LaCie Hard Disk 1 TB FireWire 400/USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton 301315U Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I grew out of space to store my videos and captured footage. I bought this large capacity drive to solve that problem, and it has worked.

It was very easy to install on my desktop Mac. It has worked flawlessly out of the box, and the price was very competitive. I have used it for about one month so far.

I read reviews which told me that it was a little noisy and I thought that this would not bother me. I agree that the noise is not loud. It is a mild continuous background hum. But I was wrong.... It does get to me. The noise never goes away, and is the only drawback to this neat, small footprint, shiny black repository of huge amounts of data.

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Product Description:
The efficient 1TB LaCie Hard Disk, Designed by Neil Poulton, is extremely easy to use. Very compact for its colossal capacity, this lightweight storage solution moves around easily. Plug & play offering automatic formatting with LaCie Setup Assistant with customizable features. LaCie `1-Click'Backup Software for PC and Mac users is also included for quickly saving files in one click. Created exclusively for LaCie by world-famous designer Neil Poulton, the LaCie Hard Disk's one-of-a-kind, subtle all-black design blends perfectly into your setup. Adding sophisticated style to your desktop, it has a fashionable, mirror-polished finish and a distinguishing feature - a cool, blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow. With USB 2.0, eSATA and FireWire 400, the LaCie Hard Disk is designed to connect to any PC or Mac. The widely used interface USB 2.0 offers cross-platform convenience and hot-pluggable connection. For speed-demanding professional applications, eSATA offers an impressively fast transfer rate of up to 80MB/s.There are two FireWire ports so you can connect it to your computer and to another device like a second external drive, camcorder or camera. Even use it as a reliable data shuttle across platforms. Easily share and exchange your files and regularly back up your system or upgrade capacity when your hard drive is full. You can also conveniently save all of your digital photos, music files and videos in one central location for safekeeping.

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Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive 34629 (Ruby Red) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got this portable hard drive recently to use for Time Machine with my MacBook Pro. Some notes and observations so far:

1) First off, the hard drive's ruby red color is not as bright as the Amazon photo. It's a darker red, which I prefer.

2) As with most portable hard drives, it is very quiet. Sitting a foot or two away from it, you should barely hear it, if at all.

3) This hard drive does not spin down after a certain amount of inactivity (unlike, for instance, a WD Passport, which spins down after 10 minutes or so of inactivity). You may or may not prefer this, depending on what you use it for. I use mine as a Time Machine, which backs up my hard drive every hour. I prefer the fact that it doesn't keep spinning down and spinning back up every hour (many argue that this is worse for a hard drive than simply leaving it on all the time, but there are varying opinions on this).

4) I wouldn't say the hard drive runs hot. It feels warm to the touch when idling all day like mine. However it may get hot if being used for constant data access. The only time it has felt somewhat hot is when I did the initial ~200GB backup of my hard drive.

5) This hard drive works well for daisy chaining. I have it connected to my MBP via Firewire 800, and I have a Firewire 400 external hard drive connected to the Iomega. NOTE: If you have the Iomega connected to your computer via USB, you cannot daisy chain a Firewire device.

6) Size-wise, it is a bit bigger than my (USB-only) WD Passport but it is still fairly compact.

7) The exterior feels like plastic, but the box says that the case is made from aluminum, so I'll trust that it is.

8) The light on the back of the drive is VERY bright. It actually projects light onto my wall. The color of the light may vary. I bought two of these drives from two different Best Buys... One has a blue light, the other has a white light. Either way, I found the light to be pretty annoying, so I simply covered it up with a small piece of black electrical tape. Works well.

9) Comes with a USB cable, Firewire 400 cable, and Firewire 800 cable.

10) One review noted: "No on-off switch, drive does not stop when computer sleeps, does not stop when computer turned off!". As far as bus-powered 2.5" portable hard drives go, I have not seen any with an on-off switch, although some may exist. If you want that, you will probably want to go with a 3.5" external desktop drive. HOWEVER, I think it is important to note that the Iomega WILL power down when the computer is sleeping or shut off. I was worried when I read this review because I thought the drive would keep spinning when I put my computer to sleep, but this is not the case. The only thing that stays on is the light. It will only turn off when you unplug the drive from the computer.

Overall, this drive works perfectly as a Time Machine. It is fast, small, quiet, not too hot, and unobtrusive. After the initial backup, you should barely notice successive backups (unless they are really big ones). The price is also great for a portable hard drive with three different connectivity options. The only thing I can't review is hard drive longevity... Only time will tell. Here's hoping that it lasts for a long time.--UPDATE February 5, 2010--

Hard drive is still working extremely well for me as a Time Machine. A few new notes and observations:

1) A lot of people have been reporting that the top of their cases are detaching, which is pretty discouraging. I've been lucky, as the only problem I've had is that one of the front corners has come up about 1-2 millimeters. However, the top of the case is still in place and secure for the most part. I bought another one of these hard drives for my father, and the top of his case has not detached at all. I should note that I leave my hard drive on all day and sometimes overnight, whereas my father only turns his on every once in a while (when he turns his computer on), but it is generally turned off. I did buy my hard drives from Best Buy... Perhaps they received a shipment of units that were of better quality than what Amazon received?

2) This is a strange one... My hard drive runs SIGNIFICANTLY cooler than when I first got it. It hardly feels warm at all, even though it's spinning away all day. I don't really understand why, but I can't complain.

