Data storage specialist Iomega has upped the ante for portable backup devices with its release of Rev, a removable hard disk-drive system designed to last for more than 30 years.
This new product from the maker of the once-popular Zip drive can hold 35 gigabytes of data, which can swell to 90GB by using software compression. It is available in external Universal Serial Bus 2.0 and internal Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface versions.
Emulating the Zip architecture, the drive is used to read and write to Iomega's Rev 35GB/90GB disks - portable cartridges smaller than a deck of playing cards (10 x 77 x 75mm) - and can each be rewritten more than a million times. The suggested retail price for each disk is $468.
With a maximum transfer rate of 25 megabytes a second, the REV drive allows users to copy and restore files quickly.
Iomega developed a technology it calls Removable Rigid Disk to separate the 21/2-inch hard disk platter and spindle motor from the rest of a regular hard drive component. The disk and motor are housed in a rugged, removable hard plastic cartridge, leaving the sensitive read and write heads and electronics - the most expensive and delicate components - in the drive section. That makes the Rev design cost-effective because many of the components do not need to be duplicated to add more capacity. For increased reliability, an air filtration system creates a virtual 'clean room' environment inside the removable disk.
The Rev drive comes with Iomega's Automatic Backup Pro software. Once configured, the software automatically backs up specified files. Other features include Advanced Encryption Standard file encryption program and support for Windows server operating systems.