Lacie USB drive at Apple's Time Capsule

Qjuu · 06:01 PM

Hi,

I consider to use an USB drive (maybe "LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk" with 1TB) at Apple's Time Capsule via USB for my iTunes library. I have some questions about it and I hope someone here can help me!

(1) Standby:
An USB drive directly connected with my Mac goes to standby everytime my Mac sleeps or when I don't access the drive ("auto-mode" at Lacie's power switch). But Time Capsule (the router) does never go to standby! Does this mean, my USB drive will be in use everytime and does not standby?

(2) Availability:
I want to use this drive as mass storage for my itunes library (music and video). I don't want to use a NAS because only one Mac accesses and I like the simplicity of USB. No AFP, no SMB, no user accounts - just lots of storage

So...how is the availability of an USB device connected to Apples router? Is it everytime connected and available - after sleep or reboot of my Mac? And does it appear in finder like a directly connected USB drive? This is important for me, because I want to access the drive also for TV recordings or with Apple TV (via my Mac).

(3) Real life performace:
As said above, I don't want to use a NAS. So how is the performance of an USB device driven at Time Capsule over Draft-N WiFi? Can I access Non-HD videos with maybe 5-7MBit/s? I assume HD video will not work over WiFi (?). An what will be the bottleneck? USB 2.0 or Draft-N WiFi?

(4) Noise of LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk:
It's hard to find good reviews about Lacie devices! I found just a handful... Can anyone here tell me about the sound intensity of the LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk? I read at lacie.com this drive is fanless?? And how is this USB-drive else? Any problems I should know?

Thanks a lot,
Qjuu

sondhead · Feb 19, 2008, 06:36 PM

I used to do this. It's a pain. It will automatically connect when you start up your computer or bring it back from sleep or whatever, and appears in finder as an external USB hard drive would, but if you put your computer to sleep whilst connected to the air drive, it can really screw things up. Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes it'll never let you connect to the hard drive again until you reset everything, like it's "stuck." Never was able to get an answer on why this happens from apple, even after a replacement of my AirPort Extreme Pre-N router.

Qjuu · Feb 20, 2008, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sondhead

I used to do this. It's a pain. It will automatically connect when you start up your computer or bring it back from sleep or whatever, and appears in finder as an external USB hard drive would, but if you put your computer to sleep whilst connected to the air drive, it can really screw things up. Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes it'll never let you connect to the hard drive again until you reset everything, like it's "stuck." Never was able to get an answer on why this happens from apple, even after a replacement of my AirPort Extreme Pre-N router.

Wow....sounds not so good

Should I consider then a disk connected directly to my Mac? I need a reliable connection to the storage! But I liked this WiFi router solution....

Does anyone have an idea about the other points? Especially point 1 (standby) is important to me.

Qjuu · Feb 21, 2008, 06:05 PM

Update: I consider now the "LaCie 2big Triple" - it's also an USB/Firewire disk, but it has Raid1.

But @my point 4: I found only _one_ review (http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/rev...main24098.html) about this disk...really strange! Maybe I'm to foolish to search the internet

...but I've no problems with other products (synology for instance).

Any experience here? If so...please check my first post in this thread.

Thanks!

Feb 19, 2008, 05:52 PM	#1
Qjuu macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2008	Lacie USB drive at Apple's Time Capsule Hi, I consider to use an USB drive (maybe "LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk" with 1TB) at Apple's Time Capsule via USB for my iTunes library. I have some questions about it and I hope someone here can help me! (1) Standby: An USB drive directly connected with my Mac goes to standby everytime my Mac sleeps or when I don't access the drive ("auto-mode" at Lacie's power switch). But Time Capsule (the router) does never go to standby! Does this mean, my USB drive will be in use everytime and does not standby? (2) Availability: I want to use this drive as mass storage for my itunes library (music and video). I don't want to use a NAS because only one Mac accesses and I like the simplicity of USB. No AFP, no SMB, no user accounts - just lots of storage So...how is the availability of an USB device connected to Apples router? Is it everytime connected and available - after sleep or reboot of my Mac? And does it appear in finder like a directly connected USB drive? This is important for me, because I want to access the drive also for TV recordings or with Apple TV (via my Mac). (3) Real life performace: As said above, I don't want to use a NAS. So how is the performance of an USB device driven at Time Capsule over Draft-N WiFi? Can I access Non-HD videos with maybe 5-7MBit/s? I assume HD video will not work over WiFi (?). An what will be the bottleneck? USB 2.0 or Draft-N WiFi? (4) Noise of LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk: It's hard to find good reviews about Lacie devices! I found just a handful... Can anyone here tell me about the sound intensity of the LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk? I read at lacie.com this drive is fanless?? And how is this USB-drive else? Any problems I should know? Thanks a lot, Qjuu Last edited by Qjuu : Feb 19, 2008 at 06:01 PM.

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Feb 19, 2008, 06:36 PM	#2
sondhead macrumors newbie Join Date: Feb 2008	I used to do this. It's a pain. It will automatically connect when you start up your computer or bring it back from sleep or whatever, and appears in finder as an external USB hard drive would, but if you put your computer to sleep whilst connected to the air drive, it can really screw things up. Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes it'll never let you connect to the hard drive again until you reset everything, like it's "stuck." Never was able to get an answer on why this happens from apple, even after a replacement of my AirPort Extreme Pre-N router.

Feb 21, 2008, 06:05 PM	#4
Qjuu Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2008	Update: I consider now the "LaCie 2big Triple" - it's also an USB/Firewire disk, but it has Raid1. But @my point 4: I found only _one_ review (http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/rev...main24098.html) about this disk...really strange! Maybe I'm to foolish to search the internet ...but I've no problems with other products (synology for instance). Any experience here? If so...please check my first post in this thread. Thanks!