It's a shame, I don't know what it is about LaCie products that has shown time and again their quality is lacking. I recall they used the infamous cursed Seagate HDD's with the firmware locking users out, but it seems more than third party components. Having opened many old LaCie units to use the internal HDD's, I was unimpressed with the industrial design. Yes, the aluminum is nice, but overall it was cumbersome and the internal components seemed to be assembled by a high school tech class.
EDIT: just read LorenK's post, funny, we're on the same page
Question: if Apple's current implementation of "TB" (aka "Light Peak") uses copper instead of fiber optics to cut down on costs, why are cables and drives so expensive? I can't imagine the controllers are that pricey, unless patents for third party developers are driving the costs in which case Apple would be slowing adoption and shooting themselves in the foot. If I were Apple and wanted to play it smart, I would assist third party vendors in producing affordable drives to push "TB", otherwise it may become another "FW" variant when it can be so much more.
I've seen a lot of complaints about LaCie reliability. My friend started experiencing problems with his Rugged External HDD almost immediately after buying it. I like their design but I'm weary to actually buy one. It seems like all their HDD products are riddled with reliability issues.