tch7's Full Review: I/OMagic GigaBank™ (I250HD35) 250 GB USB 2.0 Har...
Like a lot of people, I don’t want to be bothered with backing up my computer. I’m bothered enough by running virus and spyware scans. However, it’s a pretty basic thing that can save you a lot of frustration (and money) if you do it regularly. Your computer can die at any moment without warning, and you’ll be kicking yourself if you lose all of your digital pictures or other important items.
Being the computer guru for my parent's company, we decided it would be a good idea to start backing up the data on the aging laptops, which of course meant it would be a good idea for me to do it. However, since I've switched to digital photography and just got a 35mm film scanner for my older photos, it also provided an opportunity for me to get a hold of some extra storage space. Therefore, when I saw some killer Boxing Day deals, I went out and purchased the I/O Magic 250 GB External Hard Drive at half price.
Yer Pretty Lookin'
While hardly a primary concern of mine, it never hurts to have stylish computer equipment, and this hard drive is no eyesore. The rounded edges, aluminum body, and slim-but-sturdy construction provide the appearance of a high-quality piece of equipment. Its small book-like size keeps it from eating up much desk space, and it’s easy enough to move when needed. The included plastic stand does a good job of holding up the surprisingly heavy (~1 kg) hard drive, as it has yet to tip over. When powered on, the I/O Magic logo on the front glows blue. During transfers, the logo blinks, and when digesting big files you hear a bit of grunting, but nothing obtrusive. With no vents, it does warm up after a while, but it never gets hot no matter how long it is on.
Installation
No instructions are provided, but setting up the hard drive is fairly straightforward. Plug in the power and USB cables, and you've got yourself another drive. The cables are a little short and don't have a tight connection with the hard drive, so you'll want to keep it in a low-traffic spot. Also, the hard drive doesn't turn on and off in sync with your PC, so you'll want to keep the hard drive somewhere accessible for turning it on and off manually. Some security software is included in the box, but I have no need for it and I'll probably never install it.
Wait!
Before you start transferring files to your new drive, you should first format the drive, changing the file system from FAT32 to NTFS. Even though most people don’t have a clue what that means (I sure didn’t), I assure you that it’s incredibly easy and pretty much necessary if you’re running Windows XP. Since no instructions are provided with the hard drive, I’ll briefly go over what I learned to save you the trouble of hunting it down if you’re new to this. Otherwise, skip to the next section.
Ten years ago, a megabyte was considered a big chunk of space, but with the evolution of technology, a megabyte is rather insignificant today. To keep up with the ever-growing file sizes, Windows kept on developing the FAT file system to support larger and larger files. FAT32 was the final revision and existed in Windows 95 and 98, supporting files up to 4 gigabytes in size. These days, 4 gigabytes isn’t considered much (good luck backing up your entire computer), so for Windows XP, the New Technology File System (NTFS) was created, and is a superior system that does not limit you to 4 GB files and has other benefits. Windows XP also supports FAT32, but that’s really just to keep it compatible with older versions of Windows.
Since FAT32 is supported by most versions of Windows, that’s what external hard drives are typically set up as at the factory. Then, using a built-in tool in Windows XP, people have the option to change it to the NTFS – but it’s a one-way street. You cannot convert from NTFS to FAT32 (not that you’d want to). The process is supposed to only take a few minutes, but for some unknown reason, it took my computer 3 hours to format the hard drive. Microsoft provides an excellent guide on formatting or converting your hard drive to NTFS here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/advanced/ntfs.mspx
Storage
With a whopping 250* GB, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever come close to utilizing all of that space in the foreseeable future. Of the three computers that will be getting backed up, I’ll be surprised if it cracks 50 gigabytes. However, since it was only $10 more than the 80 gigabyte hard drives, it seemed quite rational to go on the excessive side.
To put 250 GB into perspective, that's roughly 70 000 average-length songs (mp3 format), or 116 000 pictures at 2 megabytes each based on my calculations. Unless you're an anti-compression packrat with a big collection of digital videos, this hard drive should easily keep your thirst for storage fulfilled.
*According to Windows XP, only 232 GB. These different numbers are apparently the result of different scales being used to measure the capacity...
Speed
Data transfers seem to be quick enough, taking about an hour to back up 20 gigs of data. The 7200 RPM spindle speed of the hard drive matches that of my computer’s internal hard drive, so data can be read and moved around quickly enough for all intensive purposes. On the slower and older laptops, the laptops themselves are the limiting agents. So far there haven’t been any problems with stability or data transfers, and everything has always worked as it should. Transfer times and so forth appear to be about average based on specs, but I don't have the knowledge or experience to really make any nitty-gritty comparisons. It's fast and easy to use, and that's good enough for me.
Value & Summary
I purchased this hard drive for the amazing price of C$100, or roughly $86 USD, down from its regular price of C$200. At that price, this thing is an incredible value and I was tempted to buy more just for the hell of it. Even at its regular price it’s not such a bad deal if you’re looking for oodles of storage space. If it weren’t for the minor annoyance of converting it to NTFS, and the short/loose cables, I’d give it a 5-star rating. It’s stylish, compact, sturdy, quick, and offers lots of storage space at a reasonable price.
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