The silver end caps do double duty--they add to the high-end aesthetic and protect the drive from damage. Iomega calls it their "DropGuard" technology and claim that it can survive a drop of up to 51 inches. We put it to the test and dropped our test unit several times from four feet and the drive is still going strong. We can't speak to the consequences of repeated drops over a long period of time, but we feel confident that the eGo will withstand the normal wear and tear of everyday use.
Cost per gigabyte
For $0.60 per gigabyte, the eGo leather edition is about average price for an external hard drive and a much better deal than last year's 160GB model. The best deal we've seen so far is Western Digital's My Passport Studio for $0.58 per gig, but the Iomega eGo comes in a close second.
Performance
Even though the Iomega eGo Leather isn't dead last in our CNET Labs speed test comparison study (that award goes to the Maxtor Black Armor), its read and write speeds aren't exactly impressive. It barely stands ahead of the Maxtor Black Armor in terms of write speed and reads data at a very average 148.8 megabits per second; certainly not slow, but it's not setting any standards for speed either.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Read (Mb/s) | |
Write (Mb/s) |
Service and Support
Iomega backs the entire eGo hard drive series with a one-year limited warranty that covers defective products and damage at the manufacturer's discretion. Iomega will also replace your hard drive or refund you the full retail price if they're unable to fix the problem. Additional troubleshooting and support items including the Iomega User-to-User Support Forums are available on the Iomega Web site.
