Iomega StorCenter Pro 150d NAS drive review: Iomega StorCenter Pro 150d NAS drive

Iomega StorCenter Pro 150d NAS drive series

The Iomega Storcenter Pro 150d is an appreciably large NAS server targeted for small- or home office use. Above-average performance and considerable storage space make this device a great solution for data archiving and backing up PCs in your office. The four built-in USB ports let you expand storage with additional USB hard drives or share a printer across the network (the drive has a built-in print server). For those who are not technically inclined, setup is straightforward and easy. At $800, the 1TB option is priced fairly when considering price versus performance and capacity. We recommend it if you're not tied to ultrahigh performance. If you're looking for media-serving capabilities, consider some home-oriented NAS drives such as the HP Media Vault MV2020 or the Buffalo TeraStation Home Server.

• Drive type: network-attached storage drive
• Capacities: 1TB, 2TB
• Capacity of test unit: 1TB
• Number of drives/bays: four drives, installed
• Max capacity: N/A
• Hot swap/cold swap: hot-swappable drive
• Drive speed: 7,200rpm
• Cache: 16MB per drive
• Dimension: 10.35x7.08x11.54 inches (HWD)
• Notable design features: none
• Connection options: Gigabit Ethernet
• Operating systems supported: MS Windows 2000/XP/XPx64/Vista; Mac OS X (10.3.9 or later); Linux (Red Hat 9, Mandrake 10, Debian 3.0, Gentoo, Fedora Core 3)
• Software included: Iomega Discovery Tool Pro, EMC Retrospect Express (includes two client licenses)
• RAID implementations: Software RAID 0 and 0+1; hardware RAID 5; JBOD
• Any additional features: Two front-mounted USB port and two rear-mounted USB ports for connecting hard drives or printer; built-in print server; TCP/IP; Network File Protocols include FTP, Microsoft CIFS/SMB, Linux/UNIX NFS, and Apple AFP; Network and File Security include ACLs, Kerberos v5.0, and Microsoft AD/NT Domain Controller
• Service/support: Two-year standard warranty (up to three-years with $179 extended service plan); 24-7 toll-free phone support while under warranty (after warranty expires, toll-free phone support is available on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. MT); site offers driver/software downloads, live chat with tech support, live user forums, software how-to videos, and FAQs.

CNET Labs throughput tests revealed great write/read speeds. Overall, its performance fell directly between average- and top-performing devices. Writing a 5GB folder of mixed files took 13 minutes, 59 seconds; reading back the same folder took 15 minutes, 22 seconds. The similarly priced Buffalo TeraStation Home Server completed the same tasks in 24 minutes, 56 seconds and in 15 minutes, respectively. Note that if you experience slow read speeds, try a firmware upgrade. We noticed the same problem, and the upgrade fixed it.