Audio dedicated HD: LaCie d2 Quadra, WD My Book Studio or OWC Mercury Elite

Hi, I'm choosing between the LaCie d2 Quadra, WD My Book Studio and OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro, pretty similar, looks like the only difference is the Lacie has 16MB cache, the WD is unspecified and OWC has 32MB... which had me leaning towards OWC's.
The lowest prices I've found are $150, $140 and $170+shipping (their website only) respectively. So although I was convinced about the OWC it is the most expensive one.
1TB using FW800 BTW

Theis PSUs die.
I had forgotten about my incident, I just avoid to buy their drives; but the other day I went to a "Mac service" and saw no less than 10 of them all broken. I asked and all were PSU fails.
Not BIG deal, but when you open it to save your data because otherwise you´ll have to ship it and pray you loose the guarantee. I´ll have to read A LOT of good things from Lacie to change my mind. They charge you for an enclosure and the enclosure fails... BIG DEAL
Just my experience and opinion. Maybe you buy one and you LOVE it.

Similar Messages

LACIE d2 Quadra 500GB or OWC Mercury Elite-AL 300GB

I'm trying to decide on which scratch disk to purchase. What do you guys think about these two, or would you suggest something different. I need the firewire 800 for my setup.

I have quite a few Lacie drives and have never had a problem with them, including some 500GB d2 Quadras. Just remember that you'll never know ahead of time what make/model drive is in the box. Lacie did confirm to me that they are putting SATA drives in the d2 Quadra units, however. (You have to be careful, some of the off brand FW drives actually have old PATA (IDE/ATA) drives inside.)
Why not consider the OWC 320 GB Mercury Elite - it's got a Hitachi T7K500 drive inside. The 300GB version you mentioned has a Maxtor Maxline drive (not my favorite). Or, you might consider just getting the Mercury Elite Quad interface enclosure and put a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive or a Hitachi Deskstar drive in it.

LaCie d2 Quadra or OWC Mercury Elite Pro for external hard drive?

Using Intel IMac,10.8.3 and replacing my external hard drives. Had posted before and had some issues with other drives and narrowed things down to these two drives. Using one for Time Machine and the other for CCC.
I would appreciate any and all comments from users of either of these drives and any suggestions!?
Thanks,
Don

I vote for the OWC drives. I have 5 of them and am very happy with their performance. The one LaCie drive I had a couple of years ago had to be replace. It was replaced with an OWC drive.
OT

Will LaCie D2 QUADRA with firewire restore my apps back onto my MacBook Pro if I upgrade to Lion and then restore from the external drive?

I ordered the disk to update to Snow Leopard. Did that so I could get the App Store. Did that so I could download Lion. After I installed Lion my MacBook is super sluggish. Takes like 6 seconds just to open a drop-down menu in Finder.
I have been backing up. Will LaCie D2 QUADRA with firewire restore my apps back onto my MacBook Pro if wipe my drive using the USB Lion OS stick (which I think I'll have to buy even though I downloaded the new OS online)? I have been plugging my laptop into the Lacie drive set on "auto" and it's been working great.
One Genius said yes "you will get everything back" but my Mac buddy says "say goodbye to most of your apps". Then a guy at the university I asked "do you have a disk image". And I said "what the **** is a disk image?".
Is the problem that I installed an OS on top of new OS without wiping the drive? Or, is my MacBook Pro too old? Do I need to buy a new one?
15-inch, Late 2008
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50b)
Any help?

SA will indeed transfer accounts, files and apps at first start. Can do so even faster if you clone the internal HDD onto the external (just split into a partition large enough to contain it) and then use it as the source. Probably faster than Time Machine too. The safest and quickest way to do a disk image or clone is using CarbonCopyCloner (free), and it will preserve the Lion Recovery Partition too.
Since you'll have to re--download the Lion installer again, note that you can concoct your very own Lion Installer USB Stick with it prior to reinstalling and not have to pay for the Apple-branded version. See Kappy's tutorial: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3786371?tstart=0
As for the sluggishness, I believe that a great part of the cause is that you only have 2GB RAM. Don't know if your Mac can take more but try at least to get to 4GB, if not 8GB. Should attempt this before messing with the reinstall, as this may get you what you want.

