Iomega External Drives To Get USB 3.0 At No Extra Cost

Iomega has announced plans to shift all of their external hard-drives from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0, with no change in pricing and extra ruggedness thrown in.  Starting with the eGo range – which will all get USB 3.0 connectivity by the end of October – and then looking to the Prestige and other lines in Q1 2011, Iomega will also be adding in 256-bit AES hardware encryption; the eGo drives will be capable of withstanding up to 7ft drops, which the company reckons is twice what rivals can manage.

They'll also be bundled with Iomega's QuikProtect and v.Clone apps, together with a 12-month license for Trend Micro's Internet Security suite.  Since USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0, owners with an eye on future upgrades will still be able to use the drives with their existing machines.

We asked Iomega's Jonathan Huberman why the company had seemingly bypassed eSATA and gone straight to USB 3.0, and he blamed industry-wide low sales of drives using the eSATA interface for the decision.  Iomega does offer dual-interface USB 2.0/eSATA models, but with the faster port generally not supplying enough power for portable external drives, consumer take-up has been poor.

Our other question regarded Apple, and the company's apparent reluctance to step up to USB 3.0 even in their most recent desktop model refresh.  All Huberman would say was that the Cupertino company's delay was "interesting", and that he wouldn't be surprised if they moved to USB 3.0 in Q1 2011; however, he also pointed out that Apple tend to keep their roadmap cards close to their chest.  Right now, Iomega offer various Mac-centric USB 2.0/FireWire combo drives, but they plan to update these to USB 3.0/FireWire so that, when Apple starts selling machines with the faster port, owners will be ready.

Currently the Iomega eGo drives have MRSPs of $114 for the 500GB model and $189 for the 1TB model (though street prices are less).

Press Release:

Iomega Sets the Market Standard for Portable Hard Drives – First to Offer New SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Models at USB 2.0 Prices!

Award-Winning Premium eGo Portable Hard Drive Line First to Feature All USB 3.0 Models with Hardware Encryption And Industry-Leading Ruggedness, Too

SAN DIEGO, August 24, 2010 – Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a leading innovator in digital protection solutions for consumers and small and medium businesses, is excited to announce that it is moving to the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface for all Iomega USB 2.0 portable hard drives, beginning with the award-winning line of Iomega® eGo™ Portable Hard Drives. The new all-USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives will feature hardware encryption and super toughness, too, thanks to a drop spec twice the industry average – all at USB 2.0 product prices. This market-leading move continues Iomega's tradition of technology leadership.

"As a market leader in external hard drive solutions, Iomega is proud to be the first to move towards an all USB 3.0 portable hard drive lineup – and at no extra price premium to our customers," said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega Corporation and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "With a super fast USB 3.0 interface delivering speeds of up to 10 times that of USB 2.0, super tough with a 7-foot drop spec that's twice the industry average and super secure with AES 256 hardware encryption, Iomega's eGo Portable Hard Drives will be the premium must-have portable storage product. Factor in our bundled software Protection Suite with popular titles such as Iomega's QuikProtect, v.Clone and Trend Micro's Internet Security, and that makes Iomega's USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives an exceptional premium solution at the same price as most entry level basic USB 2.0 products."

USB 3.0 Transition Timeline for Iomega Portable Hard Drives

Iomega plans to move all eGo Portable Hard Drives in 500GB* and 1TB** capacities to the new USB 3.0 interface by early October. Totally compatible will all USB 2.0 computers, the new USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives will include Iomega's industry-leading Drop Guard™ Xtreme, which provides added protection from drops of nearly seven feet or twice the industry average***.

In the first quarter of 2011, Iomega plans to move the Iomega® Prestige Compact Portable Hard Drive line to USB 3.0 on all models. Shortly thereafter, Iomega will move the rest of its portable external hard drive models to the USB 3.0 interface.

