Product Reviews

The latest version of Iomega's hard drive for the Mac mini, the MiniMax, packs a 500GB, 7200rpm hard drive into its mini-sized enclosure. The MiniMax is designed to sit underneath the Mac mini, and so has the same footprint. It shares the mini's silver and white colour scheme and the two look like they were made for each other when stacked.

In addition to the capacious hard drive, the MiniMax provides additional USB 2 and FireWire ports, making it a powered hub as well as a hard drive. There are three FireWire 400 ports in total, leaving two available when connected to your Mac. And there are three downstream USB 2 ports in addition to the upstream socket. It also has

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its own on/off switch, meaning that, unlike Western Digital's MyBook range, it doesn't automatically switch on and off as your Mac boots and shuts down.

Included in the box are standard USB and FireWire cables and, thoughtfully, a 25cm, white FireWire cable for connecting the MiniMax to your Mac. This saves on cable clutter behind your Mac.

The MiniMax performed very well in our tests. In fact, it beat the external 3.5in drives in our recent Labs test in all but the random read test, where it was matched by the Formac Disk XTR.

As important as speed at this level is price. Hard drive prices are extremely competitive, and it's possible to pick up a 500GB external hard drive for as little as £100. That makes the MiniMax's £140 price tag seem expensive. And it's true that there is a premium to be paid for the convenience and aesthetics of having a hard drive designed specifically for the Mac mini. However, this isn't just a hard drive; it's a USB and FireWire hub as well. Importantly, when both interfaces are connected to the mini, you can specify that the FireWire interface be used for data transfer.

The Iomega MiniMax 500GB is an excellent addition to the Mac mini. It's spacious, speedy, convenient, looks good and is reasonably priced.