Iomega StorCenter ix2 user reviews (2TB)

Pros - Simple setup, up and running in 10 mins
- Comapatible with everything

Cons -You can hear and feel the drive activity if it is located on your desk but not that bad
- Difficult disk exchange if one has problems.

Summary I bought one of the 2TB units this week from the online site of a well-respected computer store chain for an unbelievably low price of $249. Trust me, there is virtually nothing else available in the current consumer NAS market with that price-to-capacity ratio. (Don't ask me why but the 1TB unit was available at $239 - go figure!)

The device is connected to an new Intel-I7 based PC via a D-Link gigE switch which is also connected to a regular 100M Fast-E/wireless router that supports the rest of the devices on my home network. The initial config was done using the administrative software running in the Vista-x64 environment. It detected and configured the NAS very quickly and without any problems. The software not only detected the network connectivity to the device, it also recognized my McAfee firewall and advised step-by-step with pictorial displays exactly what settings needed to be changed to configure the firewall filters as well as Vista's built-in security level changes. All in all a very simple process which also had the side effect of showing me how to change some of the less intuitive security changes in Vista.

Some details from my tests included a quick check of the other PCs on my home network. I had no problem configuriing both shared public space that anyone could write to as well as private shares that only allowed access for a specific userid. I fired up a not so current Linux server (Suse 9.3) and was able to access the public shares as well.

The included Retrospect backup software seemed to do the job, although I haven't explored it fully. I must have a newer revision than described in this review because I was able to easily select just my photo library and my music archives while skipping the My Docs folder for automated and manual backups. Like most software bundled with new hardware, this will meet the needs of the average user for typical use but those with special requirements should do a best of breed study of all the available backup software packages to find one meeting their specific needs.

The article states the drives cannot be changed out. I'd like to see more details about why that is not possible. Is there some proprietary tecnology used that cannot be duplicated or is it just a matter of technical ability or is it some other reason? Personally I would think someone used to taking apart devices, say on the level of replacing parts deep within a laptop should be able to do it. But even if not, by the time I exceed the capacity of this device, much larger drives will be available that can be connected via the USB ports so that provides a solid growth path.

In conclusion if you simply want a lot of storage space available securely on redundant drives, useful across a home or small business network and you don't have other exotic needs would be hard to beat this little unit at this point in time.