Iomega Prestige or LaCie d2 Quadra 1TB external hard drive?

Good day. I am in need of more storage and am debating the Iomega Prestige or LaCie d2 Quadra 1 TB HD. I plan on using the HD to store my iTunes music files, DV camcorder tape files and overall time machine back-ups. I am leaning toward the Iomega with a USB port since it is priced under $100; however, the LaCie has firewire connectivity. Will I see that much more speed or improvement by utilizing the firewire and going with the LaCie? Is it worth an extra $50-$60?

It depends on how much $$$ you are willing to spend and if you already have a wireless router. Replacing an internal drive, unless you are able to do it yourself, will require paying a technician for installation. If you already have a WiFi setup, you probably don't need the router functions of a Time Capsule.
One option to consider is buying the largest capacity external HD you can afford. You can then create two partitions on it: one for Time Machine and one for everything else (a rule of thumb for Time Machine is to give it at least 1.5x to 2x the space used by the drive it is backing up). Or you could pick up two external drives--depending on the size you buy, the cost probably would be less than a new internal + Time Capsule setup)--and use one exclusively for Time Machine.

Finder no longer detects a Lacie d2 quadra hard drive

I have a Lacie d2 quadra hard drive that is connected with firewire 400 to my Macbook Pro. It will not show in Finder or the desktop.
It constantly in running because I can hear the clicking sound coming from it and it runs all the time. I cannot see it on my Mac.

Yes, you have to format it with Disk utility - that is what it is for. So it seems you did that correctly - check back to make sure that it is the GUID partition scheme.
Do you have any LaCie software installed? Your drive needs nothing on it to work. First, try to just restart your computer - that may work (after ejecting and unplugging the drive). If it doesn't, plug it back in and you might want to try to run through it again (use partition this time > one or more partitions).

External HD (Lacie d2 Quadra 500GB) random disconnects

Hi!
I have a problem with my external HD (Lacie d2 Quadra 500GB). The problem occurs since the 10.6 upgrade. My external HD is disconnected every few minutes. Sometimes I only see one partition, but most of the time both partitions (one of them is my Time Machine partition) are being disconnected by OSX. I read that some Western Digital drives get disconnected, too. But as far as I know my drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 HD.
Any solutions?
I can plug it out of the USB2 port and back in again. It will appear for a few minutes and after that the next "Drive disconnected" message comes up (sometimes the message does not show, too!).
I would appreciate any help!
Thank you,
Markus

I have the same problem with an external SimpleTech portable HD direct-wired via USB. My drive is strictly used to hold music and photo files. The problem has started since upgrade to Snow Leopard.
It disconnects every few minutes and has to be unplugged and plugged back in again to my MBP to get it to reconnect. Sometimes the "Drive disconnected" error message comes up, sometimes it doesn't. When I plug it back in sometimes it doesn't get recognized and I have to repeat the procedure. The time it takes to become recognized, when it is, is much slower than before upgrading to Snow Leopard.

My incredible story with a Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw 800.

I bought a Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw 800 in June 2007 at Ktuin store(the biggest retailer of Mac and LaCie in Spain) in Madrid Calle Orense for 1079,00€. As soon as I took it out from the box and I connetted it to my Powerbook G4 and my MacPro the drive burn them out. Some smoke came out from the firewire socket. Three months later LaCie gave me a new Raid LaCie Biggets Quadra Fw 800.They didn’t pay anything for the damage caused to my 2 computers. Luckily the Macpro was still in warranty. Mac fixed it for free but still I had to pay 700€ to fix the Powerbook.
Well, I put the brand new Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw800 on my desk and I saved there all my last 5 years of work as a photographer. I didn’t make any back up because:
1) I’m a stupid guy
2) I had confidence on raid system (they make back up their own)
3) Never I would have thought that a second Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw800 will broke
Exactly 9 months later the Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw800 stopped working. The message of the computer was that it just can’t recognize the device.
At Ktuin store in Madrid the kept the Raid LaCie Biggest Quadra Fw800 for 45 days passing programs to rebuild the volume lost. Also the LaCie sent a new box to put the 4 disks but…. nothing, it keeps not working. They told me that if I wanted to recover my datas I needed to bring it to a recovery lab but I would have lost my warranty on them. I had to choose datas or drives.
Now I’m waiting news from my recovery lab praying that they will be able to recover my photos. The estimate is from a minimum of 1300€ (one disk broken) to a maximum of 7200€ (4 disks broken) (Mixed of 2 estimates from Recovery Labs Madrid and Serman Madrid 12/08/08).
So
1) I lost a client who had bought a report and I couldn’t deliver him the photos
2) I have client waiting for his photos since 45 days
3) I have agencies waiting for my photos
4) I payed 700€ to fix my powerbook
5) I will have to pay between 1300 and 7200€ to recover datas
6) I won’t have the right to take advantage of the warranty and will have to buy new drives which sure won’t be LaCie
Thank you very much LaCie
Marco Cristofori
www.marcocristofori.com
Ps
Today september 2nd, 2008 Recovery Labs Madrid confirmed what Serman Madrid had already said: my raid has been formatted at 35%. This occurred when the raid was in possession of Ktuin store in Madrid. The Recovery Labs Madrid technician said that this probably happened when they decided to change the box. The drives finding a new environment have started formatting automatically. The Ktuin technicians were working being coordinated by LaCie technicians.