3) My thanks to A.W. Jester for pointing out that you must register online to get the 3 year warranty. I had missed this at first!

This product seems pretty hit-or-miss based on the workmanship. On the one hand, I'd have a hard time recommending it based on the other reviews I've read. On the other hand, I would recommend it based on my own experience. It's a great value for the price if you're lucky enough to get a good one.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive 34629 (Ruby Red)

Product Description:
Great aluminum design and multiple connections too! With one FireWire 800 port, one FireWire 400 port, and one USB 2.0 port, the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive offers triple interface versatility for Mac users and a stylish design. These drives are formatted HFS+ for a great out-of-box experience. Plus, the Iomega Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51" (40% above the industry average!). EMC Retrospect, QuikProtect, and MozyHome Online backup software is included with purchase. Available in Ruby Red, Alpine White and Midnight Blue in up to 500GB capacity (capacities vary per color).

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LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra 1 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm in shock.

Having just moved from Windows to Mac (OS X 10.5.2) I'm used to long, involved nightmare hardware installations.Between OS X and the utilities supplied by LaCie on this drive, the whole business was up and running in about ten minutes.It took me longer to figure out which was the FireWare 800 cable than it did to finish the rest of the installation!

I have a new iMac with both FireWire 400 and 800 ports, and I'm using the LaCie as my Time Machine drive, so I opted to use the fastest interface available, the FireWire 800.The installation had four steps:

1.Physically attach the footplate to the drive so it could sit on its thin side, as in the photo with this review.Tools:included Allen wrench.Time: 60 sec

2.Attach the FW800 cable and the power supply.Plug in same.Tools: none.Time:60 sec.

3.Turn on the drive.Tools:finger.Time: 15 sec.

4.Click through the installation program that pops up on the screen.The last click is to inform OS X that this will be my TimeMachine drive.Tools:mouse, finger.Time:5 min.

Total time:7.25 min.(It took me about 2.5 minutes to figure out which cable to use.)

The FireWire interface is so fast, it did the initial TimeMachine 30GB backup in about 30 minutes.

The drive is quiet, it's fast, and it has a cool blue light on the front.It also has an auto power switch that detects when the iMac is seeking from the drive and switches on drive power.

What's not to like?

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra 1 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Disk

Product Description:
With a unique ridged exterior that enhances the enclosure's cooling performance, and a quadruple interface for full Mac and PC compatibility, the LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra External Hard Drive is an all-in-one drive that's built with the professional in mind. Designed by internationally acclaimed designer Neil Poulton, this versatile drive offers extreme performance and an aesthetic touch that will enhance any work space.
The LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk offers:

eSATA 3Gbits, FireWire 400/800, and USB 2.0 for universal compatibility and extreme speed
1 TB of disk space.
7200 rpm spin speed and 16 MB cache.
Fanless ridged design for cool, quiet operation.

Unique ridged heat sink aluminum design increases surface area by 60% for cooler operation. (Show here with the Little Big Disk Quadra and the 2big Network.) View larger.

The minimalist space-saving design will enhance the aesthetics of any work space. View larger. View back.

The d2 can be racked horizontally and set up in a RAID configuration. View larger. Quadruple Interface for Unmatched Performance and Compatibility
The LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra External Hard Drive features one eSATA 3 Gbit port, two FireWire 800 ports (9-pin), one FireWire 400 port (6-pin), and one hi-speed USB 2.0 port that is USB 1.1-compatible. (Cables for each connection are conveniently included with the drive.) This quadruple interface makes the d2 Quadra ideal for demanding multi-media applications that require extreme speed as well as universal connectivity. The USB and FireWire connections ensure that you can transfer or back up your data from your laptop or other computers, while the eSATA interface offers a transfer rate of up to 300 MB per second (3Gbits/sec).
The LaCie d2 is compatible with Windows, including Vista, and Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, including Time Machine, making it an ideal partner for your Mac. Time Machine automatically backs up your Mac's system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents to an external hard drive and lets you easily go back in time to recover anything.
Superior Drive Performance for Power Users
Built for power users such as video editors, the d2 Quadra features a rotational speed of 7200 rpm and a cache of at least 8 MB. Perfect for digital content creation, audio/video editing, DVD authoring, web animation, and more, the d2 Quadra can handle multiple demanding professional tasks. It can also be daisy-chained via FireWire or connected to your DV camera and is even bootable in FireWire for Mac and in eSATA for Mac/PC.
With a capacity of 1 TB (1,000 GB), the d2 Quadra can hold up to 1,000,000 photos, 350,000 songs, or 70 hours of DV video. If you purchase multiple drives, they can be daisy-chained and set to RAID 1 for data redundancy and protection, or RAID 0 for even greater speed.
The d2 Quadra also offers three power management options: "Auto" for energy efficiency; "On" for instant access; and "Off" for data protection. The drive also lets you back up files or launch any application with a simple push of the front blue button. This "shortcut button" can be configured to launch any document or application, or initiate the included EMC Retrospect Express software that offers automated backups.
Smart, Elegant Design and Loaded with Software
With the d2 Quadra, Neil Poulton has fashioned a unique, attractive and functional drive that offers excellent heat dissipation features and space-saving options for stacking. The fanless aluminum heat sink design features exterior ridges that provide 60 percent more surface area for heat dissipation, keeping the drive quiet and as safe as possible at all times. The d2 Quadra will sit nicely in an upright position alongside your PC or Mac machines, or it can be stacked horizontally with other drives or rack mounted to save desktop space.
Set-up and use is quick and easy, thanks to LaCie's preloaded Setup Assistant that helps format the hard disk according to your needs. For instance, the d2 Quadra lets you easily create a FAT32 partition for use with Macs. With the LaCie 1-Click Backup, you can backup any file into the location of your choice with a simple "click"--either via the desktop icon, or CTRL-S on your keyboard. And LaCie's Shortcut Button lets you easily launch any application with one push.
Also included with the d2 is EMC Retrospect professional backup software for PC and Mac users. This award-winning software offers several back-up options, including fast backups and scheduled back-up of either a single file or your complete system. With EMC Retrospect Express, you'll never have to worry about losing your data again.
The drive measures a slim 1.7 x 6.3 x 6.8 inches (WxHxD), weighs 3.31 pounds, and is backed by a 3-year limited warranty.
About LaCie
Established in France in 1989, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of computer peripherals for Windows, Apple and Linux users. With offices and plants in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong, LaCie develops and manufactures external storage solutions and color monitors that help professionals and everyday people easily manage their digital lives. LaCie has differentiated its products through original designs and leading-edge technology.

