Batteries Included: 0 Binding: Electronics Brand: LaCie EAN: 0093053656416 Feature: The most powerful Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive of its size Hard Disk Size: 500 Is Autographed: 0 Is Memorabilia: 0 Label: Lacie Manufacturer: Lacie Model: 300964U Publisher: Lacie Studio: Lacie Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features
The most powerful Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive of its size Plug and play to easily back up multiple workstations Unique ultra-quiet, heat-dissipating design Versatile: stack, rack-mount or stand upright Designed for low-cost storage expansion, it's ideal for backing up several workstations
The most powerful Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive in a portable 5.25" 1U form factor, the LaCie Big Disk is designed for low-cost storage expansion and is ideal for backing up several workstations with enormous capacities up to 500GB. With USB universal connectivity and no software to configure, this plug & play drive delivers high performance with maximum convenience. Easily share and exchange among multiple workstations for archiving without clogging the network.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: My Last LaCie Drive...Ever Comment: I recently had a 200GB LaCie Big Disk die at work after relatively light use. Then I remembered that I had a 250 model in the same series die at home about a year ago. The wheels started turning: I had a 500GB LaCie Big Disk at home, seldom used and only as a backup. But recently I had used it as a capture disk for a client video project. Then I remembered to look up the item online to see what others were saying. After reading the previous reviews here, alarm bells went off. I immediately began copying files from the LaCie to an internal drive hours ago. And sure enough, just like another reviewer said: corrupted, unreadable files that could not be copied. Luckily, nothing irreplaceable. But LaCie, your products need work. Customer Rating: Summary: Works OK for me Comment: I guess I must be lucky, because I have used one of these drives for almost a year now without any problems. It's only drawback is that it is BIG. But then they tell you that up front. Mine installed easily and has worked well. It has a nice power switch on the front which is convenient. I use mine flat (not upright) and it is quiet and seems fast. No trouble so far, so no complaints.
I give it 4 star because it is well built (metal, heavy), quiet, well designed and has functioned flawlessly so far. And it's fast for a USB drive.
I also have about 6 of the Lacie Porche style 250 GB Drives and one porche style 500 and they have worked well also. No problems. Not sure why so many people have had trouble.
I keep mine on all the time I am using my computer (it turns on and off automatically), it gets warm, but not hot. I make sure it has free airflow.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but so far, so good.
Customer Rating: Summary: The bigger they are... Comment: I used my big disk for several months and then it started slowly deteriorating and losing chunks of data. Huge waste of money. Huge waste of time. Huge loss of data. Customer Rating: Summary: Faulty Design + Horrible Support = LaCie Comment: I purchased two LaCie 500 GB Big Disks (external, USB), only to figure out one of the drives actually crashes my PC on reboot (the other drive does not, so this is obviously a flaw in the first one). Having been convinced (somewhat) by LaCie's support monkeys that this *just might* be the fault of my PC, I let it slide for a while, but after I bought a completely new PC (new motherboard, absolutely no parts in common with the old PC) and noticed that the LaCie drive crashed my new PC on reboot as well, it became obvious that the LaCie drive was the culprit.
So I figured, the drive is still under warranty (they give you an extremely short 1-year manufacturer's warranty), no problem. I'll just ask LaCie to replace the drive.
No such luck. To make a long story short, after wasting countless hours dealing with LaCie's "customer service" department, I came to the realization that LaCie has the worst customer service department (policy? culture? call it what you will) I have ever had the misfortune to experience.
The customer service guy was abusive on the phone and failed to respond to e-mail as promised. Although he started out reasonable enough, recognizing the fact that the hard drive must be defective (crashing multiple PCs that have no problem with another drive of the exact same model is a major clue), during a subsequent phone call (after he ignored my e-mail for two weeks) he put me on hold to "talk to a supervisor" for about 30 minutes. I don't know what his supervisor told him, but after this point, his attitude was completely different. His initially reasonable tone was replaced with one of arrogance and obfuscation. Maybe his supervisor reminded him of LaCie's policy of "blaming the customer" for their product's defects?
He even suggested that I deal with the defective drive by "eBaying it". Wow. So instead of sending out a replacement, non-crashing drive, LaCie expects its customers to foist their defective products off on other unsuspecting consumers? Is this the state of customer support in the industry today? Really?
How about recalling the LaCie 500 GB Big Disk, LaCie? It would probably cost more in the short term than blaming the customer, but you might redeem your reputation in the long run.
Now I'm down $400 for the drive, plus about $3,000 worth of my time, with a crashing hard disk to show for my pain and effort. LaCie, you've stolen another customer's hard-earned money, but never again! Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor, anyone but LaCie, congratulations, you've got my business. Customer Rating: Summary: Avoid this drive at all costs if you value your data Comment: I have to agree, and underscore the experience of others on this one. I purchased two LaCie 500GB drives at the same time, new - about 800 bucks then (they are much less expensive now).
They started failing quickly when I did a lot of data moving onto them. I updated the firmware as specified (which trashed my ability to connect to some USB devices even though I was using Firewire).
The drives were getting hot. I called LaCie. I told them that obviously, some kind of fan must be needed. They said that the drives are designed to run normally in that little box. Two drives - no fan, no good heat sinks.
So, then they failed completely, with sickening little clicking noises inside, the sound of a heat-damaged drive with a bad board on it. The first couple of days before I started doing a lot of transfers, things seemed fine enough, but problems started.
If I got paid the purchase price for the time doing chkdsks and recovery between cool-downs and barely getting back my data before a full crash, I'd be getting less than minimum wage. But this was worse - I paid the money and lost the time, and a bit of data too.
A mess all the way, and a waste of good money - lots of money for nothing! For the same money, I added a RAID 0/1/5/10 hot swap to my computer, which has SATAII and a large fan on the back to keep things really cool. More storage, more performance, and no more problems under the most demanding use.
If you value your time, your money and your data - avoid the 500GB Big Disk!!!
