Iomega has announced their Never Down software, launched in conjunction with the launch of their new high capacity eSATA interface desktop hard drives. 

Iomega Never Down is billed as a new safety net for Windows PCs utilising an eSATA interface. 

Iomega Never Down software is a system protection program that combines total system backups with instant system recovery.  With Never Down software, users can easily boot and work from their backup drive before even replacing their failed hard drive.  The software works by keeping a complete, uncompressed backup copy of a Windows laptop or desktop computer’s system drive on an external eSATA hard drive. The speed and performance of the eSATA 3.0 Gbits/sec interface, up to 6 times faster than USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed USB), ensures that backup, recovery and operation from the external drive proceeds at internal hard drive speeds.

Unlike a RAID 1 setup where all data is copied to two drives at once (a process known as mirroring), Never Down creates backup copies manually or through Microsoft’s Scheduled Task Wizard. The advantage for Never Down users is that they can always revert back to their last intact backup copy and continue their work, whereas viruses and hacker attacks can disable both drives in a RAID 1 array simultaneously.

Iomega Never Down software is shipping with new Iomega eSATA desktop hard drives.   These include the Iomega eSATA 3 Gbits/USB 2.0 Professional Hard Drive, available in single drive 500GB and 750GB capacities, additionally the new 1.5TB Iomega UltraMax Pro Desktop Hard Drive that features eSATA 3GBits and USB 2.0 interfaces.


The Iomega Never Down software is compatible with Windows 2000 Professional; XP Home/XP Professional/ XP Professional x64 and Windows Vista.  The boot from eSATA feature requires an eSATA PCI card that support booting from an external drive.

Available now from Iomega, pricing ranges from USD$170.95 for 500 Gb to 1.5 Tb for USD$596.95 and other capacities in between.