What's in the Box
LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk; eSATA-to-eSATA cable; FireWire 800 (9-to-9 pin) cable; FireWire 400 (6-to-6 pin) cable; USB 2.0 cable (USB 1.1 compatible); external power supply; drive stand for upright desktop use; LaCie Utilities (preloaded): LaCie '1-Click' Backup Software for PC or Mac; SilverKeeper Software for automatic backup and file verification (Mac); EMC Retrospect Express 6.1 (Mac); and EMC Retrospect Express HD 2.0 (Windows).

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LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB FireWire 800/ FireWire 400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301371 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The LaCie 250 GB Rugged Hard Disk with FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB2.0 is a great unit that is ideal for those with fire-wire ports built-in to their laptops and computers.Unfortunately while most Macs have fire-wire built-in, right now the majority of Windows based laptops do not.That is changing as more PCs are getting them built-in.I need drives for several computers, including Mac, Windows and Linux boxes.Suffice it to say that this drive is definitely a must own if you have a Mac and may even be worth installing a fire-wire card if you have a PC.

While it is no secret that I love my WD hard-drives, the LaCie drive definitely outperforms it in a few key areas.So depending on your needs, it may be well worth the small premium to pick up the LaCie.

Don't get me wrong, when it comes to value and best performance for your buck the Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Intense Blue) is a great option. Like the LaCie, it has a variety of color options including black, red, white and blue. Of course changing colors on your LaCie is much easier than buying a different color WD drive when the mood strikes.The rugged color bands are interchangeable.The WD also doesn't have the "rugged" edges of the LaCie, and it only has USB 2.0 which makes it impractical for certain situations.

Namely, if you want to run something off your external drive, such as a program or a media library, the performance of USB alone is just not as good.Just ignore the specifications and numbers, because from first hand experience I can tell you fire-wire definitely performs faster for large backups or regular data access.It's just faster.

The LaCie is also more versatile.Even if you are planning on using it for USB only right now, having the fire-wire means that if you get another computer that is capable you already have the option built in.That may be a stretch, but if you are planning on getting a new laptop within the next year from one of the big brands you can pretty much plan on them having fire-wire.

Now there are a few slight advantages that the WD has over the LaCie.The LaCie is definitely slightly bigger and thicker, and it's also more expensive.Still, the difference is small enough that the pros will probably outweigh those small cons, especially for Mac users.

Pros
+ Great versatility with fire-wire 400, 800, and USB 2.0
+ Fire-Wire speeds give you better response times for online data access
+ Nice size with aluminum shell and "rugged" edges that hold up regular use
+ USB or FW powered, so no A/C required, which is great for portability
+ USB power sharing option allows you to hook up a USB hub, etc.
+ Works well on Windows Vista, XP and Mac OS X and older versions too
+ You can set up your own disk encryption for security and privacy
+ Nice looks, and the brushed surface scratches much less than my WD drives
+ Other color options for your rubber bumpers are sold separately
+ Turns on and off with your computer or easily ejected via system tray
+ Easy driver-less installation really works!
+ Included backup software is less buggy than WD and may be useful for some
+ 250 GB capacity is decent for most users, but I hope a larger size is coming SOON!
+ The 2 year warrantee is good, but not as good as WD's 3 and 5 year warrantees depending on model

Cons
- Priced higher than WD on a dollar per gigabyte basis
- Larger GB capacity drives not widely available from LaCie though they are offered by WD
- Form factor is slightly larger and thicker than the WD passport drive
- Warrantee is also shorter than WD
- The *rugged* thing may be oversold, and I don't recommend dropping it
- Still no standard Linux drivers or software included, but there are workarounds
- Have to spend your cash to get a case that should have been included

Conclusion

This drive is great or those who want a portable drive for backups or running a media library application like iTunes or Media Center.I only wish they sold it in larger capacities. The premium price may be worth it for those who need that extra edge in speed offered by fire-wire connectivity.

Enjoy!

