The cost of USB external drive storage has come way down. As evidence for this, Iomega has announced the eGo, Portable USB drives, and they are small, stylish, and affordable. The eGo drives include everything necessary to backup and secure your data including on-disk backup, virus scan and antivirus software. The backup solution is a proprietary Iomega suite, but the virus scan is supplied by McAfee. The total package comes together to be a complete package.

Available in Ruby Red, Sparkling Silver and Midnight Blue, the eGo USB drives look stylish enough. The drives themselves come in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB configurations. Each 2.5 inch drive is secured in a anodized aluminum shell and is protected by Iomega's Drop Guard system which should protect your drive heads in case of a fall. Iomega is reporting that the eGo drives should successfully survive a fall from up to 51 inches. Iomega QuickProtect, McAffee Virus Scan, and MozyHome all come bundled right on the drive.

The eGo drives, when available, will cost $135 for the 500GB model and $85 for the 250GB model. 27 cents per GB seems remarkably cheap considering all of the other bells and whistles you get. I am looking forward forstorage technology to continue improving and cheapening. At these prices, there is no excuse for data loss.

via Crunch Gear