Iomega Peerless (2001 - 2004) | Museum of Obsolete Media (original) (raw)
The Peerless was a hard disk cartridge system launched by Iomega in 2001. It consisted of a 2.5-inch hard disk drive in a rugged cartridge with an element of shock protection, a drive dock in which the cartridge sat vertically, and an interface module to connect to the computer.
Peerless cartridges were available in 10 and 20 GB form, and the interface module was available with USB and FireWire connections for PCs and Macs. A power supply was also necessary for USB connection, and sometimes for FireWire. SCSI and USB 2.0 interfaces were planned but it’s unclear whether these were released.
At the time of its launch, the Peerless system was marketed as being capable of migrating an entire PC’s contents, editing digital video, or housing a library of music in MP3 format. Iomega also showed mock-ups at the 2001 CES of Peerless cartridges being used in a digital video recorder, an in-car entertainment system and a Nintento 64 video game console, but the Peerless system was never used in any of these.
The Peerless system was expensive, with a dock and 10 GB cartridge costing £340 in 2001. A 20 GB cartridge alone cost £169.
The Peerless system disappeared from the Iomega website in 2004, replaced by the new Iomega REV hard disk cartridge system.