There are numerous threads here about losing data and the best way to backup. It is commonly held that the best advice is to back up your data three times. This is mostly for a desktop setup but the principle remains the same.
1 - To another hard drive in your machine.
2 - To an external drive that is solely turned on and used for backing up all data.
3 - burning all data to DVD that is then stored offsite or to another hard drive that is also stored offsite.
This is to ensure that should your house burn down or someone rob you and steal everything at least all your data is safe.
There are of course other ways to backup one or more of these steps such as backing up over ethernet to an external server etc and what method like TM or Dantz Retrospect configured to your taste.
Some, also suggest burning all your data to disc every five years or so, as that seems to be the accepted lifespan of CDs and DVDs.
You have to ask yourself " Can I afford to lose my data ?"
Stewie

Lacie 4big Quadra upgrade

I have a Lacie 4big Quadra 12TB external drive connected to a Macpro server as a backup drive connected via FW800 but I'm out of space.
Lacie now do the same drive but with a 16TB capacity but rather than buy a complete new unit I was wondering if anyone had replaced the drives in one of these units for larger drives, either Lacie drives or for instance 4TB seagate drives.
Ideally I would like the 20TB thunderbolt version but as I cant get a thunderbolt card for the MacPro that's out of the question.
Another option is a different manufacturer but the drive needs 16TB minimum, raid 5, be swappable & connect via either USB 2 or Firewire 800 but not a NAS.
Thanks

Why aren't you looking into SATA PCIe? Forget using USB2 definitely not and not for RAID5.
Maybe look to Mavericks which has improved its software RAID support (though it is nine-dot-zero so maybe not today).
http://www.macgurus.com/store/Item/QuadRackRAID
Or from MacSales:
Max Data Transfer Rate
eSATA - 300 MB/sec
FireWire 800 - 100MB/sec
FireWire 400 - 50MB/sec
USB 3.0 - 300MB/sec
USB 2.0 - 60MB/sec
RAID / JBOD Support
RAID 0,1,5,10 Hardware RAID Mode, and NRAID Span Options
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/
Amazon reviewers should give you pause or cold feet on the LaCie.
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-301434U-Quadra-FireWire-Firewire/product-reviews/B00 1GFG48A/

Lacie d2 Quadra

I recently got an iMac 2.4 Ghz for off-line editing at home. I need an external hard drive and I am thinking about purchasing a 500 GB Lacie d2 Quadra. I want to know if it would perform well transferring HD footage? I have a project shot using P2 cards. If there are any suggestions of other drives people have had good luck with let me know.
thanks,
cja

You get what you pay for. LaCie will use whatever drives are cheapest that week. CalDigit and G-Tech only use top notch enterprise class drives. I think that they are both using Hitachi Deskstars, but don't hold me to that. I have had all three brands, Lacie was basically DOA and the support system was terrible. G-Tech drives are wonderful, I have about 7 of them and in 4 years I have only lost one. Their tech support is great although sometimes a bit slow.
CalDigit is my favorite. These guys invented eSATA, licensed it to a bunch of folks and then decided to build their own boxes. Build quality is second to none and these suckers are fast. I don't have a FirewireVR but I used one for a week or so while I was waiting for them to ship me my S2VR HD. It was fast and solid. When you open one of their boxes you immediately know that you have a quality product, the packaging is superb.
Is that enough? I really feel like a geeky fanboy, but these folks know what they are doing.
K

G-Tech G-DRIVE Q 500GB Quad Interface Hard Drive or LaCie d2 Quadra 500GB?

