Customer Reviews

LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 320 GB Firewire800/Firewire400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301832

5 star:		(170)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(66)

 

 

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!

I'm using this with my macbook pro. I looked around a lot because the macbook only has 2 USB ports, so I wanted something I could plug in somewhere else. The Firewire 800 is fast, and it powers the drive, so no carrying around another power pack.

The drive comes with all the cables you will need firewire 800, 400, USB, and a optional power cord if you have an older laptop that might not be pushing enough amps through the USB (ie. you may have to plug 1 USB in for the data, and 1 for the power).

It was plug and play for me. No installing of drivers or any other monkey biz. Just started backing up data.

I've used LaCie drives for years and they seem to fail far less often than other drives I've used (WD, Seagate, Maxtor.) Perhaps one of the reasons that my hard drives fail often is that I tend to be a little rough on them. I edit video, often on location, so I drag my drives all over the place. I'm hoping with it's rubberized shell, this LaCie will go the distance. I love that it is self-powered so I don't have to lug a power adapter with me. It's one of the few portable drives that is fast enough for video editing. I purchased the case LaCie Cozy 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Carrying Case 130903 (Grey) for it as well to further protect it. I'll update this review if it dies.

Update: I've used this drive for a year and it's still going strong. I'm going to upgrade to a larger capacity model soon.

PS - It always makes my day to know that people find these reviews helpful. So, please vote (the "Was this review helpful to you: Yes or No" buttons) and leave a comment if you'd like, even if it's just to say, "Hi!" I respond to all comments so feel free to ask a question about the product. Also, when you leave a comment, I will go to your reviews and pay you the same courtesy.

After a couple of days with this drive, I kind of want to buy it flowers and take it to dinner, maybe introduce it to my parents, pick out china...

Partitioned to use on both Macs and PCs, the drive's storage capacity is 268GB. Transferring about 50GB of data took 30 minutes and some change. Other drives have taken me upwards of 2 hours in the past with the same amount of data.

I use it for data backup, but also to play my music library.
Usually when I've tried to access music externally, it loads a bit slowly and there is some lag (especially when it's a large library). It actually runs better off this drive than it did off my computer's hard drive... granted, that was because my PC's 75GB drive had 50+GB of music on it (like your uncle after Thanksgiving: full and slow). This is even with the USB cable, which, from what I've read, isn't as fast as Firewire (yes? no?).

It's super speedy, it's reliable (so far), it's small and light-weight. My one beef is: with interchangeable band colors available, did they HAVE to include the ugliest color with the product? I think they think that I'll care enough to buy the other colors, but I only care just enough to whine about it.

After 6 months of acceptable performance, the drive failed. I'm now on month 2 working with LaCie customer support "Mark H." who always promptly replies within 24 hours with one of three answers: 1. the cable I'm using is broken, not the drive; 2. the USB connection on my computer is broken, not the drive; 3. my computer is broken, not the drive.

Clearly, there's a pattern here.

I've tested all three of these possibilities many times and none of them are true. I've asked LaCie to replace the drive, and they (again, promptly and courteously) tell me I must have done something wrong when testing one of their theories. It's amazing.

So based on the number of negative reviews on Amazon, let's say there's a 25% chance the drive will fail. And based on my experience, you've got a 100% chance of never getting the drive replaced if it does fail.

So buying one of these means you've got a 1 in 4 chance of throwing your money down the toilet.

This is based off of my experience with a 250 GB version.
It worked well for a long time. It is rugged.

One problem: the USB input on the drive itself became loose and eventually just fell off inside.

Bought a replacement shell to fix the problem, but for something so "rugged" it sure did have a weak USB connection to the silicon board inside.

Maybe they fixed it in this version!

If you are like me and use portable drives on a regular basis...then this drive is for you. I LoVE it!!! It is rugged enough so that I dont have to worry if it slips out of my hands or gets bounced around my bag. It is a little bigger then most portable drives...but not big enough for me to give it a bad review.

The connectivity on this drive just blows away the competition. I mean USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800... that pretty much handles it all.

The drive is bus powered but also has the option to be powered by an AC Adaptor that can be purchased separately.

The speeds of this drive are awesome and due to the various options cannot be compared to anything else.

Get one asap...you wont be sorry.

I would not recommend purchasing the product. While the design is a great idea, the drive was just not made reliable enough. Cable connections on the back of the device had the impression that they were cheaply made, and kept removing themselves.

Moreover, the entire drive eventually failed, making various clicking noises and otherwise being very unreliable. It would periodically unmount from the computer, and not just because of the aforementioned lose cables, but rather the problem associated with the clicking noise.

So, for me the drive failed after owning it for a very very brief time and barely handling it.

I got two of these. One for storage of files and the other to use as a scratch disc for video editing. Works great with MacBook Pro and Final Cut. I highly recommend the Caselogic PHDC-1 Small EVA External Hard Drive Case to go with it. I wasn't sure it would be a good fit but it's like the 2 products were made for each other. They are a perfect combination and I have 2 of each.

The only thing is the drive gets pretty hot sometimes. I don't know if this is part of normal operation but I just make sure not to leave the drive in the Caselogic case when I'm using it. I sit it on top so the air can flow all around it. It seems to help with the temperature.

Wonderful device with plug-and-play set-up running Leopard on my MacBook Pro. Exactly as advertised, the Rugged 500GB does indeed play well with Time Machine. Couldn't be happier with the FW 800 transfer rate -- extra zippy and just what you'd hope. Build quality is great for a portable. I ordered LaCie's extra set of colored bumpers as I don't much care for the included orange. CaseLogic's PHDC-1 Small EVA External Hard Drive Case is a *perfect* fit for the Rugged 500GB -- sturdy and snug with no unwonted wiggle-room.

Extra happy with everything, so five stars on all of the above.