External Hard Drives

Iomega designs a wide range of external hard drives for both Windows and Mac systems, but the MiniMax was designed especially for Mac. Iomega MiniMax got a bit of a blow as soon as it hit the shelves; it was released at the same time around when Apple had re-launched its Mac Mini, making the MiniMax look outdated already.

Design:

The Iomega MiniMax external hard drive comes with brushed aluminium finishing with white polycarbonate top plate. This design makes the drive just perfect for the former Mac Mini. With dimensions of 16.5 x 16.5cm, the footprint is quite identical too, to sit under the Mac Mini. It sports a soft rubber base that will help it placed on the desk. Even though its design seems to be set to match the old Mac, its style still looks good next to any of the latest Macs.

Interface and slots:

Interface options included are, USB2.0 and FireWire 800, you also get a FireWire 800 to 400 cable included in the box. With the additional FireWire 800 port, you get to daisy chain one more FireWire peripheral. The three additional USB ports allow you to use the MiniMax as a hub. This drive also has its own ON/OFF switch, so unlike the Western Digital MyBook range, it will not automatically switch on and off as the Mac boots and shuts down.

Interface, Capacity and Set-up:

Irrespective of its style, the Iomega MiniMax USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive has a heap load to offer to the Mac owners, even if they own the old-school Mac Mini. The MiniMax drive is quite capacious at 1TB and has been pre-formatted for Mac OS. The MiniMax is also available in 500GB capacity, packing in a 7200 rpm hard drive into its mini enclosure. Set-up of the MiniMax is just a breeze, just plug in the power cable, put the power switch on the MiniMax, and the device will automatically mount on Mac mini’s desktop.

Performance:

Moving on to performance, Iomega MiniMax has a random read and write speeds of 17.8/28.9MB/s with its FireWire 800 and about 12.0/17 MB/s using a USB connection. This rate is a bit faster than the eGo Desktop External Hard Drive. One major issue with is external hard drive is that, its cooling fan is rather quite noisy and make a very noticeable humming noise while it is running.

Package:

The package contents include the standard USB and FireWire cables. Iomega has also thoughtfully included a 25cm wire that connects the MiniMax to the Mac and diminishing all the clutters.

Warranty and Support:

Iomega provides a limited warranty of one year on the Iomega MiniMax hard drive. Registering the drive on the site allows the warranty period to go up to a period of 3 years.

Verdict:

Being designed to match a Mac, it does so with a great deal of ease. The FireWire 800 through port as well as the integrated USB hub are some of the very handy extras. The performance does not let us down either. Overall, it is speedy, spacious, convenient and very reasonably priced Mac companion.

Iomega MiniMax External Hard Drive – Technical Specification Table

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