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB FireWire 800/ FireWire 400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301371

Product Description:
All those videos ready to be downloaded but so little available space. Fear not, LaCie 301371 Rugged 500 GB External Hard Drive is here. At under 12 ounces, and nearly pocket size, it's hard to believe that the external LaCie 301371 Rugged 500 GB USB 2.0 / FireWire Hard Drive has space for so much data storage. With specially designed rugged protection, this drive is at home with your desktop or notebook, and you. The exclusive creation of world-renown designer Neil Poulton, this portable storage solution offers the supreme speed of FireWire 800 along with FireWire 400 and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interfaces for true universal connectivity. Conveniently bus-powered and plug and play, it's ideal for backup, video storage and large data volume exchange on the go. Simply plug it into just about any computer anywhere for backup, video storage and large data volume exchange. Its unique scratch-protected aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper make the LaCie Rugged Hard Disk especially resistant to harsh elements for extra protection along the road of your adventures. Max Sustained Transfer Rate - FireWire 800 - up to 57MB/s FireWire 400 - up to 40MB/s Hi-Speed USB 2.0 - up to 36MB/s Average Seek Time (Write) - <12ms mini USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 ports Operating system - Windows 2000 or Higher / Mac OS X Compatible with Time Machine Approximate Unit Dimensions - 3.5 x 1.1 x 5.6 Approximate Unit Weight - 0.65 pound

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LaCie Hard Disk Quadra 2 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 301882U Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)With the rash of home invasions and computer thefts lately I decided to purchase a hard drive to backup all of my Audio, Video, Document and Financial files. I wanted a drive that had a large amount of capacity, was capable of transferring data at high speeds (eSata), and could be connected and disconnected with ease to be stored away in my vault immediately after file transfers. My business depends entirely on editing large amounts of audio and video Data stored on my internal hard drives. If someone where to break in and steal my computer I'd be up the creek with out a paddle. So this was an important decision.

After reading previous positive reviews here on Amazon and a few other websites advertising this product I decided to purchase this drive. By the way, Amazon had the lowest price. I am very pleased with my purchase. The drive has 1 terabyte of capacity, can be connected and transfer files via: USB, Fire wire 400,Fire wire 800, or eSata and it is extremely portable and can be locked away in my vault easily.

Connecting to my computer was simple. I just plugged in the wall AC adapter, plugged in the eSata connection and turned it on. Because my computer was already powered on it didn't recognize drive, so I executed a restart (leaving the external drive powered on) and via la my drive showed up under "My Computer". Next I initiated the LaCie drive format, which only took about 2 minutes and afterwords I was transferring files loads of around 70 gigabytes in about 15 minutes per transfer. I transferred about 500 gigs in one evening.

I did install and run the backup software included with the drive but, I wasn't very impressed with it. The software would only back up my document files but not my raw audio, video, or mp3 files. I don't know why yet but I just copy and pasted my files onto the drive and that worked. The software does have an automatic backup feature that can be set to update and backup user specific data. However, all I need right now is a place back up and store my raw files once in a while and this drive works perfectly for that. I highly recommend this drive. It'sWindows XP compatible and works great.

update: I have noticed the the hard drive functions much faster when it is powered on before the computer is powered on. In other words, turn on the hard rive first, then turn your computer on.

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie Hard Disk Quadra 2 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 301882U

Product Description:
The efficient LaCie Hard Disk Quadra, Design by Neil Poulton is extremely easy for anyone to use. Compact, but with colossal capacity, this lightweight storage solution takes up little room and can move around easily. Setup is nearly effortless; it's plug & play and offers automatic formatting with LaCie Setup Assistant with customizable features. Moreover, LaCie Backup Assistant software for PC and Mac users is included for saving files in one click. The LaCie Hard Disk Quadra, Design by Neil Poulton provides eSATA 3Gb/s, FireWire 800, and USB 2.0 interfaces for full connectivity with your PC or Mac, as well as an included 9-to-6-pin cable for FireWire 400 compliancy. There are two FireWire ports so you can connect it to your computer and to another device like a second external drive, camcorder, or camera. This sleek hard disk has an all-black mirror-polished finish and a unique feature a cool, blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow.

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Buffalo Technology DriveStation Combo 1 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive HD-CE1.0TIU2 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Those who are brave enough to use a screw driver should not choose this one.

We external-drive users need to be able to remove the drive if USB/FW connections/controllers fail, so we have other options to remove the drive for data retrieval (so your own data is not out there on the loose) and reuse the case. Unlike the predecessors which had aluminum cases, this unit cannot be easily opened. I have not x-rayed it or attempted to open it, but looks like this thing was assembled with plastic clips and is not designed to be reusable.

Other than that, Buffalo has generally made fine products.

Not so fast. I initially tested this drive and it sounded a bit funny. I didn't think twice about it and put it away. It does not spin up now--after sitting there for two months.

I have noticed that many of the current Buffalos use Samsung drives. I have noticed that the Samsung drives have a slightly higher than usual DOA rate.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffalo Technology DriveStation Combo 1 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive HD-CE1.0TIU2 (Black)

Product Description:
1TB DRIVESTATION COMBO TURBO

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Buffalo Technology DriveStation Combo 1 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive HD-CE1.0TIU2 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Those who are brave enough to use a screw driver should not choose this one.

We external-drive users need to be able to remove the drive if USB/FW connections/controllers fail, so we have other options to remove the drive for data retrieval (so your own data is not out there on the loose) and reuse the case. Unlike the predecessors which had aluminum cases, this unit cannot be easily opened. I have not x-rayed it or attempted to open it, but looks like this thing was assembled with plastic clips and is not designed to be reusable.

Other than that, Buffalo has generally made fine products.

Not so fast. I initially tested this drive and it sounded a bit funny. I didn't think twice about it and put it away. It does not spin up now--after sitting there for two months.

