Splendid choice, for best value.
If you're, like me, looking for a good, large external HD that's resistant, reliable, fast, big (in storage capacity), cool-running, stylish and for the right price, then I'd say you look no further.

I've had this HD for about 2 weeks now, carrying it everyday with me along with my laptop in a regular backpack. The aluminum case looks and feels very resistant to minor bumps, scratches and signs of wear, while keeping it light and cool. The included plastic vertical stand is very handy and grips right into the unit's body, so you can always choose to place it vertically or horizontally. The LED activity indicator in the front looks cool, and is not too flashy and bright like other external devices I've seen.

I've read other reviews saying that this unit is noisy. All I can say about this is that I don't understand why can anyone think this thing is noisy... It makes a very small and quiet sound when I turn it on, and when I say quiet, I mean you have to be in a completely silent room to be able to hear it from more than a couple of feet away. After that, I can barely hear it at all. It's quieter than my laptop's internal HD. In fact, when I was formatting it just after unpacking it, I thought it was defective, because I couldn't hear a single noise from it.

It's cool too, it never heats up as much as to feel "hot", just warm. Heck, the keyboard on my laptop heats up more than this thing sometimes!
It's fast, too. A lot faster than my laptop's internal unit, at least. I've installed a few games in it (one of the main reasons I got it for, the 100GB on my laptop not being enough) and they run like a breeze. Load times are minimal, and in-game streaming is just seamless. Also, it is pretty fast for running through my media library. I use Media Player 11, and it accesses my music and videos a lot faster than my internal HD does.

Well, these are just some examples. I can't really compare it to another external HD, since this is the only one I currently use. I can say that I've seen some 500GB units that are a lot uglier, bulkier and noisier than this one, and for much more money.

So, to sum it up, If you're looking for an external HD, I truly recommend this one, for value, performance, reliability and aesthetics.

Outstanding
This is a great deal. I've had this hard drive for about a month now and I haven't had any problems. It is very quiet. If it is working hard it gives off a low hum. It does get a little warm but not anyhting too noticeable.

Buen Producto
El disco es bueno, no hace mucho ruido y comodo de precio. Para tener 500gb es una ganga !

Silencioso y sencillo
Es un buen disco duro. No sé porque lo critican de ruidoso, si apenas se escucha. La carcaza es de plástico pero las dos tapas laterales grandes son de aluminio. La luz que parpadea es azul.

El sistema lo reconoce como disco duro de inmediato y le asigna su propia papelera de reciclaje.

Lo compré por el precio y por el tamaño. Tambien es de mejor apariencia que los modelos parecidos.

Importante: Si usa Windows Vista/XP/2000 es recomendable formatearlo en NTSF porque el formato FAT32 que trae no permite grabar archivos mayores a 4 Gb.
Para alargar la vida útil del disco le recomiendo utilizarlo sólo como respaldo de datos. No lo deje conectado innecesariamente.

Avoid this company!
Don't waste your time and money on this company! I purchased this hard drive so that I could have a safe place to store a copy of the information on my computer. The drive worked fine for a couple of months, and then began to make loud clicking noises. In addition, it took my computer a long time (an hour or more) to recognize that the drive was attached, and backing up took more than 24 hours. I contacted Iomega on-line (you can't call them unless you pay $25 or have paid extra for a service plan) and had to engage in a slow and tedious chat session. All they could offer to do was to replace the drive. I did this, and now after 2 months this new (refurbished) drive is acting the same way. I contacted Iomega again and asked to return the drive for a credit so I could try a different product, and was told all they could do was to send me the identical drive with a 90 day warranty. I find this company and their products a huge disappointment.