Iomega's Home Media Network Hard Drive backs up files, streams content

Slowly but surely, the multimedia hard drive is becoming more and more relevant. At first, it was outlets like Mvix doing the honors, and then mainstays such as LaCie got in while the gettin' was good. Now, we've got ole Iomega trying its hand at the game, with the introduction of the Home Media Network Hard Drive at Macworld in San Francisco. The drive, which includes the firm's LifeLine software, enables users to easily backup their precious files and stream music, photos, videos and all manners of other multimedia between computers, networked TVs, gaming consoles, etc. For those curious, it'll function just fine as an iTunes server and play oh-so-nice with DLNA certified devices, and aside from the obligatory gigabit Ethernet jack, there's also a USB port for adding a shared network printer or extra capacity. It should be available early this month for $159.99 (500GB) / $229.99 (1TB).

[Adam @ Jan 5th 2009 11:18AM]

Woot for storage on the network!

[ahsan @ Jan 5th 2009 11:17AM]

When will a cheap WiFi network backup device be available so I don't have to swap connections everytime I want to deliver new content to my WD HD TV box?

[sdwells @ Jan 5th 2009 11:56AM]

NAS devices only really serve their purpose when they are physically connected to your network/router... It'd have been nice if Western Digital included wireless N in their HD TV box instead!

[ahsan @ Jan 5th 2009 11:59AM]

I guess I'm thinking of a device similar to Apple's Time Capsule but with the added benefit of allowing USB to the WD HD TV. I don't necessarily want the attached storage to be a backup solution.

Come to think of it, if this device is wired ethernet, yet also includes a USB connection which is on at the same time, it may work with the WD HD TV. Gotta look at the specs further...

[chefgon_ign @ Jan 5th 2009 11:21AM]

Wait, I'm confused...

Iomega still exists?

[James @ Jan 5th 2009 11:25AM]

No, it is iOmega... lower case 'i' means Apple quality!

Just google "iPhone", or "revolutionary cell phone" or "not shite cell phone"

[nanobis @ Jan 5th 2009 11:34AM]

I just did google "not shite cell phone" and this came up
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_en-GBGB291GB309&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=not+shite+cell+phone

looks like google proved you wrong.

[James @ Jan 5th 2009 3:34PM]

Well obviously Google would put that intentionally since they have a stake in that android science project...

[MarbleMind @ Jan 5th 2009 11:26AM]

Can you rasp cheese with it?

[Jason @ Jan 5th 2009 11:48AM]

Grate comment!

[musback @ Jan 5th 2009 11:34AM]

But HOW FAST is it? Does it support 10/100/Gigabit connections? Else this is just another useless wannabe NAS impersonator. I read so many reviews of super handy devices like these and 99% were so disappointing when it came down to speed... Once I even read a device wasnt able to steam mp3's over 128kbit/sec :lol:

[sdwells @ Jan 5th 2009 11:48AM]

yes they said it has a Gigabit Ethernet port... though I assume its' processor is only fast enough for mild NAS use.

[MarbleMind @ Jan 5th 2009 11:36AM]

Well, yes. Dropping all those odd, overexpensive oddball contraptions that nobody really cared about about did help purging and rejuvenating the company. Now they are selling external default hardware that people care even less about.

@James
You are not funny.

[MarbleMind @ Jan 5th 2009 11:37AM]

(That was a reply to chefgon_ign)

[Denver_80203 @ Jan 5th 2009 11:47AM]

Nice but, After nearly losing 'everything' twice I will never rely on a single drive solution again. ReadyNAS/Drobo type storage is all you should be considering if you don't have a good backup process/habits. Sure it's not the end all solution to a fire/flood but, if a drive dies again I don't risk a heart attack.

[Joe @ Jan 5th 2009 11:53AM]

What's a 'networked tv' ?

[BradS @ Jan 5th 2009 2:17PM]

One that can only receive the major networks?

[jdog @ Jan 5th 2009 12:50PM]

I've got a pair of Time Capsules (one for strictly backup, one for redundant backup and music serving), plus I do a nearline backup to a hard drive in my safe once a month. Time Capsules are pretty cool....spendy, but pretty cool. If you can plug this thing into a wifi router and it has decent software, iomega may have just beaten apple at its own game!

[pika2000 @ Jan 5th 2009 12:49PM]

Why would one want something like this that doesn't have redundancy? Windows Home Server or Drobo, although more expensive, is a better solution. Plus you get expandability and redundancy.

[SPG @ Jan 5th 2009 1:59PM]

After buying a set of 3 Iomega externals I will NEVER buy anything from them again. They looked pretty in the picture, had triple interface, but once they were out of the box it was obvious they were junk. Loud rattling fan, slow HDs, intermittent performance on start up, horribly cheap fit and finish, just total junk.

[BradS @ Jan 5th 2009 2:15PM]

That base makes it look shoulder-mounted.

[Scott @ Jan 5th 2009 2:40PM]

Buy hard drives from someone who actually makes hard drives.

[FILA @ Jan 5th 2009 4:54PM]

i dont think anything less then 1TB should be considered a home network, or server or anything in them terms. What's 1TB these days for people like me who have HD movies stored on HD. I already have a external 500GB, I have music, pictures and movies on that but im running out of room. My plan, to build my own server with atleast 3TB to start, and keep my 500GB drive just for pictures and movies.

[Paul @ Feb 5th 2009 5:31AM]

MY ZYXEL DMA-1000W IS HARD WIRED TO THE ETHERNET AND CANNOT ACCESS THE IOMEGA HOME MEDIA NETWORK DRIVES 1TB. THE IOMEGA DRIVES ARE SUBFOLDERS TO "MY COMPUTER". DMA 1000W CAN ACCESS REGULARLY THE SHARED FOLDERS UNDER MY COMPUTER AND PLAY THE FILES. PLEASE ADVISE HOW TO ACTIVATE ACCESS TO IOMEGA MEDIA NETWORK HARD DRIVES. BEST REGARDS