Hi,
Okay I was all set to get the Lacie d2 Quadra 500 GB drive for $296.00 Canadian as I'd heard from people on this site and others it was a good one to buy.
Then I was on apple.ca yesterday and saw the G-Tech G-DRIVE Q 500GB Quad Interface Hard Drive for $319.00 Canadian and I get Macworld and that is always on the Top Product list. Should I get the G-Tech one instead for only $23.00 more?
Thoughts? Does one have more features then the other? I see the Lacie has a one button backup option but not sure about G-Tech.
S.
Message was edited by: spiralgirl
Message was edited by: spiralgirl

spiralgirl wrote:
Thanks for the tips. I don't really know what I'm doing as far as cases are concerned.
Yep, I understand, hardware geekdom can be very confusing.
Amazon.com has a good prices on LaCie -- 500 GB D2 HD Quadra @ USD $183
that's price-competitive with any of my home-grown specials.
http://www.amazon.com/500GB-Lacie-Quadra-7200RPM-16MB/dp/B000MEX7CC/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1196222936&sr=8-1
...favorable customer reviews, too,
Looby

MacBook Pro with LaCie 2big Quadra

Just brought a 2tb LaCie 2big Quadra external raid drive to add to my macbook pro, the thought was to add a bigger drive capacity to my SSD (128GB) my thought were to move the home file from the macbook to the drive one, so my pictures, music and documents where all saved there, then via raid have all that data mirrored to drive 2, am I thinking about this in the right way

The only disadvantage that comes to mind that you may miss is a 'historical record' that Time Machine would provide. If you were to trash something and found you needed it, your stuck. Your backup would always reflect your current data. If you can live with that, fine. Perhaps some one else will come up some other issues.
Ciao.

Lacie 4Big Quadra | eSATA Card Needed for 2008 Mac Pro

I have a Mac Pro (2008) and have just bought a Lacie 4Big Quadra. I need an eSATA card to take advantage of the faster transfer rates. I'll be using the drive in RAID 1 as part of a backup solution.
Can anyone recommend an affordable eSATA card which will work without succombing to the many warnings posted here and elsewhere?
Any help would be much appreciated. :)
Kind regards, Richard

Well, you didn't define what is considered 'affordable' so here's my answer: OWC deals in reliable products that in my experience work well with Macs.

LaCie 4big Quadra & TC

I've just purchased a LaCie 4big Quadra 4TB Raid Array. It's setup for RAID 5 & connected to my TC via USB 2.0. The array is formatted HFS+, it is a hard RAID and shows up in the Airport Utility as a single drive.
When I try to change my time machine disk to the new disk, it is not displayed. Also, the drive does not show up on the Network.
Any thoughts would be appreciated...
Thanks,
Marc

Re-Formatted again and it worked.

New LaCie d2 Quadra and New MBP - Prompts to install Rosetta??

New MBP running Snow Leopard (2 weeks old) + new LaCie d2 Quadra 1 TB (2 days old). Just ran into a curious issue. I need some guru help. Plugged everything in and intended to do my first Time Machine backup. The LaCie set-up assistant causes this message to appear: "To open LaCie Setup Assistant, you need to install Rosetta. Would you like to install it now?" No I don't want to install Rosetta. Does this mean I need to format the LaCie external drive? I never had to do this on my old MBP or with countless other (older) LaCie drives. If I HAVE TO reformat the LaCie drive...ummm...could someone talk me through that process? Or point me to a page that gives a step by step guide? This should be easier. Thanks.

I concur with Roger... I have 3 d2 Quadras...
“...simply erase the d2 formatting it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility. Once done you have totally wiped it clean and reformatted... “
Have Never Used any Proprietary Software on any of my External Drives... and as a consequence have had NO Issues...
Cheers,

Audio dedicated HD: LaCie d2 Quadra, WD My Book Studio or OWC Mercury Elite

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