I have noticed that many of the current Buffalos use Samsung drives. I have noticed that the Samsung drives have a slightly higher than usual DOA rate.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffalo Technology DriveStation Combo 1 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive HD-CE1.0TIU2 (Black)

Product Description:
1TB DRIVESTATION COMBO TURBO

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LaCie Grand 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 301898KUA Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I just bought this hard drive. And I must say it's a very good looking hard drive. The hard drives face looks good. Kind of looks like a mans face. Also, the face has a cool looking red light on the front of the hard drive, not to bright folks so don't worry. The drives face and the back has cheap feeling plastic on it. The body of the drive is made out of aluminium. The drive just feels well made. But its a few things you need to know about this drive. I don't know why these dummy's put a very small USB cable in the box. The thing is so small I had to use my camera cable to connect the drive. If you plan on buying the drive make sure you buy a USB mini cable with the drive. The drive has cheap feeling rubber feet on the bottom of the drive, not a big deal for some but for me it is. No reason to have feet that cheap. This drive doesn't come with a stand wish it did because, I don't have a lot of space on the desk. You can set it upright instead of flat.. Just set it between your other hard drives for safety for the drive. The drive has a nice power button on the back so you don't have to leave the drive on all day. Now to the formatting and the software. The software is no where as bad as the WD smartware software. The first thing you want to do is use the LaCie quick setup software, it's soeasy to use. What the software does is quickly formats the hard drive and puts there software and the LaCie manuals on the drive. From here you can just delete the software or use it. If you don't need the software just delete it and your ready to go. I never used the software so I can't tell you about that. I got the drive for about $87 on sale NEW. It was a hell of a deal for that price. I'll update this on reliability in a few months. Only time can tell that.
Update:1
Okay sorry people but I forgot to say:

For those of you that don't know. LaCie doesn't make drives. They make the nice case. The drive thats in the case is a Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 [Hard drive] (1000.20 GB).

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie Grand 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 301898KUA

Product Description:
The LaCie Grand Hard Disk is at home on any desk with its sophisticated, organic-inspired design, but proves that stunning design doesn't have to cost a fortune and is attainable for anyone. The LaCie Grand is a great value, and with its tough exterior, will last for years. Its USB 2.0 interface helps the LaCie Grand work on almost any computer, anywhere. Simply plug it in and you're ready to begin storing or sharing your data, with the fast speeds you need for efficient data transfer. Its sturdy aluminum casing means that the LaCie Grand is one of the toughest, most resistant choices on the market—its exterior prevents both shock and overheating, providing reliability and dependability for users. Box Content : LaCie Grand Hard Disk, USB 2.0 cable, External Power Supply, Quick Install Guide.

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Iomega UltraMax 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive 33904 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I received this hard drive about a week ago for Mac OS 10.5.2 Time Machine.The drive looks and works great.I own a Mac Pro so as you can see in the Amazon ad, this thing is like a "mini me" of the Mac Pro which I think is the coolest part of it.I have had no problems (yet) with this HD and I honestly do not see it happening.

Iomega has been around for so many years and I trust their products.There is indeed ONLY one drawback to this drive.When the drive is reading and writing, it could get a little loud.I don't think this would justify one less star because the hard drive itself works perfectly so far.The firewire 400 speed is just fine for Time Machine once per hour.

Apple's website has this drive for sale also and this drive has some great reviews there if you want to check out what some other people say about it.Bottom line, this drive rocks and I would recommend it to any Mac or even PC user out there.The look is just so nice.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega UltraMax 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive 33904

Product Description:
Manufacturer Product DescriptionWith USB and FireWire connection interfaces, the Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive 500GB ensures that your data can be accessed no matter where you take it. This drive provides an easy way to add 500GB of storage to a computer, it supports Firewire 400 and USB 2.0, and even has a stylish look that complements a Mac.
The Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive 500GB

An easy way to add 500GB of storage space to a computer.
Support for FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 for fast data transfer rates.
Stylish looks that complement a Mac.

The UltraMax drive matches the style of a Mac Pro. View larger. Large Storage Solution for your Mac®
The drive is a perfect complement for Macs as it has a sleek silver design that matches the Mac style and it is HFS+ preformatted to work right out of the box. It is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 and Time Machine. With 500GB of storage capacity, you'll be able to save up to 2,000,000 photos, 9,250 hours of music, or 750 hours of video. Speedy Performance with Wide Compatibility
The Iomega UltraMax hard drive supports FireWire and USB 2.0 for compatibility and transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps. The drive features two FireWire 400 ports and one USB 2.0 port. The drive will also work with PCs but will need to be reformatted (instructions included). The Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive 500GB is backed by a 1-year warranty. What's in the Box
Iomega Desktop Hard Drive, FireWire 400 (1394a) cable, USB 1.1/2.0 cable, power cord, power supply, Solutions CD with user manual, and quick install guide.

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G-Technology G-DRIVE Q 1TB External Hard Drive w/ eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 Interfaces 0G00199 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)With my 300GB drive too small I went shopping for a new 1 TB drive (the first time in 3 years). Over the years, I've bought several Seagate/Lacie externals and Seagate/IBM (now Hitachi) internal drives. Some drives are certainly faster and quieter than others; some are downright annoying but you just can't tell from the specs alone which I why I rely on reviews.

