Portable media is taking off in a big way, and devices like the Apple iPod have shown the meager storage limitations of 128MB and even 256MB flash drives just don't cut it anymore. As data increases and balloons in size so too does our need for personal, portable storage.

Recently we tested the great Seagate 5GB USB 2.0 Pocket Drive and now Iomega's joined the USB 2.0 small form-factor hard drive race with a similarly small, but high-capacity drive. However, unlike the Seagate, the Iomega's USB 2.0 cable is not captured -- it's a separate cable.

Offering 40GB of storage, the Iomega drive is very small for its capacity, measuring a mere 8.89 x 7.37 x 1.27cm. It weighs just over 99 grams, which means it's unnoticeable in your pocket. The internal drive is a 40GB Hitachi TravelStar C4K40 -- a new form-factor hard drive, measuring a mere 1.8 inches across (a normal notebook hard drive is 2.5in, a desktop drive 3.5) -- and only about 7mm thick. This new single-platter disk spins at 4200rpm and has an average seek time of 12.0 ms. This isn't bad for such a small, high-capacity drive.

The times to copy to and from the drive were good, but the slick form-factor is really the star attraction. It's certainly a far cry from 3.5 and even 2.5-inch drive enclosures, and although the price compared to other storage options is high, the capacity-for-size ratio is off the chart.