Lomega UltraMax Pro 1.5TB Seattle WA

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Iomega's UltraMax Pro is a dual-bay desktop hard disk, which ships configured as a Raid 0 unit and connects to your Mac, using USB 2 or eSata. The robust, easy-to-carry, metal case clearly mimics Apple's Mac Pro tower, suggesting that Iomega views the UltraMax Pro as an ideal storage solution for the professional Mac user.In many ways that's exactly what it is - fast, high-capacity storage that can be configured by means of Dip switches as Raid 0, Raid 1, Jbod, or two mounted volumes, and whose drives can be easily removed by twisting a dial and sliding the caddy out. The unit though has only two interfaces - USB 2, and eSata. As Apple doesn't ship Macs with an eSata port that means either investing in an eSata card or using the USB 2 port, which will severely limit transfer speeds. However, there's a USB 2/FireWire 400/FireWire 800 version available for the same price, which is more appropriate for most Mac users.Another niggle is that the removable drive bays slide out of the rear. Although swapping drives is likely to be an irregular occurrence, it seems strange to make this procedure so easy but so hard to access.In use the UltraMax 1.5TB performed very well. We recorded transfer rates topping out at 146MB/sec. That would have put it in third place in our Raid Labs test last year behind more expensive offerings from Sonnet and ProAvio but ahead of the other two eSata units from Buffalo and Weibetech.For fast, high-capacity, reasonably-priced storage the UltraMax Pro is an excellent choice provided you have an eSata interface card. If not, the FireWire 800 version will be slower but still well-worth considering.

Author: Kenny Hemphill

Iomega UltraMax Pro 1.5TB

InBios International

(206) 344-5821
562 First Avenue S., Ste. 600
Seattle, WA
http://www.inbios.com/