Iomega joins the 4x burner fray with a solid and surprisingly low-priced offering. How does it compare to the competition? You'll have to read our Australian review to find out.The Iomega brand name has one simple association, and that's storage. From keychain USB to ZIP drives, JAZ disks to NAS servers, Iomega has a presence in just about every segment of the storage market. It's little surprise, then, that its foray into 4x DVD burners is a solid effort with an emphasis on data backup.
Iomega's opted to sit on the +R/RW side of the DVD burning fence, which means that (until matters are sorted) blanks for the drive may be a touch more costly than their -R/RW cousins, but you do gain the advantages of the + format. From a DVD burning perspective, the drive works at a claimed rate of 4x +R burning, 2.4x +RW burning and 16x CD-RW burning. It'll read pretty much any disc you put into it with the exception of DVD-RAM, has Burn-proof capabilities and a 2MB cache. Iomega backs up the 4x2.4x12x DVD+RW drive with a one-year warranty.
Installation of the burner is the usual affair with IDE drives; Iomega provides the necessary screws and cables, along with a very slim installation booklet that guides the user through hardware installation. Software installation involves the installation of six different packages; Hotburn Pro is the main burning package, but you also get Iomega Automatic Backup for data backup, Sonic MyDVD 4 for DVD movie authoring, Sonic CinePlayer for DVD movie playback, MusicMatch Jukebox for MP3 functionality and Adobe Activeshare.
We've said it before; Hotburn is an essentially dull but workable product. It's perfectly adequate for novice users, but those looking for more flexibility will at least need to set it to the advanced interface, if not look to a better product altogether. The 52x Iomega CD-RW drive we reviewed here came with the latest version of Ahead Nero Burning ROM, which is DVD Burner capable; why can't this one?
We put the Iomega 4x2.4x12x DVD+RW through the same paces as the drives in our recent 4x burner roundup, and it revealed a drive that doesn't stun the competition, but certainly has enough power to satisfy most needs. With a single 383MB file, the drive clocked in at 2:27 to write to +RW media and 2:06 to read back, placing it behind the Sony DRU-500AX and Plextor PX-504A, but ahead of the HP DVD 300i drive. With a 500MB directory of files, it edged out all but the Plextor drive with a write time of 2:55, and all but the HP in read terms with an overall time of 3:11.
Those test results paint the Iomega 4x2.4x12 DVD+RW as an average drive, which might not be enough to endear it to consumers looking to squeeze the last drop of speed out of their systems. The drive does one have highly endearing feature, however, and that's the price. With a recommended RRP of AU$599, and a street price that's considerably lower, the Iomega 4x4.2x12 makes the DVD burning space even more competitive; it's cheaper than the HP and Plextor drives, and while it doesn't have the multi-format capacity of the Sony DRU-500AX, it can be had for nearly half the price. So far in the DVD burning race, it's -R/RW drives and media that have been driving the bottom end of the market, but Iomega's drive might just turn that equation around.
Iomega 4x2.4x12x DVD+RW
Company: Iomega Australia
Price: AU$599
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: (02) 8223 9140
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