NAS shoot-out: Iomega StorCenter px6-300d

Iomega's free and easy replication and remote access services put a shine on the StorCenter

The six-bay Iomega StorCenter px6-300d is the largest array you can get from Iomega before you venture into rack-mount servers, and it's just the kind of box you'd expect to see in a remote office or small to medium-sized business. Considering Iomega's parent EMC is a leader in the enterprise storage market, I had high expectations for this solution.

As it turns out, Iomega's hardware and performance are merely average. However, the Iomega Personal Cloud, which combines easy NAS-to-NAS replication and Web-based file access at no additional charge, distinguishes the Iomega StorCenter NAS. If Iomega keeps the pricing reasonable and works on increasing the performance numbers, it could give Netgear and QNAP a run for their money.

The unit I received for testing has six Hitachi 2TB drives (Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642), but Seagate and Western Digital 1TB and 2TB drives are supported as well. If you want to splurge for 3TB drives, the only choice is the Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723030ALA640.

The six-bay Iomega StorCenter px6-300d is the largest array you can get from Iomega before you venture into rack-mount servers, and it's just the kind of box you'd expect to see in a remote office or small to medium-sized business. Considering Iomega's parent EMC is a leader in the enterprise storage market, I had high expectations for this solution.

As it turns out, Iomega's hardware and performance are merely average. However, the Iomega Personal Cloud, which combines easy NAS-to-NAS replication and Web-based file access at no additional charge, distinguishes the Iomega StorCenter NAS. If Iomega keeps the pricing reasonable and works on increasing the performance numbers, it could give Netgear and QNAP a run for their money.

The unit I received for testing has six Hitachi 2TB drives (Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642), but Seagate and Western Digital 1TB and 2TB drives are supported as well. If you want to splurge for 3TB drives, the only choice is the Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723030ALA640.