Iomega Revs May End Tales of the Tape

Iomega recently announced the REV 120GB Backup Drive, the third-generation of the company’s popular removable storage drives. The company claims that the REV 120’s larger capacity makes it an even stronger competitor to tape-based data backup.

While tape backup might still show signs of life, according to Tom Kampfer, Iomega’s president and COO, when it comes to small business, it’s “definitely worn out its welcome.” He bases that opinion on Iomega’s previous success with the REV 35 and REV 70 backup drives, specifically an install base of 350,000 drives and 2 million disks.

Not surprisingly, Kampfer’s quite ardent about the new product. “The REV 120 drive is the gold standard for quick, random access backup,” he said. “It’s a complete solution – drive, disk and software – that you can have up and running in minutes, so there’s no reason not to protect your business.”

The Iomega REV 120 GB Backup Drive comes in both external USB 2.0 and internal SATA versions.

Comparing the REV 120GB Backup Drive to entry-level tape products such as the LTO-1 and DAT160 format tape drives, Kampfer said in a written statement that the REV 120GB provides “more native capacity, near instantaneous random access to files, faster backups and restores, and ruggedized cartridges – all at a much better drive price.”

The REV 120 differs from its lower-capacity REV siblings in an important way. The 120 uses new perpendicular recording technology instead of the traditional longitudinal. Simply put, it stacks data vertically, or perpendicular to the disk, which allows for a lot more space and thus higher capacity in the same 2.5-inch cartridge. According to Iomega, a single 120GB REV disk holds approximately 48,000 photos, 2,000 hours of music or 12 hours of high-definition video.

Kampfer noted that the new technology prevents the REV 120 from being fully backward compatible with REV 35 and REV 70 disks. The REV 120 drive does not support the 35GB disks. However, the drive can read, but it can’t write to the REV 70 disks. “There’s a significant difference between the technologies, but the 120’s backward-read compatibility lets customers with the REV 70 migrate their data to the higher capacity solution,” he said.

The drive, which includes one removable 120GB disk and EMC’s Retrospect Express data backup software, will be available worldwide in the first half of April, Kampfer said, in both external USB 2.0 and internal SATAversions. The REV 120 server solution includes CA’s BrightStor ArcServe backup software.

The disks will also be available individually or in packs of five. The company plans an ATAPI version of the drive mid-year.

Although Kampfer wouldn’t be specific about pricing, he did say we could expect “an aggressive price compared to the current REV 70.” That drive currently sells for $599 (the REV 35 sells for $399), and Kampfer said that the REV 120’s price would be “even more aggressive.”

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com