LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB FireWire 800/ FireWire 400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301371 by Lacie
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Digital camera reviews of LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB FireWire 800/ FireWire 400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301371
Digital camera Review: Compact, Capacious, Fast: A Great External Drive for Work on the Go
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm using this drive as a replacement for a full-size external 500 GB drive and it's excellent! I take this drive everywhere I take my laptop, and the small size and weight and lack of bulky power brick make it MUCH MUCH easier to pack up and tote around. With FireWire and the transfer rate of the 500 GB SATA drive mechanism, I don't notice any performance difference between this and the 3.5" mechanism I was using previously -- something which was definitely not true of the 160 GB USB mobile drive that I last tried this experiment with.
Great product, LaCie! Thanks for making a small hard drive with FireWire. Can't wait to see 1 TB in this form factor.
Digital camera Review: Complete failure in 3 weeks
Summary: 1 Stars
Purchased the 500GB in May 2010 and used it sparingly for the past few weeks. Was enjoying the firewire 800 interface and would've given it a good rating when it without warning or abuse it completely failed. Turned off my computer a few nights ago after finishing a project and saving to this drive, the next morning it won't be recognized and just gives a faint beeping from within which indicates drive failure. It's a hard time to learn as well that Lacie doesn't even attempt to do data recovery. Searching around the internet finds many other people who have had a similar experience. I recommend staying away from this drive.
Also, the online storage that comes with the drive is based on Java, and although I have tried several times to make it work and updated Java on my Mac, it still won't recognize Lacie's online storage either, so that's been a waste of time.
Very disappointed in this drive and company.
Digital camera Review: Constant crashes after two years
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought the LaCie "Rugged" drive with firewire 800 capability over Thanksgiving of 2007 to travel with. I loved the firewire powered portability of the drive, and the fact that it fit snugly in my bag nestled alongside my MacBook Pro without weighing me down. I felt like a smart consumer and all was love and happiness until LITERALLY almost two years later to the day, Thanksgiving 2009, when suddenly the drive starts crashing after 20 minutes of use every time I plug it in. I make a living in digital post-production supervisor, so I'm no newbie to hard drives; I've tried EVERYTHING to get this thing running smooth again: backing the drive up and wiping it clean, running it under different operating systems on different computers, partitioning it and running it as a dual drive, and no matter what the configuration, EVERY TIME I plug it in it runs fine for about 20 minutes and then LOCKS UP, crashing whatever program I'm running it with (I keep music on there for iTunes, photos for iPhoto, Word Docs for work, backups of small quicktime edited files, nothing too processor intensive.) After three months of this drive crapping out on me I've come to the conclusion that the constant crashing is NOT "conflicting software" or a virus. The bottom line is: IT'S A HARDWARE PROBLEM. BEWARE, THESE DRIVES ARE NOT AS "RUGGED" AS LACIE WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. You'll get two years of good usage (if you don't drop it, which I never did, by the way) and then you're on borrowed time.
I've got hard drives from now-defunct dot-com companies I bought ten years ago that are still running fine, so what's the deal with LaCie? I could mail it back to LaCie wrapped in newspaper with a dead fish, but what's the point, nothing lasts forever. I got a good, solid two years of usage out of it and they got my 200 bucks. I'll call it square and even if I never have to give them any more of my hard-earned American dollars ever again. You shouldn't either.
I give this drive TWO STARS out of five, for the two years of operation I got out of it.
Digital camera Review: Delivered as Advertised
Summary: 5 Stars
The drive was extremely easy to set up and use; I had no problems at all and am pleased with my purchase.Digital camera Review: Difficult to use
Summary: 1 Stars
I found it extremely hard to get set up and in fact, don't have it completely finished. If it's not done perfectly in the beginning it's a nightmare and that's where I am. I can back up my information but trying to get it back out and use this as an extension of my hard drive is out of the question. I hate that I spent money for something I don't want and dislike.