[Macworld]

Post your comments for Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition 1TB here

[bastion]

"At $200 (and lower if you shop online), the BlackBelt can go for as much as 20 cents per gigabyte. Compared to other drives like the G-Drive 500GB, Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB, and CalDigit AV, that’s about the average you’d expect, and perhaps even a tad on the pricey side."

A tad. You can get a 2TB USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA drive from a reputable vendor for under $200 now. Not as portable and no rubber bumper, but if you don't need those things....

[Motivated]

I just walked in the door from dealing with my failed Iomega eGo drive. I'm traveling in Austria which makes the challenge of solving computer problems a bit more acute. My drive appears to be identical (3 input), but does not have the rubber clamp. The first problem I had is that the sheetmetal cover began lifting at the corners I think the first day I bought it. This was fortunate because it told me of the cheap construction and I just never trusted the drive enough to put unbackedup info on it. Fast forward 9 months to this week and the drive mysteriously unboots itself during a file copy to my MBA and then refused to mount despite my efforts with Disk Repair. I tried on a few computers (Windows and Ubuntu), no luck. I got this diagnosed locally that the electronics were the culprit, not the drive, and bought a replacement enclosure. Still would not mount on my MBA, but would mount on Ubuntu somehow - I don't know enough German to know how the tech did this. So, I bought a replacement drive and had the 400Gb of movies, music, etc. copied. Now I'm a happy owner of a much smaller, much more rugged (though USB only) drive.

Granted this is just my single experience, so I would only suggest that before you buy this drive that you evaluate the durability even if just by opening the box. Or, buy a similar and I think much more robust drive from OWC.

[DVA_Airwolf]

I'm a huge fan of the eGo drives, however one just let me down with its dicky Firewire 800 port (only works on FW400 now) which I was annoyed about.

I've been using them all with old LaCie "Rugged" (all the LaCie drives failed quickly) orange casings on them, so great minds think alike and eGo finally have their own version.

Hopefully their Firewire hardware will have improved. I'm sure I'll be adding one very soon to my collection.

[elroth]

bastion, on 09 February 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

"At $200 (and lower if you shop online), the BlackBelt can go for as much as 20 cents per gigabyte. Compared to other drives like the G-Drive 500GB, Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB, and CalDigit AV, that’s about the average you’d expect, and perhaps even a tad on the pricey side."

A tad. You can get a 2TB USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA drive from a reputable vendor for under $200 now. Not as portable and no rubber bumper, but if you don't need those things....

You can't compare a portable drive to a non-portable drive. The portable drives are more expensive because, well, they're portable - meaning small. They don't perform as well as desktop drives, and they cost more.

[bastion]

elroth, on 13 February 2011 - 07:51 PM, said:

bastion, on 09 February 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

"At $200 (and lower if you shop online), the BlackBelt can go for as much as 20 cents per gigabyte. Compared to other drives like the G-Drive 500GB, Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB, and CalDigit AV, that’s about the average you’d expect, and perhaps even a tad on the pricey side."

A tad. You can get a 2TB USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA drive from a reputable vendor for under $200 now. Not as portable and no rubber bumper, but if you don't need those things....

You can't compare a portable drive to a non-portable drive. The portable drives are more expensive because, well, they're portable - meaning small. They don't perform as well as desktop drives, and they cost more.

I acknowledged the portability as a salient feature. But you're paying a lot for it; it's not really *that* much smaller than modern 3.5" enclosures.

[justjim]

Hmmm. The "to see our complete list of benchmark test results, check here" link - to http://edit-staging....etestdrive.html - says "can't find the server at edit-staging.macworld.com". Tsk!

Anyone have suggestions for where to see substantive comparisons of 2.5" external/backup disks? ESPECIALLY their reliability over time (as opposed to merely in their first few weeks)?

In looking at the customer ratings on NewEgg, I have OFTEN found - and been put-off by - the portion of responses that report failure after days or weeks, or even only a few months. Backup disks need to last for more than mere months, if they are to be used as ... well ... backups!

[Bach]

It sure would be nice if MacWorld would standardize their test procedures, just try to compare the Iomega to the OWC Mercury Elite and you'll see what I mean.
Come on people!

[ChanGonzalez]

bastion, on 09 February 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

"At $200 (and lower if you shop online), the BlackBelt can go for as much as 20 cents per gigabyte. Compared to other drives like the G-Drive 500GB, Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB, and CalDigit AV, that’s about the average you’d expect, and perhaps even a tad on the pricey side."

A tad. You can get a 2TB USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA drive from a reputable vendor for under $200 now. Not as portable and no rubber bumper, but if you don't need those things....

Where can i find those prices $200 and lower