Lacie d2 H.D. vs. Lacie Porsche H.D.

[rickvanr]

hey everyone

im looking into buying an external hd for my powerbook to use with an eye tv 200. Which would be the best performing drive? a lacie d2 drive or a lacie porsche drive?

what ads and cons does each drive have?

thanks

 

[Xero]

i dont have much knowledge of lacie drives, but you might be much better off buying a bare 3.5" harddrive, and an external HD enclosure, and putting it in there your self. you can save a lot of money, and potentially have a much faster hard drive. its ultimately up to you, but id do a little looking around first if i were you.

heres what i plan on buying in a couple days for reference:

The Enclosure

The Harddrive

 

[Rod Rod]

I had trouble trying to install a Seagate hard drive in a FireWire enclosure. I called Seagate technical support and they told me their drives are not designed to work in external FireWire enclosures. Luckily I was able to return it to CompUSA for full credit, because its packaging said the drive works everywhere, when of course it doesn't.

I exchanged it for an identical capacity/spec (160GB/8mb cache) Maxtor drive, which actually cost a bit less (with instant, rather than mail-in rebates!/$135 including tax) and it works in the enclosure perfectly.

I also have a Western Digital drive in a FW case. So in my experience, Seagate doesn't work in FW cases, while Maxtor and Western Digital work great.

 

[junior]

Originally posted by Rod Rod
I had trouble trying to install a Seagate hard drive in a FireWire enclosure. I called Seagate technical support and they told me their drives are not designed to work in external FireWire enclosures. Luckily I was able to return it to CompUSA for full credit, because its packaging said the drive works everywhere, when of course it doesn't.

I exchanged it for an identical capacity/spec (160GB/8mb cache) Maxtor drive, which actually cost a bit less (with instant, rather than mail-in rebates!/$135 including tax) and it works in the enclosure perfectly.

I also have a Western Digital drive in a FW case. So in my experience, Seagate doesn't work in FW cases, while Maxtor and Western Digital work great.

Not true. I would say there was simply something wrong with the drive you bought, and that Seagate's tech staff didn't have a clue what he was talking about and should be fired for losing a customer by giving out rediculous misinformation like that.
My friend has a Seagate in an external enclosure. It works great.

 

[Rod Rod]

Originally posted by junior
Not true. I would say there was simply something wrong with the drive you bought, and that Seagate's tech staff didn't have a clue what he was talking about and should be fired for losing a customer by giving out rediculous misinformation like that.
My friend has a Seagate in an external enclosure. It works great.

I tried every jumper setting, and I installed the drive in a new FW case and the old one where my WD is. The reason I did that was to test whether the issue was my FW enclosure or the drive. It was the drive, because my WD functioned perfectly in that case. After I did all that, I called Seagate tech support. I told them the drive's model number, and they told me some of their drives are compatible with FW enclosures and some are not. I don't remember the model number of the Seagate drive I had, but the package labeling said Seagate Barracuda.

At the time I didn't have a Power Mac G4 in which I could format the drive and then install in the FW case. Of course I had no such trouble with formatting brand new WD and Maxtor drives in FW enclosures.

I'm sure the Seagate tech support guy knew what he was talking about. He should not be fired. What should happen is Seagate, and all drive manufacturers, should clearly label their products to reflect FW compatibility. Apparently some Seagate drives work in FW cases and some do not.

You're right about one thing though, that Seagate has lost a customer.

I've had much better luck with Maxtor and Western Digital, and those are the brands I'll most likely buy the rest of my life. The same sort of positive experience will also have me sticking with Apple, Canon and JVC.

 

[MacRAND]

Lacie d2 HD vs. Lacie Porsche HD; which runs better?

Originally posted by rickvanr
... buying an external hd for my Ti PowerBook to use with an eye tv 200.
Which would be the best performing drive? a
lacie d2 drive or lacie porsche drive?

What is the difference between a duck?
ANSWER: One leg are both alike.
(Note: the legs and feet of a duck appear to be the same, left or right)

Okay, the joke is lame, about 30 years old, and came from my Dad, who collected lame jokes. But, it does demonstrate a point, however odd.

Obviously, both the d2 and the Porsche are LaCie, therefore legs of the same duck. If you compare the two legs of this duck (hard drives from LaCie), they are the same (their stats should essentially be the same)... except in appearance (the cases each HD comes in).

How do you answer the question:
Which performs better, a Dodge pickup with a Hemi V-8 engine, or a Dodge Durango with a Hemi V-8 engine? or
Which Hemi V8 engine do you like better, the one in the Dodge Durango or in the pickup?

The difference in LaCie drives is in the case, not the HD inside - their HD stats are the same.

The d2 case is solid, slim, very stackable, and is specifically designed to stand vertically (saving desktop space).
I do not know what the attraction is for a Porsche designed case, except that it was designed by Porsche and is considerably lighter than the d2.