To my dismay, I discovered through my research that every brand/model of drive has received poor reviews. There wasn't a clear choice to make. It would seem that computer reliability has increased to the level that the hard drive is the weak link in the system now. Since my existing external was a Seagate 300GB firewire, I went with a 1TB FreeAgent from Seagate. Boy was that a huge mistake. Users are very unhappy with that product and so was I: it appears that Seagate doesn't build their firewire drives for mac compatibility anymore. If you need firewire, avoid Seagate.

Having a reliable backup drive is more important than ever so I crossed my fingers and went with G-Tech based on its feature set and my previous positive experience with Hitachi drive mechanisms (they own G-Tech).

Enclosure Pros:

- eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2
- every kind of cable included (a rarity now and a great value for the money)
- large on/off button
- sturdy metal case
- no annoying fan
- the drive mounts to sled with a heat-sink that protrudes from bottom of case for improved cooling
- hundreds of ventilation holes at front and sides of case
- combo power/activity light
- attractive case

Mechanism Pros:

- very quiet drive
- fast 69MB/s read, 58 MB/s write (over FW800 w/ MacBook Pro 2007) - haven't tested eSATA yet
- HFS+ formatted for instant use on Macs

Cons:

- none to date

Some people have complained that the enclosure is larger than the typical upright design (5" x 9 1/4" x 1 3/4"). There are easily larger units to be found out there so I guess the complaint comes down to the fact that the drive is designed to sit horizontally on the table. I've seen the Seagate FreeAgent drives with their flimsy stands forcing you to lay the drive down on the desktop. The WD case seems to have the best design for vertical orientation but I don't think that's important as other features.

I'm very happy with the enclosure (G-Tech: please don't change a thing!). My advice to those that take issue with the size, is to get a G-Tech mini or other tiny USB2 based 2.5" drive. All 3.5" based externals tend to take up desk space one way or another.

Summary:

After buying this unit, I may never buy a drive in a plastic enclosure again. This is a solidly made unit compared to the flimsy offerings on the store shelves today.

This product is a winner: fast, quiet, reliable and cleverly designed. An excellent value.

PS. Why companies like WD even conceive of stuffing two already hot drives into the same raid enclosure with no fan is beyond me. G-Tech has a much better design for a raid enclosure.

Click Here to see more reviews about: G-Technology G-DRIVE Q 1TB External Hard Drive w/ eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 Interfaces 0G00199

Product Description:
Professional External Hard Drive. G-DRIVE high-speed interface external storage systems offer the ultimate in flexibility by providing 3Gbit eSATA, FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 via included cable) and USB 2.0 ports. G-DRIVE is the perfect high-performance solution for storage intensive applications including audio/video editing, digital photography, MP3 libraries and high-speed data backup. The system features a fan-less cooling system and the latest technology 7200 RPM SATA II hard drives with up to 2TB in storage capacity with up to 32 MB of cache. G-DRIVE supports professional music production tools including Pro Tools, Logic Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Digital Performer, and many more. Easy to Setup - Time Machine ready.G-DRIVE is formatted at the factory HFS+ with Journaling and is Time Machine ready right out of the box. A simple initialization is all it takes to prepare G-DRIVE for use with Windows systems. The Best Warranty & Support in the Business-G-Tech's 3-Year WarrantyG-DRIVE is backed by a standard 3-year factory warranty and unlimited free technical support by representatives experienced with the latest content creation applications.

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G-Technology G-DRIVE Q 1TB External Hard Drive w/ eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 Interfaces 0G00199 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)With my 300GB drive too small I went shopping for a new 1 TB drive (the first time in 3 years). Over the years, I've bought several Seagate/Lacie externals and Seagate/IBM (now Hitachi) internal drives. Some drives are certainly faster and quieter than others; some are downright annoying but you just can't tell from the specs alone which I why I rely on reviews.

To my dismay, I discovered through my research that every brand/model of drive has received poor reviews. There wasn't a clear choice to make. It would seem that computer reliability has increased to the level that the hard drive is the weak link in the system now. Since my existing external was a Seagate 300GB firewire, I went with a 1TB FreeAgent from Seagate. Boy was that a huge mistake. Users are very unhappy with that product and so was I: it appears that Seagate doesn't build their firewire drives for mac compatibility anymore. If you need firewire, avoid Seagate.

Having a reliable backup drive is more important than ever so I crossed my fingers and went with G-Tech based on its feature set and my previous positive experience with Hitachi drive mechanisms (they own G-Tech).

Enclosure Pros:

- eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2
- every kind of cable included (a rarity now and a great value for the money)
- large on/off button
- sturdy metal case
- no annoying fan
- the drive mounts to sled with a heat-sink that protrudes from bottom of case for improved cooling
- hundreds of ventilation holes at front and sides of case
- combo power/activity light
- attractive case

Mechanism Pros:

- very quiet drive
- fast 69MB/s read, 58 MB/s write (over FW800 w/ MacBook Pro 2007) - haven't tested eSATA yet
- HFS+ formatted for instant use on Macs

Cons:

- none to date

Some people have complained that the enclosure is larger than the typical upright design (5" x 9 1/4" x 1 3/4"). There are easily larger units to be found out there so I guess the complaint comes down to the fact that the drive is designed to sit horizontally on the table. I've seen the Seagate FreeAgent drives with their flimsy stands forcing you to lay the drive down on the desktop. The WD case seems to have the best design for vertical orientation but I don't think that's important as other features.

I'm very happy with the enclosure (G-Tech: please don't change a thing!). My advice to those that take issue with the size, is to get a G-Tech mini or other tiny USB2 based 2.5" drive. All 3.5" based externals tend to take up desk space one way or another.

