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I've narrowed my choice down: pls help choose hard drive!

P

PDE

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 16, 2005
2,484
18
I'm about to order a hard drive that I will mainly use for backup over my wireless network (AEBS) and sometimes directly to my computer. I'm mainly concerned with reliability:

1. WD my book pro 500gb

2. Lacie Quad D 500gb

3. Segate freeagent pro 500gb

They're all about the same price - how'd you rate the companies and the reliability of their products?

Thanks...I hate reading customer reviews, just confuses it all.
 
I've always bought LaCie and never had a problem.

WD MyBooks are cheap and available, and don't look half bad, but they like to spin down a lot. I find this makes them slow and laggy, not something you want for a network drive.
 
Are the my book pros noisy? I went for the lacie, but it's so damn noisy I can't use it on my desk! I would go crazy using this frequently. Also, it took around 1 hour 25 minutes to copy 75gb of data with firewire 800. Seemed slow, but I don't really know because my old backup drive is old and slow. This seemed as slow, if not slower.

The noise is what bothers me the most. Don't know, maybe I'll return it tomorrow and get a my book pro - as long as they're quiet?
 
1. WD my book pro 500gb

2. Lacie Quad D 500gb

3. Segate freeagent pro 500gb

They're all about the same price - how'd you rate the companies and the reliability of their products?
Click to expand...

I have the Lacie 500 GB Quad and am very satisfied with speed and ease of backups. This is a very quiet drive and not noticable at all sitting 3 feet from drive (bottom of end table while I sit in my Lazyboy recliner).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed as far as reliability goes. They're all subject to failures (which is why we backup, isn't it?). I've read where Lacie has some Quality Control issues but I have escaped any problems over the 3-1/2 years I have had their products. I've only had this 500 GB drive for about 6 weeks now but it works flawlessly and the many formats to use should keep it from being obsolete for a few years anyway. I plan on getting a few more 500's for additional loads of backups and TV shows.

Good luck. ;)
 
Hard drive choice is usually something you have to figure out on your own. I've only ever had one HD ever fail on me and it was a Western Digital. But a friend of mine swears by WD and will buy nothing else.

I think all manufacturers are similar, the only thing I could say about your choices is that, I believe, Seagate offers a 5-year warranty which is incredible.
 
dapetrun said:
I have the Lacie 500 GB Quad and am very satisfied with speed and ease of backups. This is a very quiet drive and not noticable at all sitting 3 feet from drive (bottom of end table while I sit in my Lazyboy recliner).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed as far as reliability goes. They're all subject to failures (which is why we backup, isn't it?). I've read where Lacie has some Quality Control issues but I have escaped any problems over the 3-1/2 years I have had their products. I've only had this 500 GB drive for about 6 weeks now but it works flawlessly and the many formats to use should keep it from being obsolete for a few years anyway. I plan on getting a few more 500's for additional loads of backups and TV shows.

Good luck. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Then maybe there is something iffy about the drive I got because I can hear it clearly when it's writing/accessing in the other room. I guess I'll try replacing it for another one before I give up.

Cheers,
 
I was just listening to the drive and what disturbs me the most is the very loud clicking sounds - sometimes just a few after each other, but sometimes many in a row like a machine gun. Does yours have any clicking sounds that you'd notice? I understand that they're not completely silent, but I've just never experienced these sounds before and trying to figure out if it's me or if I really should just return and get another one - or change to another manufacturer.

thanks
 
hhmm im leaning towards the lacie. they are really stable and have good warranties. easy to use aswell, good permission settings. access via TCP/IP aswell is a v good feature.
 
I LOVE my Seagate FreeAgent Pro already. Picked up the 500gb last week. I never hear it, it looks great, and most importantly the performance seems very good. Add in Seagate's 5-year warranty on the thing and it's tough to beat.
 
PDE said:
I was just listening to the drive and what disturbs me the most is the very loud clicking sounds - sometimes just a few after each other, but sometimes many in a row like a machine gun. Does yours have any clicking sounds that you'd notice? I understand that they're not completely silent, but I've just never experienced these sounds before and trying to figure out if it's me or if I really should just return and get another one - or change to another manufacturer.

thanks
Click to expand...

I REMEMBER THAT SOUND! That is the same sound my Sony Vaio laptop made before the hard drive failed! It was only 1 year old and took many pictures and tax info when it went. I now backup religously and my finanacial data is double backed on a USB stick. I don't think you'll have any trouble with Lacie in replacing your drive once you tell them about the noise it is
making. :D

Really big dogs don't need to bark! I just growl...
 
