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| $80.00 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
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| $80.00 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 242 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
136 of 138 found the following review helpful:
 Reliable Dec 06, 2006
By Daniel Von Kohorn
This is my 4th LaCie external drive. I've been running the 160GB and two 250s for 4+ and 2+ years, respectively. I use one as a primary shared repository for files on the home network, including the TiVo. The others are backups. The share drive has been on 24/7 for 2 years. The other drives are only turned on when I need them.
I've seen mixed reviews for these drives, but my experience has been very positive. With the usage outlined above, I have had reliable, fast, and zero-maintenance operation.
91 of 92 found the following review helpful:
Great drive in Firewire version Jun 01, 2007
By David M
"professordavid"
OK, this is the USB version, but I bought the Firewire version. It was a hard choice, but the Firewire is reported to be faster in the real world (even though the technical specs put them close: check out the debate on USB 2 vs Firewire 400).
I had previously bought the smaller version LaCie Porsche Design drive (about 120 GB), and filled it in short order with simple, manual clicking and dragging. Not so the 500 GB. I used SuperDuper to image my MacBook Pro 111 GB drive to it. I only have about 80 GB on it. It took a bit to copy it completely (and do the file checking along the way) and make a bootable image. I want to say more than an hour -- less than two. I then did something radical: I plugged it in as the start-up drive on my iMac at work, and it ran smoothly and without incident. I wasn't sure if the MacBook Pro bootable would run the iMac, but there was no problem.
The drive runs very quietly; I do not hear whirring or otherwise. It's warm to the touch. My previous smaller one did not require an external supply and ran much cooler. This one does require external power. Compared to the elegance of the drive, the power supply is bulky and awkward. The Firewire version was about $170 from LaCIe, but the USB 2 version is substantially cheaper from Amazon. You decide what interface suits you. There is no mention on the LaCie website of a potential Firewire 800 which I would have preferred to purchase.
By the way, I now do SmartUpdate (in SuperDuper) from the MacBook Pro to the LaCie drive and it takes about 20-30 minutes to completely update all the files. I also checked the drive afterwards with disk utility software and found no corrupt files or bad blocks. Although it took me awhile to do this, it did give me peace of mind that the LaCie product (like its predecessor) is a quality drive.
What a deal. 500 GB.
PS: More recent weekly SmartUpdates take under 13 minutes. It must be getting smarter.
75 of 77 found the following review helpful:
Great drive for the money Mar 10, 2007
By Bron
"Bron"
I now have about 8 Lacie external USB drives and they have all been great.
This one is fast, quiet, well designed and easy to install and use. Unlike the 250 GB drives, this one does have a fan, but it is whisper quiet. I acutally did not know it was there until I noticed the vents and put my finger there and could feel the air flow. Then I listened carefully and could hear it (up close). But you will never notice it in normal use.
Easy to install, very cool design, fast, works good. Sounds like a five to me. ;)
24 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Didn't last long even with very occasional use Jan 05, 2008
By 2ManyWords
I bought this drive four months ago strictly to do backups. It worked during very occasional use until today when it died completely with no warning. When I first used it I noticed substantial heat buildup and so made it a point to turn the drive off except when I was actually doing a backup. Over the course of four months I filled the drive to roughly 70% of its actual capacity and was doing a backup today when it froze up. I let it cool off for an hour then powered it back on but its functionality is now limited to producing a clicking sound. I recently retired from 32+ years in the computer field and this isn't the fastest disk failure I've seen but it was one of the fastest. I would not recommend using this drive on a daily basis and not for anything but backup where you don't intend to delete the original files. IF LaCie replaces this I'll give the replacement to someone I don't like very much and shell out a bit more for a drive I can trust.
Their backup software wasn't nearly as good as the freeware backup I normally use. It starts a background process which serves no apparent purpose except to display their logo on the screen every time you log in. Running their backup creates a log which can only be read from a miniature box that displays when the backup is finished. There's no option to save the log or even look at it in a full sized window. I'd be embarrassed to distribute the program even as freeware.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
No issues with this product Jun 16, 2007
By Kris T
I bought this drive because I wanted to have a fan on a drive with this much capacity for maximum reliability. I am completely happy with it:
- This design is the most compact stackable desk drive that I have seen.
- It requires no installation of any description with Win 2000 and later versions.
- The software is simple and very basic but might prove useful to non-tech friendly people (just one click will back up everything in "My Documents" for those who have trouble undrestanding where their files are actually stored).
- The "smart fan" makes it as quiet as the BEST laptops.
- The styling is understated and timeless, not flashy.
I had a couple of USB cables already, so I used one of those for connecting to my desktop but I actually LIKE the short cable that came with it for CONNECTING TO LAPTOPS (who wants 6ft of USB cable trailing across their desk?).
I also like the push on/off button which I find easy to use by feel alone, which some other reviewers have criticised here (and on other LaCie drives) and which I find much easier to use than the fiddly slider switch I have on my older LaCie drive.
The only thing I do not like so much is the rather large power brick, but at least it is not one of those transformer sockets that take up too much space on surge protectors and it is no larger than the bricks shipping with many other peripherals (or even many laptops, for that matter).
See all 242 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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