Iomega Debuts Two New eGo Portable Drives

Iomega's new eGo BlackBelt is ruggedized to better survive life on the go, while the eGo Encrypt is rugged and features hardware-based encryption.

Storage vendor Iomega has rolled out two new portable hard drives designed to appeal to road warriors who need a little something extra besides raw storage capacity and a USB port. Iomega’s eGo Encrypt Portable Hard Drive offers hardware-based encryption to make sure all data on the drive is protected from unauthorized access, while the eGo BlackBelt Portable Hard Drive offers extra resistance to the bumps and shocks of portable computing with Iomega’s Drop Guard Xtreme.

"Adding two exciting models to our eGo Portable Hard Drive lineup is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to having the most rugged and stylistic portable drives in the marketplace today," said Iomega VP of marketing Peter Wharton, in a statement.

The eGo BlackBelt features a 250 capacity and the Iomega Drop Guard Xtreme system which claims to protect the drive from falls as high as seven feet. The drive also runs off bus power, so there’s no need to carry around an separate power adapter. It’s available now, works with Windows PCs and Macs, and carries a suggested price of $119.99.

The eGo Encrypt also incorporates Drop Guard Xtreme technology, but also offers hardware-based 128-bit AES encryption: the encryption software is pre-loaded on the drive and comes with a management utility. The drive automatically locks when the USB cable is removed&mash;and the drive runs off bus power so, again, no separate AC brick. The 320 GB eGo Encrypt is priced at $149.99 and requires Windows 2000/XP/Vista; it should be available later this month.

Both new eGo drives ship with EMC Retrospect backup software and 2GB of free online backups via MozyHome.