TechWatch: Storage Edition

Iomega Revs Up Drive Market

Let's start with the smallest unit first. The latest removable hard drive from Iomega, the Zip drive makers of yore, is a winner: a 35-GB miniature hard disk called Rev that fits into an external or internal enclosure. This little hard drive has been separated out into two different pieces"the magnetic media is inside the removable container, while the motor and mechanicals are in the fixed housing. This is a boon for VARs who require easy-to-use data protection but have clients with data that doesn't fit onto a CD-R or DVDs and who don't want to mess with tape. Rev comes with Norton Ghost to make bootable images of your computer, ideal for VARs who need to do lots of installations or recover crashed systems. It runs on just USB Windows XP and 2000/2003 versions; later this summer, Mac and Firewire versions will be available, along with support for Serial ATA and SCSI connections. I did have some trouble installing the product; the software has to write to the drive and then be installed before using the drive in your PC. But that was just a hiccup. Of note, the unit comes with disk-compression backup software that will cram even more gigabytes into each $50 drive.

Rev, www.iomega.com Price: $399 for USB external, $379 for ATAPI internal

It's a RouterNo, It's a File Server

Actually, it's both. Iogear makes a combination firewall/router/hub/server called BOSS (Broadband Office Storage Server) that comes in a small package. What makes BOSS different from other residential gateways is that it includes an internal hard disk that can be shared with both Windows and Macintosh users. The unit sets up via a Web browser, like many in this class. My model came with a 120-GB hard drive, but I needed Java to format the drive and set up network shares. Some of the other setup menus were a bit obscure. I also had reliability problems with BOSS on a small-office network when users tried to save files on the server's hard drive. That's a shame because BOSS is perfect for a small office that needs an all-in-one unit without the advanced firewall features found in the more expensive boxes. BOSS could be a great fit for small workgroups that don't want to use one of their desktops as a server or invest in a separate server to maintain, however, Iogear needs to improve product quality and make it more rock solid.

BOSS, www.iogear.com Price: $400

Fast, Cheap And Totally Brushed Metal

Xserve G5, Apple's latest entry into the server marketplace, is notable on several fronts: First, it's the first server to include error-correcting RAM, something the Intel world has had for a zillion years. But more important, this is a server you won't want to hide in a closet. It is a beautiful piece of hardware that has Mac-olytes touching it with lust in their geeky hearts. The server sets up quickly and easily (mine was running within minutes of unpacking), thanks to the wonderful Panther interface and some well-designed Mac applications that monitor all the environmental and logical interfaces inside the server. An optional Xserve RAID array that is just as good-looking as the server can be quickly set up to serve even more data; it comes with redundant Fibre Channel connectors, power supplies and RAID controllers. You can't buy this many gigabytes for less and still have such a capable and reliable server.

Xserve G5, www.apple.com Price: $3,000 for 80-GB drive and 512-MB RAM; Xserve RAID, $6,000 for 750-GB storage