Iomega Rev 120GB Backup Drive

Removable-cartridge alternative for backup



THE IOMEGA REV 120GB BACKUP DRIVE is a hard-disk-based storage device that uses removable cartridges. It's an alternative backup solution to traditional external hard drives or tape (like DAT), but for users with either very litle (or conversevly, too much) data to back up or archive, it's not cost-effective.
Besides the $499.99 drive-and-cartridge bundle that we reviewed, there's also the $699.99 Rev Server Backup Kit, which is ideal for business runing a server; it comes with five cartridges, along with CA's BrightStor ARCserver Backup and Distaster Recovery software.
Like tape-based cartridges, Rev cartridges allow the archival backup of servers, but Rev drives are faster. The drive heads aren't on the cartridge, so if a cartridge does fail, you won't have to replace an entire unit, as you would with a hard drive. But if you're an individual user, the Rev drive is overkill. Compared with portable hard drives, the Rev is severely limited in capacity, not to mention expensive.


Operation-wise, the Rev works just like a portable hard drive, and it's easy to set up and use. You can drag and drop files to it from your Mac OS X desktop or Windows'My Computer. Transfer times were also quite good: It took 8 minutes and 43 seconds to write a 10GB folder to the Rev cartridge, and 7 minutes and 58 seconds to read the same folder. The included Restrospect Express Backup software is a basic, easy-to-use app that lets you back up individual folders or an entire drive, as well as schedule backups at a more convenient time. - Les L. Shu

source: Computer Shopper October 2008.
www.iomega.com