Hard-disk autoloader a tape killer?

Throughout, the best procedure was to load each installed cartridge. You can do that either from the three-button front-panel array or by right-clicking the REV Loader icon in My Computer. Once loaded, a relatively short format takes about 11 seconds per cartridge, so it's a painless method of ensuring that all is well. And it only needs to be done once for any cartridge.

With everything working in sync, backups are a snap. The drive works in almost total silence. The only noise is apparent when one cartridge is disgorged back into its slot, and the transport moves on to the next and then sucks that cartridge in. Backups speed along at a tad above 1GB per minute using our test backup suite consisting of 142GB of MPEG 2 video files.

The Last Word

With the REV Loader 560 street priced around $1,500 and four-packs of REV 70 cartridges running anywhere from $200 to $225, this is not desktop backup for the average consumer unless you running a heavy-duty media center that you really want to secure. For most desktop installations, Iomega's less-expensive REV 70 external USB drive will do just fine.

Iomega's REV Loader 560 is meant for small and midsize businesses, especially if you have a geek living in the closet down the hall who can do the initial setup. The disk cartridges will withstand mishandling better than tape cartridges, and the system is overall faster than tape.