Iomega and EMC Join Forces To Make Easy Backup Solutions

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Iomega Corporation (recently acquired by EMC) today announced a new service that integrates local and remote backup in a single product offering. Iomega external hard drives are now rolling out with a new downloadable software bundle that integrates EMC Retrospect Express software with Mozy online backup service, vastly improving the convenience of securely storing, protecting and accessing important files.

Today, buyers of Iomega external hard drives can now choose the version of Retrospect Express backup software that is right for their needs, as well as the easy-to-use added bonus of 2GB of MozyHome online backup for free or unlimited MozyHome online backup storage for $4.95 a month.

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EMC MozyHome is a consumer service that enables Windows and Mac users to securely back up important files - such as photos, music, videos, and financial documents - over the Internet to EMC data centers. By automatically sending copies of these files to a safe, remote location, MozyHome provides protection against fire, theft, natural disaster, and all the other unexpected events from which a &quot;local&quot; backup provides no relief. And because MozyHome backs up throughout the day and night, it provides an additional layer of protection from hardware failure and accidental deletion. With 2GB of free storage, MozyHome makes it easy to try online backup.

New buyers of Iomega hard drives will receive in the product box details on how to download the free license of the Retrospect Express software of their choice (for Windows or Macintosh platforms) and the MozyHome Free 2GB, as well as the offer of unlimited MozyHome online storage for $4.95 a month. Owners of Iomega hard drives that have previously downloaded Retrospect can update to these latest versions free of charge either through automatic product updates or by manually clicking on &quot;Update.&quot; Registered Iomega customers with product still under warranty will be sent emails giving them information on how they can participate in this program as well.

There are three free download options of Retrospect software available to new owners of Iomega hard drives:

Retrospect Express HD 2.5 for Windows (includes MozyHome integration) protects the contents of a PC by regularly making a backup copy and storing the backup on a second local hard drive or one on the network. A setup wizard guides the user through three quick steps: choose what to protect, select a hard drive to hold the backups, and set a schedule.

Retrospect Express 7.6 for Windows (with integrated launch into MozyHome or MozyPro) is more configurable for advanced users, protecting a single Windows computer by backing up to internal and external hard drives, NAS devices, CD/DVDs and removable drives. A launch button for MozyHome and MozyPro online backup software is built into Retrospect Express 7.6.

Retrospect Express for Macintosh 6.1 protects a single Macintosh desktop or notebook computer by backing up to internal and external hard drives, NAS devices, CD/DVDs and removable drives. MozyHome online backup service has not yet been integrated into Retrospect Express for Macintosh 6.1, but the MozyHome software available on the Iomega download site and supports Mac OS X 10.4 and above.

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Iomega Portable and Desktop Hard Drives

New Iomega products featuring these backup applications include the popular eGo portable hard drive, available in 160GB, 250GB and 320 GB models. Also included are Iomega's line of 3.5-inch desktop hard drives range in capacity from 500GB to 1.5TB, including the recently announced 1TB Iomega eGo Desktop Hard Drive. Iomega desktop hard drives are available as USB 2.0 only, dual interface (USB 2.0 and Firewire 400, or USB 2.0 and eSATA), triple interface (USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and Firewire800), and tetra interface models (USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 and eSATA).

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Availability

Iomega external hard drives with the new downloadable software bundle that integrates EMC Retrospect Express software with Mozy online backup service will be available this month in the U.S. and available to international markets later this summer.

Users of EMC Retrospect Express can upgrade for a fee to EMC Retrospect Professional for Windows or Desktop for Macintosh.

 

Oh wow somebody actually bought iomega? After the zip drive died in popularity, iomega's profits quickly went south and nobody cared about them anymore.

 

True. Their external hard drives aren't bad at all (though the style might not be to everyone's liking). Kevin reviewed one of those Iomega drives a week or two ago and it performed quite well for an external drive over USB.

The new backup software gives customers another reason to consider Iomega drives when they're looking to buy external storage, but it remains to be seen if this is something that consumers really want. Although backing up to "the cloud" is probably the best way to make sure your files survive if something happens to your computer hardware (theft, fire, flood, etc.) most people are probably a little concerned over the security of their personal files after they've been backed up to an outside data center.