MBP with LaCie d2 Quadra?

[CirrusPilot]

I picked up a 2TB LaCie d2 Quadra for $200 inc. tax today. It seems great, very fast with USB 3.0 and a 7200rpm drive. It looks to be on par price-wise with other drives having that capacity. Am I right to think that or did I just get suckered?

The porsche design drive that LaCie makes looks good, and is cheaper, but a couple years down the road when I need to replace the drive itself, it doesn't look like you can open it up like you can a d2.

I want a desktop drive with the full 3.5" HDD because the drives are cheaper to replace. I am also not a big fan of the plastic enclosures of WD and Seagate, as they seem to get rather hot, adding yet another reason for the disk to fail.

Anyone have any long-term experiences with a d2 connected to a MBP?

I have a 500Gb lacie rugged that is 2 years old. I bought the Quadra, as I am sure it is only a matter of time before that drive fails and I don't want to lose all of my stuff. LaCie makes a great product from my experience. Hopefully in a few years their thunderbolt/SSDs won't cost so much!

 

[KevinC867]

I bought a D2 Quadra for my MBP in 2008. I love the enclosure, but the 750GB Samsung drive that it came with failed before very long. I replaced it with a 2TB Samsung Green drive and it has been going strong for a few years.

In an external drive, I value the reliability that comes from a cool, low-power drive above a little more performance.

The $200 price is probably very fair for such a nice enclosure. However, I think a 3TB, USB 3.0 WD "Essential" Green drive for $130 is a better value. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042Z55RM/) Surprisingly, it's less than the bare drive inside it goes for. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RORMF6/)

 

[CirrusPilot]

I am a little leery of 3TB drives, at least until they have been on the market longer. I have read that above 2TB, you are kind of entering uncharted reliability territory.

I am happy with the d2 so far. I like the enclosure a lot, especially the fact that I can replace the drive if need be down the road.