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LaCie 250GB drive, advice and recommendaton

stubeeef

stubeeef

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 10, 2004
2,715
4
I want a bus powered drive for my iMac and BU/TimeMachine.
My internal is a 160gb drive so was looking into the 200gb drives and co$t. I have a gtech mini I love for my PB12inch. But for $140 less I can get this laCie.
Anyone have this LaCie or recommend the gtech for a specific reason OTHER THAN LOOKS.
 

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I have a 250Gb LaCie drive (although it isn't a mobile one) and I am not terribly happy with it. It is pretty loud but it does the job. I'm not sure if it is just an issue with mine, though.
 
what do people think of the FireLite drives from smartdisk? They have a bus powered 160gb, should be small and quiet. I just don't want more power cords around.
 
stubeeef said:
I want a bus powered drive for my iMac and BU/TimeMachine.
My internal is a 160gb drive so was looking into the 200gb drives and co$t. I have a gtech mini I love for my PB12inch. But for $140 less I can get this laCie.
Anyone have this LaCie or recommend the gtech for a specific reason OTHER THAN LOOKS.
Click to expand...

I have had an 80gb version of that drive that also has a FW400 connector for around 4 years. It's a handy little sucker. I wish I had bought one with a larger capacity.
 
Aperture said:
I have a 250Gb LaCie drive (although it isn't a mobile one) and I am not terribly happy with it. It is pretty loud but it does the job. I'm not sure if it is just an issue with mine, though.
Click to expand...

I have a 500gb D2 Quadra, and it too suffers from excessive noise. It tends to sound like someone is shaking a metal box with some marbles trapped inside. While the unit works quite well, it's so noisy that I sometimes have to raise the volume on my monitors to drown out the racket.

Lacie - not recommended.
 
Most of the G-Techs are engineered to keep the drives cool without fans, making them quiet. SO, for that reason AND the good looks/design (aluminum enclosure), a lot of people like them.
 
stubeeef said:
I want a bus powered drive for my iMac and BU/TimeMachine.
My internal is a 160gb drive so was looking into the 200gb drives and co$t. I have a gtech mini I love for my PB12inch. But for $140 less I can get this laCie.
Anyone have this LaCie or recommend the gtech for a specific reason OTHER THAN LOOKS.
Click to expand...

I actually have the 100GB of this and love it. However, my purpose in getting it was for manual backup of files and copying of files. I have not attempted to use the drive with a disk backup utility or TimeMachine.

Just a few comments on my experiences. The FireWire port is very reliable for transfer. However, my drive came with a power port and plug. For FireWire, the power plug is not needed; it is a must if you are planning to connect the drive via USB.

The case is surprisingly rugged and has the scars to prove it. In fact, it, my MBP, and SanDisk card reader play very nicely together in the field when I need a fast transfer of pictures from my Nikon.

It has made it through airport security at Newark Airport on a few trips I've taken, both national and international. and withstood an accidental drop of twenty feet onto a rocky surface in a state park.

My own experience with LaCie has been positive. At RU, we used one of the Bigger Disk drives to back up a faculty members mad number of 1GB+ Excel files. The FireWire 800 connection was perfect to push the data across the network and still keep it separate from the RAID we had.

On a personal note, of my Bigger Disk 1TB drives appeared to have gone belly-up back in January. The tech support was phenomenal! They use a ticketing system on their website which is checked and responded to much like an IM chat. They were willing to work with me and troubleshoot the problem even though the disk was well out of warranty. Ultimately, a new power supply was needed and the drive is back up and running.

I haven't noticed any undue noise from the external drives I have. Anyone who is getting excessive noise from a unit may want to contact LaCie Tech Support to have them troubleshoot the unit.

Sorry for the long post. :eek: I hope this helps.
 
stubeeef said:
I want a bus powered drive for my iMac and BU/TimeMachine.
My internal is a 160gb drive so was looking into the 200gb drives and co$t. I have a gtech mini I love for my PB12inch. But for $140 less I can get this laCie.
Anyone have this LaCie or recommend the gtech for a specific reason OTHER THAN LOOKS.
Click to expand...

The Drives designed by F.A.Porsche are pieces of crap and that is why they are cheaper. I have seen many of these fail. The LaCie D2's and D2 Quadras are better drives and have used many. You may find it cheaper to pair an internal with an external casing as 200gb drives are pretty cheap on newegg.com

Hope this helps. :apple:
 
with bus powered ones, it is the drive that matters, if you can get one there is a certain wd model that contains a 7200 rpm hd thats very durable and reliable
 
Ok sitting between these two, HELP

The gtech says the larger drives don't perform well on bus power, the OWC doesn't say so but maybe to not steer buyers away.
The OWC comes with some nice software is also bus powered and cheaper.

OWC 250gb

G tech Drive Mini / 250gb 5400rpm


the gtech is $100 more, no software, but has hitachi drive, don't know what the owc uses.
 

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stubeeef said:
Ok sitting between these two, HELP

The gtech says the larger drives don't perform well on bus power, the OWC doesn't say so but maybe to not steer buyers away.
The OWC comes with some nice software is also bus powered and cheaper.

OWC 250gb

G tech Drive Mini / 250gb 5400rpm


the gtech is $100 more, no software, but has hitachi drive, don't know what the owc uses.
Click to expand...

So for $270 you want to get a 250gb drive....that is 5400rpm? Thats the biggest rip I have ever seen. You can build an external, like I did, with a 750GB WD Caviar and a FW enclosure for $200...and triple your storage...and the drive is 7200rpm
 
zschiffman said:
So for $270 you want to get a 250gb drive....that is 5400rpm? Thats the biggest rip I have ever seen. You can build an external, like I did, with a 750GB WD Caviar and a FW enclosure for $200...and triple your storage...and the drive is 7200rpm
Click to expand...

where and what did you get for parts?
I think I am ready to build mine, I do want it to be bus powered and I believe the larger drives are not good at being bus powered-maybe I'm wrong, I hope so.
 
After going the cheaper route and owing Seagate and Lacie drives in the past, I can safely I say the only drives I will ever buy are G-Tech. They're expensive but worth every penny IMO.
 
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