Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive

Best Price:
Once you’ve set up a home network, you’ll want to use it to transfer all your digital media – music, video and photos – around your home. However, the problems start when you have to turn on one PC to view the photos held on another, or have to turn on a PC to stream your music to an internet radio. Iomega’s hard disk aims to solve this storage issue.

Features:
The hardware is nothing special – a hard disk with a network adapter built in, so you can attach it directly to your router. The magic is in the software. The device comes with two pre-installed media servers – Twonky to cover UPnP and DLNA options, compatible with most music-streaming hardware and devices like the Playstation 3, and also an iTunes option for those running Apple hardware. It’s the broadest range of compatibility we’ve seen on a device like this. It also comes with automated back-up software, so you can use its spare capacity to safeguard files from your PC, and it has a print server so you can use it for sharing your printer.

Performance:
The most disappointing thing about the drive is that it’s a bit noisy, humming even when not in use. If it has to sit next to your PC this may bother you, but there is an off switch so you can silence it without unplugging it. Either way, it’s still quicker and more energy efficient than storing your media on a PC.

Ease of use:
Configuring the device is done through a mixture of installed software and access via a web browser. The installed software helps map each of the disk’s folders (music, video, photos and so on) to a specific drive on your PC, which steamlines the process of filling them up. You can opt to do this manually if you’re willing to dive into the instructions. Setting up sharing is done by loading the device’s configuration interface into a browser. Both options require a bit of networking knowledge, but most people who’ve managed to fiddle with router settings should find little to worry them.

Value for money:
Its functionality is close to that of the Linksys Media Hub we reviewed in Issue 212, but this is significantly cheaper. It doesn’t have the internet-sharing option that the Linksys has but it’s still a good deal.