BIOS: Technology Means Business

Iomega (NYSE: IOM) has announced new versions of two of its versatile storage products: the high-end UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive with expanded capacity to a towering 1TB, and a new stylishly black small form-factor dual interface Portable Hard Drive with 120GB of storage capacity.

Designed for Mac OS X users, Iomega's popular UltraMax Desktop Hard Drives deliver secure, high-capacity storage in a rugged enclosure that complements the Apple Mac Pro and Power Mac series of computers.

With RAID 1 and a built-in FireWire and Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0) hub for future expansion, Iomega's UltraMax Drives excel in digital content creation, graphic design, and other disk-intensive tasks.

"Apple's Mac Pro is a thoroughbred personal computer that needs an external storage system that can keep pace," said Peter Wharton, Vice President of Marketing, Iomega Corporation. "With FireWire 800, the Mac HFS+ file system, and RAID 1 performance, Iomega's new UltraMax drive has incredible power right out of the box, and its interface choices and RAID options will enhance your workflow whether you're connecting it to Mac Pro, an iMac, or a MacBook."

In addition to the default mode of RAID 0, which stripes data across the UltraMax drive's two 7200rpm SATA hard drives, other drive settings include RAID 1, 'spanned' (both hard drives are treated as a single volume), and 'simple' (each hard drive is treated as its own drive letter). For ease of use, the new Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive has a manual RAID switch, allowing you to turn off the RAID configuration and use the drive configured as JBOD.

The UltraMax Hard Drive is preformatted with Apple's HFS+ file system for Mac OS X users. HFS+ makes more efficient use of large hard drives and supports journaling under Mac OS X, which makes it easier to recover data in case of a problem. The stackable UltraMax drive enclosure complements the new Mac Pro series of Apple computers as well as the older Power Mac series. The enclosure is metallic grey with a mesh grill, an echo of the Mac Pro computer's industrial design. Its three interfaces include FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0), and it provides users with a three-port Hi-Speed USB hub for easy expansion. Cables for FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0 operation are included with the drive.

Fashionably thin at just 0.5 inches (12.7mm) and an incredibly light 5.8oz (163g), the Black Portable Hard Drive 120GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0/FireWire is packed with ideal features for mobile users. It is the perfect storage companion for your Mac laptop, including host-powered operation and Drop Shock technology. The drive's 2.5-inch hard drive delivers fast 5400rpm performance and comes with both FireWire 400 (1394a) and USB 2.0 cables.

"Host-powered products are great for mobile users because they eliminate the need to bring along a power adapter and find a wall outlet for it," said Wharton. "The Iomega Black Portable Hard Drive gets all the power it needs from the USB or FireWire cable. Choice of connectivity combined with 120GB and a stylish little package make the new Iomega Black Portable Hard Drive an ideal portable hard drive for road warriors and others that need more freedom and versatility in their storage products."

Other travel-friendly features include the use of industry-leading EMC Retrospect Express backup and disaster recovery software for improved data security. In addition, Iomega's Drop Shock technology provides enhanced durability by helping protect both the drive and its data from unexpected bumps and jolts. A single Iomega 120GB Dual Interface Black Portable Hard Drive can hold up to 480,000 photos, 2220 hours of music, or 180 hours of video.

For secure storage and worry-free backup and disaster recovery, Iomega also includes EMC Retrospect Express software with the new UltraMax Drive and the new Black Portable Hard Drive. Retrospect Express delivers automated, reliable, cost-effective protection for Windows and Mac users. Its design makes it easy to set up and manage highly efficient backups on any personal computer, greatly simplifying disaster recovery. You can backup open files, verify backup integrity during the backup, have scheduled backups proceed even without logging in, and recover individual files or a complete system to any point in time.

The Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive 1TB Triple Interface is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 or above on Apple computers with an Intel processor or G3 processor or higher. The UltraMax Drive can be reformatted to NTFS or FAT32 for use with a PC (instructions included), making it compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP Home and XP Professional editions, as well as the upcoming Windows Vista. FAT32 format allows cross-platform use.

The Iomega Portable Hard Drive 120GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0/FireWire is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 or higher, as well as Windows 2000 Professional/XP Home/XP Professional and the upcoming Windows Vista.

The Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive 1TB FireWire 800/FireWire 400/USB 2.0 with Hub is available now for $499. The Iomega Portable Hard Drive 120GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0/FireWire is available for $189 (All Pricing is U.S. suggested retail). Both products are currently available worldwide.

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