Well, I returned the lacie because it just was too noisy - they charged me a restocking fee since they claimed 'they're just like that'. Oh well....

I'm leaning toward the seagate now....not crazy about the fact that you have to use either USB/ESATA or firewire. That means that I'd have to swap the little module each time I switch between the AEBS and my MBP. Not ideal ,but if it's a good drive, quite and fast maybe it's acceptable.

All the mybook reviews like the drive but say that transfer speeds are generally slow so I'm inclined not to do that.
 
PDE said:
Well, I returned the lacie because it just was too noisy - they charged me a restocking fee since they claimed 'they're just like that'. Oh well....

I'm leaning toward the seagate now....not crazy about the fact that you have to use either USB/ESATA or firewire. That means that I'd have to swap the little module each time I switch between the AEBS and my MBP. Not ideal ,but if it's a good drive, quite and fast maybe it's acceptable.

All the mybook reviews like the drive but say that transfer speeds are generally slow so I'm inclined not to do that.
Click to expand...

The transfer speeds are fine, I'm not sure why you would be concerned, I'm currently editting using iMovie off of the external and not having a problem, if that helps at all, I'm not a stickler for noise but iThink that the Western Digitals are known to make more noise, but it definately doesn't make a noise as soon as I turn it on.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
The transfer speeds are fine, I'm not sure why you would be concerned, I'm currently editting using iMovie off of the external and not having a problem, if that helps at all, I'm not a stickler for noise but iThink that the Western Digitals are known to make more noise, but it definately doesn't make a noise as soon as I turn it on.
Click to expand...


I guess I was expecting it to be faster, but that was probably just my own ignorance. I was hoping that FW800 would be much faster than FW400 when backing up, but didn't really see that much difference. In any case, the noise was what made me return it. I just ordered the seagate and am hoping that it will be quiet.

cheers,
 
Steer clear of LaCie, unless you can guarantee it doesn't have a maxtor drive inside.

oh and that the power supply wont go pop!

experience: 4 drives out of 4 and two power supplies dead within in 1.5 years.

safer just to stick to Seagate or WD for reliability.
 
Mass Hysteria said:
Steer clear of LaCie, unless you can guarantee it doesn't have a maxtor drive inside.

oh and that the power supply wont go pop!

experience: 4 drives out of 4 and two power supplies dead within in 1.5 years.

safer just to stick to Seagate or WD for reliability.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. the one I had had a seagate drive inside though...and it really was too noisy for desktop use.

Will report back on the freeagent pro. At least it has a 5 year warranty!
 
PDE said:
If my seagate doesn't work out, that will be my next choice. Looks good, though a little on the large side.

thanks
Click to expand...

I know the ones with the FW 800 port have Seagate drives in them. They also sell just the enclosures and you can put in your own drives.

Let us know which one you end up with.

-Kevin
 
So I got the seagate and just wanted to post my initial impressions. It's actually a beautiful hard drive! I mean, as far as hard drives can be beautiful. Moreover, it makes NO noise at all - there is no fan and I can't hear ANY access, write or read sounds. I mean, there is a night and day difference between the lacie quadra I had and this thing.

I'm transferring with firewire 400 and am getting the same speeds as I got with the FW800 and FW400 with the other one, around 18MB/s.

Once I move my stuff over to the drive, I'm going to connect it to the base station and see how fast or slow the USB2 over airport is.


I just love the looks of this thing...like a small sculpture on my desk. Cool.
 
PDE said:
So I got the seagate and just wanted to post my initial impressions. It's actually a beautiful hard drive! I mean, as far as hard drives can be beautiful. Moreover, it makes NO noise at all - there is no fan and I can't hear ANY access, write or read sounds. I mean, there is a night and day difference between the lacie quadra I had and this thing.

I'm transferring with firewire 400 and am getting the same speeds as I got with the FW800 and FW400 with the other one, around 18MB/s.

Once I move my stuff over to the drive, I'm going to connect it to the base station and see how fast or slow the USB2 over airport is.


I just love the looks of this thing...like a small sculpture on my desk. Cool.
Click to expand...

pictures or it didnt happen :rolleyes: jks, did you end up getting a custom case?? i would like to have a look at which one you got.
 
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