Summary:

After buying this unit, I may never buy a drive in a plastic enclosure again. This is a solidly made unit compared to the flimsy offerings on the store shelves today.

This product is a winner: fast, quiet, reliable and cleverly designed. An excellent value.

PS. Why companies like WD even conceive of stuffing two already hot drives into the same raid enclosure with no fan is beyond me. G-Tech has a much better design for a raid enclosure.

Click Here to see more reviews about: G-Technology G-DRIVE Q 1TB External Hard Drive w/ eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 Interfaces 0G00199

Product Description:
Professional External Hard Drive. G-DRIVE high-speed interface external storage systems offer the ultimate in flexibility by providing 3Gbit eSATA, FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 via included cable) and USB 2.0 ports. G-DRIVE is the perfect high-performance solution for storage intensive applications including audio/video editing, digital photography, MP3 libraries and high-speed data backup. The system features a fan-less cooling system and the latest technology 7200 RPM SATA II hard drives with up to 2TB in storage capacity with up to 32 MB of cache. G-DRIVE supports professional music production tools including Pro Tools, Logic Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Digital Performer, and many more. Easy to Setup - Time Machine ready.G-DRIVE is formatted at the factory HFS+ with Journaling and is Time Machine ready right out of the box. A simple initialization is all it takes to prepare G-DRIVE for use with Windows systems. The Best Warranty & Support in the Business-G-Tech's 3-Year WarrantyG-DRIVE is backed by a standard 3-year factory warranty and unlimited free technical support by representatives experienced with the latest content creation applications.

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Iomega MiniMax FireWire 800/USB 2.0 1TB Desktop External Hard Drive 34937 (White) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It has been the best purchase for a hard drive I've ever had. The main reason why I wanted to go for minimax is because I wanted a stackable hd for my Apple Minimac. Moreover I have a huge library of music and video files which I have been collecting for several years. Thankfully I havenot lost any of it. I did come across a few options from Seagate and Western Digital and also used them earlier. I wanted to try out the Iomega hard drive because some of my gadget-crazy friends had this. They do not select a hometheater or a flash drive or a hard drive in a frenzy. So on their recommendation, I went in for iomega minimax hard drive. I am happy that I am enjoying the huge space of 1 TB available to store all my media files. And it looks good than it does in the images. To begin with, I dint even have an initializing trouble - it installed easy and far quieter compared to most other hard drives I have ever used. That's indeed some relief to my ears and to those in the same room! With 3 USB ports I cant ask for more. Even as I use two of them at a time, I still have one left. With Firewire 800, the speeds are just right for a 1 TB version. Because of additional space, am also using it to store some professional data which I may need for quick reference when working from my home. The icing on the cake is the price. I am extremely happy that it comes with an easy cost tag. I mean I doubt if I can get a lower price with these functionalities intact!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega MiniMax FireWire 800/USB 2.0 1TB Desktop External Hard Drive 34937 (White)

Product Description:
The Iomega MiniMax Desktop Hard Drive adds stackable storage for your Apple Mac mini! You can also share drive access using the Mac mini with Snow Leopard (Apple products sold separately). The MiniMax includes 2 fast FireWire 800 interfaces, a USB 2.0 hub, plus a FireWire 400 to 800 cable. With multiple interfaces you can easily add other peripherals like a printer or other external storage. Up to 2TB of capacity with HFS+ format allows you to easily save all your music, photos, and videos. Complete software suite that includes Iomega QuikProtect, Trend Micro Smart Surfing for Mac (12 month subscription), and MozyHome Online Backup service (2 GB free) - all free via easy download. The MiniMax also comes with a three year warranty with product registration.

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1000GB G Raid 2 1TB Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This one terabyte drive is big enough to tackle the needs of most any personal computer user out there. The ratings all over the Web suggest better than average life span and few failures out of the box.

If you're into the metallic aluminum look of a lot of electronics today, this will fit right in with your decor. The bright white light on the front of the drive (dare I say beacon?) stays lit 100% of the time, and if the drive is reading/writing data, the light flashes like an white LED strobe light. Some will love it and some will put black tape over the supernova white lamp.

It has a cooling fan at the rear end and holes on front, back and sides for full airflow. The biggest negative is the noise factor. The thing whirrs constantly at high speed. If you have an older PC with a traditional cooling fan, you'll never notice the G-Raid drive over the PC noise. But if you have a newer model, super quiet PC, or an iMac (which is absolutely silent), you'll be looking for a distant spot to locate the whirring G-Raid. Luckily the drive comes with a long (about 4') cable that can run either 400 or 800 FireWire. USB 2.0 is also supported. -1 star for the noise factor.

Click Here to see more reviews about: 1000GB G Raid 2 1TB

Product Description:
Introducing G-RAID2 - the next generation in the award winning line of storage solutions from G-Tech! G-RAID2 is specifically designed to support professional content creation applications including audio/video editing 2D/3D animation and digital imaging. G-RAID2 features a new triple interface - FireWire 400 FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports - for universal connectivity and the latest 7200 RPM SATA II drives mated to an Oxford 924-based hardware RAID 0 controller. G-RAID2 supports the playback of multiple layers of video in real-time and offers unmatched performance and reliability.

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Buffalo Technology DriveStation Duo 2.0 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0 & FireWire Combo External Hard Drive HD-W2.0IU2/R1 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I usually do not write reviews but this time after spending so much time doing a research on a good external RAID1 hard drive and finding no useful information I figured I'll write one up to save other people time and money.

