironically I think the EMC SANs, which are usually locked away in data centers have a much more appealing fascia.
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The two USB ports can support either additional disk space or printers. For the former it will not be made as part of the RAID group and does not enjoy the same level of hardware redundancy. On the security front, there is an optional encryption based on RSA technology which secures files as they are transferred. |
Specifications
- Length: 200 mm (7.87 in)
- Width: 79 mm (3.12 in)
- Height: 122 mm (4.81 in)
- Weight: 2.1 kg (4.57 lbs)
- Network type: 10/100/1000 Mbps
- USB 2.0 host ports: 2
- RAID level: 0 – JBOD, 1 – Mirroring
- Hard drives: 2 x SATA II
- Print server: Support for 2 USB printers
- Media server: Support for DLNA / uPNP compliant devices (including iTunes, game consoles, security camera and digital picture frames)
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 is available in two size, USD$299.99 for the 1TB or USD$479.99 for the 2TB.
Source: DigitalReviews