Photo: Iomega

The slow, steady rollout of USB 3.0 devices continues with the Iomega eGo 500GB USB 3.0 external drive and while we’re all but ready to embrace faster transfer feeds, Iomega makes a silly omission that limits the full acceleration capabilities of the drive.

Specs

As the name suggests, the Iomega eGo has a drive capacity of 500GB and is USB 3.0 compliant. The bizarre design decision is that the drive spins at a limiting 5400rpm, which reduces the maximum transfer of data.

Design

Photo: Iomega

This external USB drive has a high gloss attractive finish. In many ways, it looks like a slightly miniaturised contemporary notebook, with its glossy black finish and counters. We would have preferred it were a smidgen smaller, bringing it in line with the Samsung G2 500GB external drive, but that’s just us nitpicking. Four rubber studs are added to the base of the drive so as to stop it from slipping off slippery surfaces, which is a neat touch. From a design point of view, there’s little not to like here, though we worry the glossy finish is crying to be scratched up through extended use.

Performance

The Iomega eGo 500GB external drive has very good but limited transfer speeds. When plugged into USB 2.0 slots, transfer speeds hover just below 30mb/s. When plugged into USB 3.0 slots, the average transfer rate is between 64mb/s and 65mb/s due to the favouring of a 5400rpm drive over a 7200rpm drive. While that may sound great, it’s slow when compared to the transfer speed on the equivalent Lacie Rugged 500GB USB 3.0 drive, which averaged over 80mb/s transfer rate.

The final say

We won’t lie and say we don’t like this 500GB external drive. It’s well built, and looks very elegant. Where the Iomega eGo 500GB USB 3.0 drive starts dropping the ball is in its unusual opting for the 5400rpm drive, which puts a limiter on the potential transfer speed on the drive. But the price is agreeable and Iomega is reputable.

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