LaCie Desktop Hard Disk 301285U 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive by Lacie
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List Price: Our Price: $70.00 You Save: $41.99 (37%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of LaCie Desktop Hard Disk 301285U 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive
Digital camera Review: Inadequate support options/responses
Summary: 2 Stars
Bought this for its reputation and good price. Didn't realize the only immediate tech support is a TOLL-number, where you wait in a phone queue. If you choose to log-on a ticket, it takes a day for them to get back to you, and they may or may not address all your issues. If they don't, your request goes back to the end of the line so you wait another whole day. No live chat. No easy access. So it takes days and days and days to resolve a problem, because they won't call you.
I found the documentation very uneven. Either way too basic (this is a plug, stick it in) or having huge gaps. I ran into problems when trying to reformat and partition because available documentation wasn't consistent with my XP dialogue boxes.
The main problem, however, is that when the drive is connected, I cannot shut off my desktop -- it automatically reboots. I'm going in circles with LaCie tech "support" in trying to get an answer. They want me to try different specialized cords and computers (which I don't have) . . . .
Reading the rest of these reviews, and the failure rate, I still have two weeks to return this so am rethinking this investment. Yes, the USB cord is barely long enough to reach the USB port when the unit is on top of the computer. And the shut off switch, or lack thereof, was a stupid oversight in this day of energy consciousness.
More and more, I'm thinking that price should not be the only determinant.
Digital camera Review: It stopped working after two months (and it's loud!)
Summary: 1 Stars
There's really not much else to say. I've purchased several LaCie drives in the past and have had good luck with them, so I have no idea what's up with this model. It simply stopped working after about two months (luckily I had everything on it backed up). Symptoms were a loud clicking noise and my Macintosh OS refusing to recognize or mount the drive.
Be sure to fill out your warranty card if you purchase this hard drive, is my advice. And be sure you back up whatever is on it. I currently have a support ticket in to LaCie, no telling what's going to happen, but if I can't get joy I'll contest the purchase with my credit card company.
Oh, also: It's loud. The ads say it has fan-free operation, but the actual hard drive sound is pretty noisy. Of course, I may have gotten a bad one, which would explain the racket......
(If I'm treated well by LaCie and I get another drive that doesn't die on me, I'll revise my review...it did pretty well until it abruptly quit...)
Update: LaCie gave me something of a run-around in that it insisted the power supply was likely to blame. My husband later opened up the drive and found that it was nonoperational - as in, a problem with the drive, NOT the power supply. (He opened the case without my knowledge and voided the warranty, so I'm not able to provide any further details about LaCie's service options.) I will say this, though: Personally? I've switched to Other World Computing's Mercury removable external drives. They're sturdy, dependable, cheap, and USB/Firewire powered, so you're not having to plug and unplug a backup you want to use for your laptop. Also you can still buy them in the Firewire 800 flavor, so your data backs up soooo much faster.)
Digital camera Review: It works
Summary: 4 Stars
I took away one star because it doesn't have a power switch. It works fine, I think there is not much that can be said about a the external drives in this category.Digital camera Review: La Cie 500 GB External Hard Drive
Summary: 4 Stars
I suppose the hard drive deserves five stars, except that the USB cord could be a bit longer, AND (this is so embarrassing) the instructions were not too clear. I am NOT computer savvy and I had no idea how to copy the files from my Mac to the hard drive. (Little did I know it was as easy as copying and pasting or dragging and dropping.) Nowhere in the instructions does it tell you this! My brother had to do it for me. I guess it's so obvious the company doesn't feel the need to explain...Digital camera Review: LaCie 500 GB USB 2.0 External Drive
Summary: 4 Stars
Exactly as advertised, extremely quite, works flawlessly with Leopard Time Machine. Highly recommend as a secondary drive for backup. Agree with other reviews, a switched power supply would be a nice added feature.