Iomega Radical Skin Portable Hard Drive

Labels aside, most of the external hard drives that come through our labs are indistinguishable from one another--they employ the generic aesthetic formula consisting of a simple rectangular case and a USB port on top. Iomega continues to earn our recommendation with its latest portable drive series, the Skin. The line includes the "Knock Out," "Radical," and "Red Hot," and all three designs carry a custom graphic provided in collaboration with popular action-sports label Skin Industries. As usual, Iomega delivers the goods both inside and out with extra features like Drop Guard, plenty of data protection software, and an impressive warranty that lasts for three years. Granted the Sailor Jerry-esque designs aren't for everyone, but the Skin series certainly continues Iomega's reputation for putting out attractive, easy-to-use, affordable portable storage drives.

Design and features
At 4.9 inches long, 3.3 inches wide, and 0.7-inches thick, the Iomega Radical Skin is even thinner than the eGo Portable we raved about last year, thanks to the 2.5-inch drive inside. The small footprint earns points for portability, and its 0.36-pound weight fits comfortably in a shirt pocket for easy transportation.

The Radical Skin is adorned by a custom graphic designed by Skin Industries, a sports apparel company that was once exclusive to Freestyle Motocross (FMX), but now reaches across "all sports and levels from amateur to professional." Comparable to Sailor Jerry, Von Dutch, and maybe a little "Jersey Shore," the white and yellow script aggressively pops off the black background and looks much tougher than the majority of competitive drives we review.

The 2.5-inch SATA hard disk spins at 5,400 revolutions per minute, and a smooth case protects the inside with Iomega's Drop Guard feature for protection up to 51 inches. Just for kicks, we purposefully dropped the Radical Skin from three and four foot heights, and each time the drive worked flawlessly. The interface is just as clean as the exterior; a single mini USB 2.0 sits on top and a small LED light blinks green to indicate the drive is transferring data. The Radical Skin is also one of the first Iomega hard drives not to include an extra power port, since it draws data and juice from USB.

In addition to physical protection, the Skin series also includes a suite of software , including a one-year free subscription to Trend Micro Internet Security, Roxio Retrospect Express Backup HD, Iomega's QuikProtect file backup, and a lifetime 2GB per month subscription to MozyHome Online backup. The free software comes with purchase of the drive, but there are no CDs in the packaging; Instead, Iomega cleverly includes license codes for each program to download directly off the Iomega Web site.