SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » Review: Iomega Bumps Rev to 70GB

September 17, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Review: Iomega Bumps Rev to 70GB

TAGS: SMB Hardware

Iomega came out with the REV drive back in 2004. A somewhat difficult concept at the time. An external hard disk-style enclosure, but with a REV cartridge plugged in instead of a hard disk. The cartridges look like medium-sized tape cartridges. They've got capacities of 35GB and cost about $60 on the street, but the important thing is that their response times are hard disk-styled not tape-drive styled.

Combine that with 90GB capacity if you use compression, Iomega's Backup Pro backup software and network-ability and what Iomega was trying to sell was a sweet little SMB backup device that costs little more than a standard tape drive but doubles as a network hard disk. The world took a bit of time getting used to the idea, but once it did the thing started selling like hot cakes.

But while 35/90GB is pretty good, it's still a mite constrained for SMB storage tasks--especially if you want to use it as a network hard disk device, too. Fortunately, Iomega isn't letting it go at that; they've recently upped the REV to 70GB and were nice enough to send me a sample.

The new drive, the REV 70, has (not surprisingly) a 70GB storage capacity that bumps to about 140GB with compression. The new drive costs between $450 and $500 on the street ($600 list) while its cartridges cost about $65.

Just like the previous model, the REV 70 comes in single-user and server-style versions. Unlike the previous model, Iomega has done away with its in-house backup software and instead has partnered with EMC to bundle Retrospect Express 7.5 with the single-user version. The server version comes with BrightStor ARCserver Backup, and that's definitely the better choice for the SMB set--mainly because you can more easily use that software to run not just the REV drive but any older tape drives you may still be using.

Nevertheless, I used the EMC version. However, before that you've got to install the hardware. That was easy wnough, it's not the USB 2.0 plug-and-play drill that Iomega's advertising leads you to believe. The REV is a unique breed of cat, so Windows needs drivers in order to mount it fully. Without drivers, it might show up as a CD-ROM drive, but you won't be able to write to it--and that's just a maybe. Running the full software intall dumps both the drivers and the EMC software onto your system, though it takes a while for both.

Once intalledd EMC Retrospect 7.5 (home version)had everything you could ask for on the home front: cross platform support (including Linux), various security features (including encryption) and even , and also lets you image a client PC and then make a restore CD off the image--means you can do a bare-metal re-install that covers everything including that user's data right off the CD.

Two things I wasn't able to test, but think are possible is the you can most likely turn the home user version of the REV into a home hard disk and use the Retrospect software to manage backups across your home clients (as long as you install the Retrospect software on all of them). I also think you can choose to use REV 70 with other backup options, including Windows Backup back or even SyncToy, but I haven't tried either of these yet and I'm past due already. Let you guys know the results of that later.

Performance was similar to the REV 35 I looked at several years ago, which is to say fast. It's not quite as fast as a hard disk, but fast enough that you won't mind the difference. Under compression, you're definitely notice a performance lag, but then that's a backup-only operation so who cares?

So the real question is whether the REV makes sense when compared to a standard tape or networked hard disk? Downside, the cost of using a REV (on paper) is more expensive as a backup solution than a networked or server hard disk when used as shared network storage, though it can be about the same or even cheaper than tape depending on what tape solution you're using.

Fortunately, it's not meant to do either, it's meant to do both. For $500 plus another $500 or so in cartridge costs you get the ability to share files across a network during the day and run incremental backups at night--same software, same drive.

Okay, that's still not for everyone, but it does fit well in certain businesses--many of them, in fact. Which is borne out by the fact that Iomega has sold over 1.2 million of the 35GB models since 2004.

REV 70
Iomega
Price: $599 (list, drive); $249 (list, cartridge 4-pak)
Verdict: For an easy small office/SOHO backup and shared storage drive combo, the REV fits perfectly.

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 17, 2006 09:00 PM

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