Perfect for slipping into a laptop bag or pocket, all of Iomega's 2.5-inch portable hard drives are host powered, requiring no external power supply beyond the power provided through the USB bus on a personal computer, laptop or netbook. Iomega's new USB 3.0 portable hard drives are completely backward compatible with personal computers and other devices that only have USB 2.0 ports. Iomega offers USB 3.0 adapter cards (sold separately) to insert into USB 2.0 laptop and desktop computers so users can experience native USB 3.0 transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second.

More Than Just a Portable Hard Drive – A Total Solution

Iomega prides itself on providing total solutions, which is why all of the new Iomega USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives come complete out of the box with 256-bit hardware encryption built-in (PC only), as well as the cables required to enjoy your drive right away, whether your desktop or laptop has USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 ports. The Prestige family of portable hard drives will also feature 256-bit hardware encryption built-in (PC only) with the transition to USB 3.0 models in the first quarter of 2011.

Best Software Package Bundled With Portable Hard Drives Today

Included free of charge with all of Iomega's eGo and Prestige Portable Hard Drives is the Iomega Protection Suite, a one-stop portfolio of backup and anti-virus software giving users added protection for their photos, videos, music and other files.

The Iomega Protection Suite includes:

v.Clone™ software, an Iomega exclusive, captures a complete virtual image of your PC — including the operating system, all applications, your settings, and all your files to your Iomega hard drive. Access the cloned copy and use it seamlessly on another computer, just as if you're working from your own PC. When you reconnect, automatically sync your data to your primary PC, so that files are always up to date****.

A complementary 12 month subscription to Trend Micro™ Internet Security for the PC, or Trend Micro™ Smart Surfing software for Mac.

Iomega QuikProtect: backup software for simple scheduled file-level backup of data to hard drives and network-attached storage devices (for Windows and Mac desktops and notebooks).

Roxio® Retrospect® Express software: backup all of your data plus applications and settings (for Windows and Mac desktops and notebooks).

MozyHome™ Online Backup service: Convenient online backup service with 2GB of online capacity for free (unlimited online storage for $4.95/month). MozyHome Online service allows Windows and Mac users to restore their most important data from any computer with internet access, at any location in the world.

All of the software elements in the Iomega Protection Suite are accessible via easy download to owners of Iomega eGo and Prestige Drives.

Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drives – Beauty and the Beast

Not only are Iomega's award-winning eGo Portable Hard Drives super fast and super rugged, they're head-turners, too. Sporting a sleek, smaller enclosure than the previous generation of eGo portable hard drives, eGo Portable Hard Drives are among the smallest 2.5-inch HDD portable hard drives in the market today. Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drives are available in a variety of colors that include Ruby Red, Midnight Blue and Silver.

To appreciate how much data can be stored on a high capacity 2.5-inch drive, an Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive with 1TB of capacity can hold up to 400,000 photos, over 250,000 songs or 385 hours of video*****.

Pricing, Availability and Warranty

For more information on Iomega's complete line of portable hard drives, including current pricing, please go to www.iomega.com. Also be sure to see Iomega's new USB 3.0 product video at YouTube.

The Iomega USB 3.0 Adapter for USB 2.0 laptops is available for $39.99, and the Iomega USB 3.0 PCI Express Adaptor for PC desktops is $39.99. (Pricing is U.S. suggested retail.)

All Iomega portable hard drives include a 3-year limited warranty (with registration). Iomega-branded portable hard drives are available from online retailers, VARs, resellers and select retailers, as well as at www.iomega.com.

About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

About Iomega

Iomega Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation headquartered in San Diego, is a worldwide leader in innovative storage solutions for small businesses, home offices, consumers and others. The Company has sold more than 425 million digital storage drives and disks since its inception in 1980. Today, Iomega's product portfolio includes industry leading network attached storage products for the home and small business; one of the industry's broadest selections of direct-attached portable and desktop external hard drives; and the ScreenPlay™ family of multimedia drives that makes it easy to move video, pictures and other files from the computer room to the livingroom. To learn about all of Iomega's digital storage products and network storage solutions, please go to the Web at www.iomega.com. Resellers can visit Iomega at www.iomega.com/ipartner.