I Want One!

OK, so I saw that EMC's Iomega group has announced this sexy device -- just in time for the holiday season!

Just the thing for that special storage-challenged someone in your life :-)

A while ago, I wrote that I was using a version of EMC LifeLine software on a device from Intel.

Now that I see this, I want this one.

I Now Have My Personal At-Home Information Cloud

A while back, I took home a pilot version of Intel's SOHO device, and it went over pretty big.

All my digital stuff -- file, photographs, videos, apps, etc. -- all in one place.

All universally available from just about any device in the house -- laptops, game consoles, the new iPhone, etc.

I rarely had to configure anything.  The damn thing just worked.

And -- most importantly -- all regularly backed up.

I liked it.  My family liked it.  A good thing.

Iomega Does One Better

But -- at least for my situation -- it was a bit of overkill.

It supported four drives -- more than I needed. 

It supported sophisticated management and permissions.  I had to turn all that stuff off.  There was a whole bunch of stuff that the box could do that I didn't really need.

Most importantly, I didn't quite get the nod for that all-important WAF -- Wife Approval Factor -- as it sat in the office, humming softly, glowering in the dark with its multiple blue LEDs.

And, as all of us toy-buying guys know, WAF is an important consideration when it comes to home electronics.  As I've learned the hard way ...

So, I've seen this device.  It's small and cute.  It doesn't really make any noise.  It doesn't have multiple blinky LEDs.  It doesn't look intimidating.

And -- for $299 -- it'd be well within my budget for Home IT Expenditures that don't require a corresponding investment for new curtains, for example.

When the Intel device came out, there was a bunch of commentary that "well, I could do better assembling my own".  I don't think that's the case this time. 

Not only that, your wife might actually like how the thing looks on a desktop :-)

Comments

[Anon Y Mous]

Hi Chuck,

I’ve got to say that your comment about curtains is spot on. Personally, I just bought a new desktop PC after my wife decided we needed crown molding. Mind you, now that I see crown molding, I still don't understand why we needed it.

I could probably sneak in the Iomega drive without laying out for the new corner cabinet in the dining room she has her eye on. :)

FWIW, I'm an EMCer but wish to remain anonymous in case my wife reads this.

[Sudhir Brahma]

$299 for just 1 TB is awful lot of money. Here is what my friend does good business with:
1. Gets a good power-supply, fixes it in much smaller rack, that allows about 5 drives to be packed in firmly. Alows easy removal too. This Rack allows access to the SATA connector on the drives. He just ensures that the cables can be firmly held in place one connected
2. Puts a fan to cool the drives
3. Put a REALLY top class cover to make the enclosure look COOL!!..throws in some LEDS and minor electronics for monitoring.
4. Provides a dummy eSATA plate on the host side, to bring out the SATA connectors...and his product is ready to sell!! He sells for less than half the cost of this one.
Users just plug in the drive cables as required. They even take out drives and put new ones as required.

Agreed he does not do RAID 1- but who needs that for home? People just back up critical data in drives and take them off after a back up. People want to buy storage for every dollar.
For those who need encription, he recommends Truecrypt. For those who need RAID 1, or RAID x, he gets some software that does it at Volume level, or gets a low cost RAID HBA (additional cost).
His value add in in the low cost Enclosure.

[Ryan]

Sudhir, what are you talking about mate? This Iomega device does print sharing, media sharing etc. It is effectively a NAS.

Is your buddy's "drives in an enclosure" solution a NAS?

[Sudhir Brahma]

Hello Ryan. That is an excellent question!!
The simple answer is no it does not do anything other than storage (besides saving the customer's cash ofcourse :-)!!)
I asked him your question, and his answer was: People buy computers first and additional storage is an after thought, when all the movies and the pictures they store/share, start out growing the local storage that came with the computer. By the time they feel the need for additional storage, they are already very familiar with all the utilities and the NAS capabilities inherent in Windows, and they dont want to change that. All the file-sharing and the print sharing they need comes free with their Windows/Linux OS...all they need is JUST MORE STORAGE- that is all...and that is what he provides. In fact the SMB market also just needs this- they just want to be able to add more storage, without opening the computer casing....the last I hear him talking to a customer on how he can provide an iSCSI interface (the customer wanted remote block level access), using a low cost motherboard/CPU and putting in one of the free ISCSI targets!!