Another geek question

[karohemd]

Are external hard drives from LaCie any good?
IIRC, someone mentioned them recently but I can't remember if it was good or bad...

ETA: So both positive and negative voices with more yay than nay. Hmmmmm....

Comments

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

I heard bad things about them. My ex had a LaCie HD and it packed in after not very long, and he lost a helluva lot of photos etc.

If it's any help, the 400GB Maxtor one I have from Maplin seems solid and reliable thus far. :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* Thanks!
1TB for 120 quid sounds a bit fishy, anyway.

[fearmeforiampink]

I've got a fairly ancient 60GB La Cie firewire hard drive that ahs always worked fine and has lasted for 6 years or more. I can't directly comment on their current stuff, but this has never had any problems.

[emperor]

Mine conked out after 10.5 months, and has gone back under warranty.

[grokit.livejournal.com]

We have 4 of them for offsite backups at work. Have been fine so far.

[kit-hartford.livejournal.com]

I have two - one four years old, the other 18 months, and both work fine.

[pinkapplejam.livejournal.com]

I have 2 x 250GB, on is over 2 years old, no problems whatsoever :)

[pengshui-master.livejournal.com]

They almost cetianly don't make the harddrives themselves anyway. Just the bit that goes around the usual 'internal hdd'.

These extra bits for x00 GB range drive are pretty standard , just a off the self chipset - so I wouldn't expect much difference between makes.

For the TB range I guess they managing to hack in some sort of raid-0 controller - not necessarily a matter of grand science but could make data recovery interesting if this electronics goes titsup. The price you quote isn't far off what I might expect to see for two 500GB hDDs + a bit of support electronics either.

OTOH, linux's devmapper is pretty good for this sort of abuse in emergencies if you know how to use it.

In other works your mileage may vary - but hopefully the above gives you some clues on how.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

I have one. It works. Only about 18 months old but no problems with it.