Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive Reviewed
By David Walker |
February 21st, 2006 
Tom’s Networking took the Iomega StorCenter for a NAS spin and came away impressed, giving the StorCenter a solid recommendation (with caveats, of course). Several things help the StorCenter stand out from the rest of the home NAS crowd. For one, the device can act as a USB printer server which normally run an extra $50 to $100. Nice touch. Secondly, it sports a gigabit (1000Mbps) ethernet adapter, which should allow for zippier network transfers if you have the proper equipment. Should, however, is always a tricky word. Finally, this NAS natively supports UPnP, so any devices on your network that support the protocol will be able to stream music, videos and pictures straight from the StorCenter.
The Iomega StorCenter is not much bigger than the 3.5 inch drive it houses, although it produces quite a racket with it’s built-in fans. With 2 USB ports in the back, you could potentially connect 4 (using a hub) external hard drives for added storage. However, be forewarned that NTFS formatted drives will be read-only. Showing love for the Linux crowd, Iomega included utilities for Windows and Linux, although the backup software was limited to Windows. Advanced configuration is possible through a web interface, although the default config can get you up and running quickly.
Through the advanced config, you can setup users with specific permissions and quotas, although, there isn’t support for groups of users, which would have been nice. The UPnP functionality worked great as well, making the device a nice solution for connected home theater components. As for network performance, the transfer rates were the highest of any it’s class, but don’t live up to the potential of a full gigabit transfer. As such, moving large volumes of files back and forth should still be done through the USB connection. All in all, the device appears to be a good value, especially considering that it can be had for under $300 online.
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