Lacie Ethernet Disk buying question

[kuebby]

I have the opportunity to get this for only $57 shipped to me. It doesn't have HDDs but I could add 2 320s from Newegg for about 260.

I'm going to be going to college in the fall and I thought it might be a useful thing to have. I think it would be good as both an external hard drive and an easy way to access files over the internet if I need to. I just wanted to get input on how useful you all thought this would actually be.

 

[Reflow]

You are kidding right. That cost $739.99 and you can get it for $57. Nice

 

[CanadaRAM]

You are kidding right. That cost $739.99 and you can get it for $57. Nice

Did you get the "no drives" part? Also means "no way to test that it works".

 

[kuebby]

I was told that it works and it came with the XP install disc. Unfortunately this was on CL and the guy told me he would hold it for me until today to make a decision, but then sold it out from under me.

 

[SMM]

I was told that it works and it came with the XP install disc. Unfortunately this was on CL and the guy told me he would hold it for me until today to make a decision, but then sold it out from under me.

Well, it seems like a moot point to discuss it now. However, you may very well continue looking, so I will answer your questions. I have two of these, a 1TB and 2TB. I am not sure I would recommend these for college. What you cannot appreciate in the picture, is how big these actually are (heavy too). These are really meant to be rack mounted, although you can use them on a flat surface as well. The main reason someone would buy an ethernet NAS is to share it among 2, or more, computers. If it is a single computer, then FW800, FW400, USB2.0 are your best options, in that order. There are so many good options available right now and the prices have really dropped. I recently bought 6 Seagate 500GB USB drives for laptop users at my company. I believe they were $189 at Fry's. There are more sophisticated technologies, which have higher throughput (eSATA, SCSI). The price is higher, especially SCSI, and few people actually need the additional performance.

 

[kuebby]

Thank you for your help. And yes, you're right it's probably a little much for college, and the only reason I was even looking at them was that I saw this one that was such a good deal. I already have 2 USB external drives and I'm looking to get a FW one before I leave for college.