LaCie big disk 500 gb??

[pianodude123]

For xmas, I recieved a 300 GB firewire 400/usb 2.0 maxtor 1touch II drive. However, I am about to return it and buy the LaCie big disk 500 GB from the Apple store. The price difference is only 90 dollars. At first I thought this was a no brainer, because in Macworld, they had given LaCie the best reviews. However, at apple.com, there were more people that gave this drive bad ratings than good ratings, saying that it crashed...etc...please help me. I am looking for a good external hard drive that is well supported by apple. It should preferably be greater than 300 GB and not more than $400. Is this lacie not a good drive??

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...YJ1mV9GWoK/3.SLID?mco=D78C1D23&nplm=T9567LL/B

read the reviews...and tell me whether you disagree...anywho, I will be going to the apple store today to ask a "genius" about this drive...so I need a reply within the next 15 mins!!!

 

[OutThere]

My friend has the drive, and my experience using it and hearing his experiences using it have been very positive. Might want to get a longer cable for it so you can put it in a closet or something, as it can sometimes be very loud.

 

[Blue Velvet]

It has two drives in it in a RAID configuration... we have one at work for backup purposes. So if one drive within it fails you lose all your data.

It's probably noisy in a home environment but I can't hear it in the office over the noise of all the other pieces of equipment.

Unlike the previous 320gb model we had, I've never had a problem with mounting it.

Fast, though. With FW800, that is.

 

[MovieCutter]

I have 7 of those drives hooked up to my Quad. No problems here.

 

[JW8725]

LaCie = Noise Noise Noise! I learnt the hard way! Lucky for me, ePay saved me and I sold it off!

 

[maya]

That is very true, with LaCie there is quite a far bit of noise. I used to have a Lacie FW 400 120GB with the blue light and AL case, however after a little over a year it died on me during a back-up when moving to Panther. Worse part is I tried everything to rescue it and nothing helped, even called LaCie and told them that it was my "back-up" drive and it dies since I was doing a clean install of Panther at the time. No luck.

However, I bought another internal drive and put it into the LaCie case and it is very silent. Plus it only spins from time to time, 8MB buffer.

Next time I am going to just buy an external case and internal HDD and do the work myself as you can get a 200GB with FW case for 90 CAD these days if not less.

 

[puckhead193]

everyone complains about noise yet mine isn't that loud... it makes noise but its nothing i can't tolerate...

 

[plinkoman]

yea, seriously, i have a lacie drive..

no noise...

i think this is just another one of those things that are blown way out of proportion... seriously, mine is virtually silent...

 

[kwajaln]

It's probably noisy in a home environment but I can't hear it in the office over the noise of all the other pieces of equipment.

Reasonable assumption, but VERY WRONG!! I have the exact HD being asked about in the original post and it is extemely quiet. It sits on the table right next to the printer and I have to strain to hear it when it's on.
So far I am extremely happy with it so I would highly recommend making the purchase.

 

[pianodude123]

I bought the 250gb triple interface d2 yesterday....

 

[dops7107]

I have 7 of those drives hooked up to my Quad. No problems here.

Seven? That must be noisy! pianodude123: I'm perfectly happy with my LaCie drive (not the 500 GB) - noise, performance and even, yes, looks.

However, I bought another internal drive and put it into the LaCie case and it is very silent. Plus it only spins from time to time, 8MB buffer.

That's good to hear - I am planning on doing just that if mine croaks after the warrranty is up.

 

[JW8725]

I bought the 250gb triple interface d2 yesterday....

Well?? Is it noisy??

 

[pianodude123]

It is the single platter one...so, no, but it does occasionally vibrate the top of my powermac...

 

[jtown]

Nobody's mentioned one obvious fact when talking about noise. LaCie doesn't necessarily use the same hard drives in every unit they produce. They could (and probably do) switch from one manufacturer to another depending on who's got the best price at the time. One 500 gig unit might contain two noisy drives from Manufacturer X while another has quiet drives from Manufacturer Y. And newer models could have a single drive from manufacturer Z.

All they have to do is meet the specs on the box.