If you want a great tabletop HD, get the d2 to stand vertically beside your eyeTV 200, or lay horizontal on top of it.
If you want a light, portable HD for your TiPB, the Porsche is 1 lbs. lighter than the d2, so carrying it around is less of a pain.

What LaCie has over any other FireWire drive is an excellent case design.

If you get an internal 7200 rpm drive (pick your manufacturer, including Seagate) and buy a FW enclosure to put it in, you'll end up spending about as much total as what you'd spend on a LaCie, but you would not come even close to the quality of the end product (unless you want to save a few bucks, then you'll likely end up with junk for a case).

Another consideration is whether you pay a little extra for FireWire 800 capability in anticipation of having a Mac with an 800 port - they are 40% faster. Now that's a significant performance gain. Frankly, I think that most people buy LaCie specifically for the case.

For my money, I'd get the LaCie 2d because I love the case design and solid heft to it. And, I don't mind carrying it with me as an external HD for my iBook.

 

[junior]

Originally posted by Rod Rod
I tried every jumper setting, and I installed the drive in a new FW case and the old one where my WD is. The reason I did that was to test whether the issue was my FW enclosure or the drive. It was the drive, because my WD functioned perfectly in that case. After I did all that, I called Seagate tech support. I told them the drive's model number, and they told me some of their drives are compatible with FW enclosures and some are not. I don't remember the model number of the Seagate drive I had, but the package labeling said Seagate Barracuda.

At the time I didn't have a Power Mac G4 in which I could format the drive and then install in the FW case. Of course I had no such trouble with formatting brand new WD and Maxtor drives in FW enclosures.

I'm sure the Seagate tech support guy knew what he was talking about. He should not be fired. What should happen is Seagate, and all drive manufacturers, should clearly label their products to reflect FW compatibility. Apparently some Seagate drives work in FW cases and some do not.

You're right about one thing though, that Seagate has lost a customer.

I've had much better luck with Maxtor and Western Digital, and those are the brands I'll most likely buy the rest of my life. The same sort of positive experience will also have me sticking with Apple, Canon and JVC.

Rod Rod,

Honestly, that tech staff was talking crap, and should either be fired for incompetence or be sent to a training course. The Seagate Barracuda series (Ultra ATA 100 right?), whether it be 80gb, 120gb, 160gb, or 200gb, all work in external HD enclosures.
Their performance is brilliant as well. I really think you bought a lemon and that Seagate should have just replaced it for you, instead of coming up with that bullsh*t.

 

[MacRAND]

2d or Porsche?

LaCie 2d

 

[advres]

OWC

save some money and go to OWC

 

[Mac]

LaCie drives - go for d2

Hi.
I am in the same position - D2 or Porsche drive.
I have gone through each spec, tested noise levels and have even tried building a hard drive into an enclosure as a preliminary test.

First, the enclosure and separate 3.5´´drive is much cheaper. No question about that. But most enclosures that I have encountered are cooled with fans, thus causing irritating noise. In addition there are few drives (except for Seagate) that can be put into enclosures without extra insulation to prevent noise. Noise is truly an issue if put on the desktop next to your PB.

I already have 2 LaCie Pocketdrives and 1 80 GB Western disc in an eMagic enclosure. The pocketdrives are completely noiseless. The eMagic has a highpitched sound that can drive a person insane. That one is now for sale.

So I have gone throught the 2 options you have mentioned.

The d2 drives (especially the triple version 800/400/USB 2.0) with 250 GB has 8 MB cache. The Porsche drive only has 2 MB. In addition the Porsche drive is bulgier and not so slim. And finally the d2 is very cool during operation and quiet!

My conclusion to the same dilemma you are in is to go for the d2 drive and opt for the 250 GB triple version with 8MB cache. It is fanless and very reliable. You can at any time hook it up to FW 800 whenever that is possible for you.

The LaCie drives also has insulation built into them to make them even quieter. The self-build version is very difficult to insulate in my experience. Also when you mount the disk directly to the cabinett without insulation a small vibration occurs that transplants itself very easily to the table or desktop where it is placed. That of course might just be the enclosure that I have chosen.

Good luck in your choice!

 

[Penman]

Porsche owner comments

I bought a 250 Gb Porsche drive because it looks cool beside my 17" PB and it's slim. As a drive it works great - however it's noisy. Really noisy. I use it to store my music and normally use it while my speakers are playing. Luckily it spins down when not in use. That said - if you're in a noisy environment already - or like me an essentially silent one (the PB is a mouse) you might want to take the D2 over the Porsche. In future I think I'll but D2's simple because you get slightly better tech.

As for speed issues - I'd suggest realism. I work with video and audio fine on FW400 with a 2MB buffer. If your Mac's spending that much time accessing the disk get more RAM. Otherwise in real world use you'll find the speed of the Porsche fine.