iomega home media network hard drive
I’ve always wanted to test one of these units, and today I finally got one (since the price has dropped significantly since I first saw them).
My main worry was that it would not support SMB (windows) sharing.
When I first investigated the HMNHD, the only information I could find, would never mentioned SMB, and just mentioned using the iomega “sharing software”.
The last thing I want is to install special “custom” software on each PC in the network… if you add a new PC a few months later… you need to dig out the CDs (if they haven’t been lost), and install the software on the PC… and since MS seems to be churning out a new Windows every other year, there is a good chance that the CD software won’t be compatible… then you need to wander the iomega website looking for the @#$& software.
So, when I plugged it into my home network, I logged into my router, found out the IP address of the HMNHD (grrr, I wish iomega had given this thing a better name… even something like HoMeNeHa…)
Anyway, I used my browser to connect to the HMNHD, and quickly found that it does support SMB. woohoo!
My next step was to give it the workgroup name I use in my network, and then I could find it in “my network places”, and a test copy and delete of a file showed that it was working well.
Next, I went to search the iomega website for updated firmware.
My unit had V2.040. The iomega website didn’t make it easy, but I finally found what I think is the latest firmware (2.063) at: http://download.iomega.com/english/hmnhd_firmware-2063-d31505205.zip
A few minutes later, the firmware was updated, and by this stage, the unit had been running for 3 hours… yet there was no sign of overheating (which I always look for in 3.5″ external drives)
All up, I’m very impressed with this unit.
It has features that I’m not really interested in, but its useful to know it does interesting things like: facebook uploads, flickr uploads, youtube uploads, auto image resize and “watermark, email distribution list, torrent downloads, FTP, etc
Keep in mind that I haven’t stress-tested the HMNHD, but with 1 Tb of storage, it should be more than adequate for most homes and small businesses.
This sounds like it could be a very usable solution for residential customers as well.
As people have more and more ‘important’ stuff on their PCs / Laptops, it might be a good place to back up their docs, pics, music, etc.
Somewhat related…
I have become fond of apps like SyncBack, but for the average home user, I think it is still difficult for them to add and configure new folders to back up (especially since most POP3 mail clients store mail in hidden folders). It would be nice to learn of something that is as ‘smart’ as Carbonite, but works on local network shares instead of across the internet.
Are you steering your more data-laden customers towards backup solutions? If so, I would be interested in learning what you like.
I’ve been after a network drive for a while, but I’m not really sure what to buy. I assume this plugs straight into the router? I don’t want to install drivers on every PC.
Pedro: I also like using syncback. I don’t know of anything “smarter”.
I think anything smarter will need frequent updates.
All it take is MS to release another version of Windows, and suddenly you need to backup emails from a different location… and also know about the 101 different email clients… a nightmare.
John: yes, it plugs straight into the router.
And I guess I wasn’t clear in my article: SMB means you can access the drive from PCs without installing any silly “drivers”.