I've read a whole bunch of reviews on Amazon and other websites all people complaining about DriveStation Duo RAID-1 configuration on Windows. Not sure what those people did wrong but they definitely got me concerned before buying this unit.

Before choosing this unit I've compared whole bunch of products available. I was looking for external hard drive either USB or NAS that supports RAID-1 for redundancy and I need to have a flexibility to swap one of the hard drives if needed in case it crashes after warranty expires by not going to the manufacture. Out of all products I looked at (Linksys, Buffalo, Maxtor, Iomega, SimpleTech and many others) I liked Linksys NAS200 the best as it gives you most flexibility with hard drives you choose and Linksys usually have a pretty good software to configure and maintain their hardware but the only downside with NAS200 was the speed. I don't need high transfer rates but I do need at least 10Mb/sec when NAS200 was producing around 3Mb/sec.

When I got the hard drive the one thing I was concerned about is configuring it for RAID-1 based on all the problems other users had (from reviews). I just ran a disk utility that comes with the drive, connected hard drive via USB and then configured it for RAID-1. It was that easy. No problems on Windows XP as other people reported. Then I just formatted the drive using Disk Management utility and it is ready to go.
I even decided to test redundancy so I copied some files to the drive and shut it down and pulled out one drive out of it. Started it back up and the drive was accessible with all the files there. So then I shut it down again and reconnected the drive and it started rebuilding it. According to their doc on the website it is supposed to take 8-11 hours for 500Gb hard drive but after 18 hours it did not finish and I decided to call tech support. After calling tech support they confirmed that the reconnected drive will not rebuild since it expects brand new drive RAW formatted and a drive formatted other than RAW it will go in infinite loop trying to rebuild it. First tech support suggested to format the drive while it was rebuilding it (which I didn't think was a good idea but did it anyway) and that didn't work (2-3 hours wasted). Then after keeping me on hold while (probably) reading some documentation tech support rep. said that because I opened up front cover the warranty is void and they can't replace it for me so he suggested returning back to the place where I got it from since there's no way to fix the problem any more. Then I figured I'll take it into my own hands and tried using DiskUtility to change the drive back to Normal Mode (2 independent drives) and that worked fine but changing it back to RAID-1 failed with misspelled error "Disk Restracturing failed". So, I formatted each drive using FAT32 (back to default formatting) and then tried converting it back to RAID-1 and it worked just fine.

At the end here are pros and cons of this hard drive:
+ Supports RAID-1
+ High transfer rate
+ Auto-power shut off (via USB). Nice feature. Starts up the drive when you start up your computer and shuts it off when you shut down computer.
+ Swappable hard drives. After hands on experience with the hard drive I found out that it will not be that easy to change them, but at least it'll get you the data if one crashes.
+ Easy to access hard drives - just few screws away
+ No need to install all kinds of drivers and whole bunch of useless memory and CPU wasting software to make this unit work. It is literally Plug-n-Play. Windows recognizes this unit without any issues. You can format it using Disk Management in Windows.
+ Comes with 2 Seagate hard drives and not some proprietary like other manufactures
- 1 year warranty. Some websites advertise 3 years warranty for this drive but support confirmed that it is actually 1 year
- Tech support. Doesn't seem like they know what they're talking about. They kept putting me on hold every time I ask them any question. My guess, they were looking for answers in some documents because they didn't know. Really takes them long time to come back with an answer and at the end those answers are useless and misleading.

So at the end, the drive seems to be performing as advertised. I got about 30Mb/sec when copying large files and over 100Mb/sec when copying some MP3 files. At the end, I think this is a good bang for the buck.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffalo Technology DriveStation Duo 2.0 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0 and FireWire Combo External Hard Drive HD-W2.0IU2/R1

Product Description:
2TB 2X500GB DRIVESTATION DUO EXT 7200RPM TT SATA RAID 0/1 USB 2.0

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Brother HL-4040cdn Color Laser Printer with Duplex and Networking Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I researched and found that cartridges for this machine are a lot cheaper than those for HP's and the toner that comes with the printer has a page yield of 1500 color and 2500 b&w.The Hp'scame with toner that had only 750 page yield then you had to pay approx $140 for the toner cartridges for replacement when with this one you can purchase toner cartridges for right around $70 which is half the price with more page yield.So far I have printed 450 pages on the starter cartridges and the toner amount has not lowered and the print quality is excellent!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother HL-4040cdn Color Laser Printer with Duplex and Networking

Product Description:
HL-4040CDN Color Laser Printer with Duplex and NetworkingThe HL-4040CDN produces brilliant color output for all your business documents at up to 21 pages per minute in either color or monochrome.Delivering outstanding output quality at up to 2400 x 600 dpi, the HL-4040CDN makes it easy to produce high-quality color reports, brochures, and presentations right from your desktop or directly from a USB flash memory drive or PictBridge-enabled camera. And to keep your operating costs low, high-capacity replacement toner cartridges are available.Its impressive list of standard features also includes: built-in duplex printing for two-sided documents, flexible paper input capacity, including a fold-down multi-purpose tray for envelopes and letterhead, and a built-in Ethernet network interface for sharing its powerful performance with your small workgroup.With its fast print speeds, outstanding print quality, and built-in duplex printing, the HL-4040CDN gives you the ability to get your message across and add impact to all your business documents.

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