Iomega's iConnect turns thumb drives into NAS drives, puts it all online
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 5th 2010 11:02PM
posted January 5th 2010 11:02PM
If you don't trust any of your datas online, meticulously delete your cookies and cache from your browser, and never use the same search engine twice for fear of your online activity being tracked... this post probably isn't for you. But, if you wish you could get to your most precious of thumb drive files even when those thumbs are at home, Iomega's new iConnect looks to be about the easiest way to do so -- and at $99 one of the cheapest. The device packs four USB ports into which you can plug storage or printers, connecting to your home network via Ethernet or 802.11b/g/n. With a few clicks everything will be available online, and when you're on your home network you can make use of DLNA streaming, Time Machine backups, and even rely on the integrated torrent manager to make sure your feed ratio is properly philanthropic. All this can be yours next month.
Media streaming is taking over, just so much damn more convenient to have everything on an external drive and stream to my tvs than to get up and find the dvd/blu ray and put it in F that.
"Hmmmmm." That is all.
I like the part about the torrents...save me some electricity.
What's with all these companies naming their products Apple-style? No originality anymore?
@ijames99
No, because Apple already patented iOriginality®
@ijames99, why are these people naming themselves apple style? No originality anymore?
On a serious note tons of devices have used the lowercase i. iPaq for one.
@ijames99
Just a wild guess. But the name of the company is "iomega". They also have a dandy logo with a giant lowercase "i" that they have been using for as long as I can remember, starting with those Zip drives. Which, by the way, were released in the 1990's, before Apple started using the "i" for their imac computers and ipod music players.
Sign me up!
Does anyone know if this "NAS" device will be accessable over the network from say a Linux box?
Will it only be a "NAS" device if you have special software installed on your machine or is this a true NAS ?
@senectus yeah I wonder the same thing. It comes with a "Solution CD with StorCenter Manager software". I hope thast just for admin purpose and you dont have to install on every machine.
@senectus NAS means Network Attached Storage and this attaches to the network for storage so its a NAS. If you can access it online then its a server.
@(Unverified) Yeah in my experiance NAS is a very flexible TLA.
for instance I bought an MP3030 media player that claims its a NAS. except that you can only copy files to or from it if you have software installed on your windows PC that sets up a special connection AND you can only manage that connection using the remote control and the TV it plugs into.
Its crap.
I want a real NAS that uses CIFS etc.
@senectus
Network File Protocols Supported: CIFS/SMB/Rally (Microsoft), AFP/Bonjour (Apple), HTTP, HTTPS.
This is a real NAS. The software that comes on the cd doesn't actually need to be installed to use the device, it just makes it easier. As long as you can find the IP address of the unit, you can map the shares and access the interface. The software just makes that automatic.
sweeet n nice design, i love such stuff
My 1GB thumb drive is sad that it can't even hold 1 movie.
@BigD145 found your flash drive a whore
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220252
But does it click?
Will the built-in media server stream FLAC? No details of supported formats on the iomega website.
@growers To answer my own question, I checked with Iomega and no it won't support FLAC, just the basic DLNA formats :( Looks like I'll be sticking with my NSLU2 until someone hacks the Iconnect with Linux.