Review: Iomega iConnect

Here's a simple device that'll share up to four USB hard drives (or two drives and two printers) on your network. It has both wireless and wired connections, and a Web interface for configuring the whole shebang.

Yup, it works - and very well, at that. It's mostly a 'hands off' device - set it up and leave it in a corner to do its job. Just like you would with a modem or server.

Configuration is a cinch, thanks to the Web interface used for setting up the device. Using this, it's possible to grant per-user permissions for certain file shares or printers, in addition to managing the users you want to have access to any shares on the network.

Also available through the Web interface is an option to configure network backups - for Mac users, this will let the iConnect be recognised as a Time Machine device. This makes data safety a lot more convenient and leaves no room for excuses like “I forgot to plug in my backup drive”.

With storage being as cheap as it is, adding three two-terabyte drives via USB is a reality. Throw a printer on the fourth USB port, and you've got a mini home server. Iomega's even been kind enough to throw in a BitTorrent client, so there's no need to leave a PC running while downloads complete.

It'll also scan attached drives for media files and share those via the UPnP media server: Windows Media Player and iTunes will easily detect shared content and play it across the network.

Wireless connectivity is great, supporting up to 802.11n, and the Ethernet port is of the gigabit variety. Speeds are good and signal is stable. Nothing to complain about, as far as this goes.

For all the good, there's very little bad. But bad there is. The device is a bit behind the curve, boasting only USB 2.0 ports, rather than the newer 3.0 variety. It's not a huge bummer, but when those faster drives come out it'll be nice to take advantage of the speed boost.

Cable clutter can also be a problem. Three ports are on the front and another round the back, with the power connector. It's not like we need convenient access to the ports on the front (let alone three of them), and cable management would've been easier with all of the wires sticking out of just one side. Not a deal killer, though.

It's affordable and does what it says, so it's worth buying. Don't expect big NAS functionality from it - if data redundancy and mega security are what you're after, there are more focused (and expensive) solutions. For home, and your fast-growing collection of media storage hard drives, this is perfect.