Iomega Portable Hard Drive, FireWire 400/USB 2.0, 160GB - 33749
See it at Amazon.com for $84.99Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Works with my MacBook Pro over Firewire just fine
My biggest worry in ordering this product was whether it would work without an additional power source (e.g., USB) over Firewire. Some reviews of other capacity Iomega drives had mentioned this as an issue with their computers.
I have the 15" 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro and it powers this drive just fine over the Firewire port, even when the MacBook Pro is running off battery.
The other question I had was whether the drive came with cables--it does, both a USB and a Firewire cable are included.
The included Firewire cable is obscenely long (3 or 4') to use on a lap tray on an airplane, so I will shop around for a 1' cable.
I cannot comment on the reliability, but the speed seems reasonable for a laptop drive, and it works for what I need. The Iomega name does not ring the sound of quality in my ear (having had a number of Zip drives in the day), but I figured I'd take the chance. So far so good!
(5 out of 5)Iomega FW/USB Mini 160 GB HD
I purchased this item about 4 months ago! It has been really great! I use it with my 2006 Model Apple 17" PowerBook G4. I take a lot of pictures with my 12 Megapixel Canon 5D and I'm running out of space even with the original 120 GB hard drive of this fine Laptop computer.
*** What I Like about it (PROS)
1. Requires no power adapter or AC Cable
2. Firewire works fine with some computers where the standard USB does not provide sufficient power
3. Includes the $20 double USB cable for computers like mine that does not provide enough USB power
4. It's silver and a prefect match for Apple PowerBook and MacBook Pro computers
5. Drive is bootable with a Mac, so you can install another operating system (I run Leopard 10.51 from the computer internal HD, and Tiger 10.4.11 from this External Drive
6. Heavy duty Firewire cable.
7. Nice Blue light that shows Drive activity.
*** What I Don't Like about it (CONS)
NONE or perhaps FW cable is a bit too long.
I originally purchased the WD Passport 120 GB Drive, but using it was a problem. It never worked with the above mentioned Laptop without additional power. I used a powered USB hub and connected the Western Digital Passport to it to make it work. Although this drive has the same issue if used with a USB cord (mini to Standard), this IOMEGA provides 2 solutions to this problem: 1) it provides the double USB cable that should have been included with the WD Passport and wasn't, and 2) it works fine when you use the FireWire Connection. Problem solved and I'm happy with this product.
(2 out of 5)Has some shortcomings
I'm sure the product is fine as far as the disk is concerned, no problems so far.
However I chose this one because of the firewire, not realizing that my laptop has a non-powered firewire port. Didn't know the distinction as I've never really used firewire to any extent. That much is my fault. Read up on firewire at wikipedia before you choose a firewire product and check the ports on the equipment to which you intent to connect it.
However, I have a couple of problems with this product. The selector switch on top protrudes and seems fragile. If it had come with a padded sleeve like my old 20gb pocketec it would have been a better deal. There's really no excuse for a product like this not to come with a padded sleeve to protect it.
Going again, I would choose this product.
(5 out of 5)A superb & svelte FireWire drive
I wanted a portable FireWire drive to implement TimeMachine backup on my laptop. This Iomega unit has worked flawlessly out of the box.
I'm not a fan of USB-only drives, as they use up two USB ports (one for data, the other for power); it doesn't help that on the MacBook Pro there's one USB port on either side of the unit. With a FireWire drive, the USB ports can be used for other devices.
The Iomega drive is much more stylish than the product images show. The top and bottom have an anodized aluminum finish similar to that of the MacBook Pro; lengthwise, the sides are rippled and the ends have white plastic caps.
I hope to get several years' use of the drive but only time will tell.
This is the first Iomega product I purchased since the days of the notoriously unreliable Zip drives I'm glad to see that Iomega has (seemingly) bounced back from that era. Well, except that you have to pay $25 for any technical phone support...
Note to Mac users: Remember to reformat the drive before syncing with TimeMachine.
(5 out of 5)Exactly as advertised
It will take me longer to write this brief review than it did to connect the drive to a USB port on the BookEndz dock attached to my MacBook and begin backing up the hard drive with SuperDuper. To somebody whose first computer was an IBM Convertible in the 1980s, the simplicity of today's technology never ceases to be amazing. The drive has performed flawlessly for more than a month, running 18-plus hours daily, seven days a week. The only improvement would be the addition some sort of protective slip case so I could carry the drive on client visits instead of lugging the laptop.