LaCie 250 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ( 300728U )

by LaCie

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 8 x 5 inches ; 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00019OWU4
• Item model number: 300728U
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

world-famous design
Designed by the world-famous Porsche Design Agency GmbH, the LaCie Hard Drive exhibits world-class style and elite performance. Available with USB 2.0 interface or FireWire, the LaCie Hard Drive offers fast data transfer rates (up to 480Mbits/s using USB 2.0 connection) that are required for substantial jobs like downloading digital photos, saving MP3s or transferring home videos from a camcorder.

built to move
With room to store 250 GB, you can back up your entire system or add extra storage space when your internal hard drive is full. Built to be lightweight and durable, these drives can be easily moved for sharing and exchanging of files. Secured rubber feet allow drives to be stacked, so you can get the most out of limited desktop space.

hi-speed downloads
Available with Hi-Speed USB interface, the LaCie Hard Drive offers fast data transfer rates (up to 480Mbits/s) that are required for substantial jobs like downloading digital photos or saving MP3s.

easy to use
These drives offer setup that is nearly effortless, and are ready to use minutes after removing it from the box. Secured rubber feet allow drives to be stacked, so you can get the most out of limited desktop space.

Product Description

LaCie has teamed up with the renowned design agency Porsche Design GmbH to create this family of hard drives. Now you?ve got a stylish place to put all of your photos, music, videos and data. This drive offers nearly effortless setup and is ready to use just seconds after removing it from the box with either Mac or PC. Secure rubber feet allow drives to be stacked, so you can get the most out of limited desktop space. Features: Save your files, photos, MP3s & videos Fast interface transfer rate: up to 480Mbits/s Package includes: Hi-Speed USB cable External AC power adapter LaCie Utilities CD-ROM including Silverlining Pro, SilverKeeper and LaCie 1-Click Backup software

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cheap price, Cheap Drive!, March 20, 2005

By 

Microbiologist, RN, and perpetual student. "~BB" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LaCie 250 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ( 300728U ) (Personal Computers)

A couple of things... First, I had to learn the hard way that this device is not Windows Supported. You woun't learn about it until its too late, but most products go through testing to be certified as Windows Compatable. This is not. They either haven't passed Windows testing or haven't bothered.

That said, it wasn't until I defragmented the drive and had over 150GB of information erased. Initially, I thought it was the defragmentation program, but after running a diagnostic on the drive, I found that it has a physical defect.

It wasn't until I researched that I found that this is common with this brand. Also, the USB cord is about 15 inches long. So don't plan on putting it anywhere far from your computer.

Yes. It has an OK design by Porsche. Too bad the it doesn't run like a Porsche. This is an extremely compact drive, with no heat sink whatsoever. The drive gets VERY VERY hot. While researching my own problems with this drive, I found that many people have lost their data due to it overheating.

Purchase at your own risk! (OR install your own cooling system that the manufacturer forgot, get a longer USB, and scan for defects when you first get it)!! Not recommended if you have data that you can't live without... you risk losing it using this drive!

**** However, LaCie Seems to have gotten it right with their new eSATA drives (available here on amazon.com). Now, there are 2 similar 'looking' drives, d2 and SATA external... I'm referring to the external SATA. (Triple Interface Firewire, USB etc. is just too slow for a hard drive, get the external SATA (eSATA) if you can). LaCie resolves heat issus and speed issues (with the SATA not firewire or usb) in their new external SATA drive. At the very least, it is as fast as your internal hard drive (SATA only, not usb or firewire). So, to get a low cost high quality blazing fast drive, which LaCie can give, search Amazon for LaCie External SATA, I've got 2!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worried about the other reviews... I've had mine for over a year and it works fine., October 5, 2006

By 

ChewyGranolaBar (San Antonio, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LaCie 250 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ( 300728U ) (Personal Computers)

I've got to say I'm really worried about my hard drive failing after reading all of these reviews. But to be honest I have not had the same problems (crosses fingers). My hard drive has worked admirably for over a year. I do not however hold anything near and dear to my heart on this drive (probably the most important thing I have on my drive is all of my music) and I use it mainly for weekly back-ups of my computer. So to start my little review off:

Systems used with Hard Drive:
- Powerbook running Panther and Tiger (PPC)
- IBM Thinkpad running Windows XP

What I've used this hard-drive for:
- making a disk image of my whole computer hard drive for a new OS install
- backing up all of my important files right before the last gasps of my computer hard drive
- weekly backups of all files
- movies, tv, music
- running seldom used programs off of the external drive such as Photoshop

Pro's:
- CHEAP- it is even cheaper now, I think I bought mine for about 140ish more than a year ago.
- Aesthetically pleasing
- has been dependable for me (crosses fingers)- I have traveled with it on one road trip where I put it in a suit case between my clothes.
- plug and play for both OS's although you must make sure you format the drive in a format that both OS's can use. Currently since the IBM is no longer using the drive I have formatted it only for Mac.

Neutral:
- Speed- fast enough for archiving and running some meaty programs off of it such as Photoshop (although of course slower than on my actual harddrive), but it is not a speedster by far. I imagine a firewire800 external would be much, much faster. Advertised specs are 480Mps, 7200 rpm... not too shabby for the price.
- Software- clunky, ugly and user unfriendly from a Mac standpoint, but it works. I use dotMac's backup utility instead, which works without a hitch on the external.
- Heat- runs warm, but not hot. And definitely not as hot as my Powerbook. I've taken the precaution of putting my external on some makeshift stilts to elevate it about 1/2" to increase air cooling after reading all these horrid reviews, but I ran the drive for over a year just sitting on a plain desk in an air-conditioned room.
- Sound- As loud as my old minitower pc harddrive. Which means it isn't quiet, but it isn't out of the ordinary loud compared to a harddrive in a cheap desktop. Also mine makes a click at the end when it stops spinning. I'm overly paranoid from all these reviews.

Cons:
- Short USB- but a long one might effect the speed as stated in earlier reviews
- Badly placed on/off switch- if you never turn your hard drive off it won't bother you and eventually even if you do turn your hard drive on and off a lot you will get use to it. Not a big con.

So there you have it. A solid 4 stars for me. Although after reading all of these reviews if I were buying an external to store my photos (and other files I feel are priceless and irreplaceable) and that was the only place I was storing my photos, I would not buy this hard drive based on other people's unfortunate experiences. I mainly use this hard drive to back up my laptop hard drive and the odds of both of my hard drives failing at the exact same time are slim, so this has been a good (ie cheap) value for me... especially since it did save my rear when my actual laptop hard drive did fail.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too hot to handle!, September 18, 2005

By 

Dr. D. M. Hunt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LaCie 250 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ( 300728U ) (Personal Computers)

I have three of these drives and all of them have experienced thermal related failures.

The Maxtor drives aren't bad, they are just more susceptible to damaged from overheating than a comparable Seagate or a Western Digital.

My Dell Precision 670 had two 200Gb MaxLine SATA drives they both failed because the room was too hot for them. Dell replaced them with Western Digital drives, they've been OK for a year now vs. two months for the Maxtors.

The hard drive needs air flowing over it and an ambient temperature of below 20 degrees celcius to work with normal temperatures, i.e. not exceeding 50 degrees celcius.

Unfortunately, the mounting of the drive was faulty on all of my LaCie enclosures so the heat was not able to escape adequately to the casing and dissapate.

I achieved a 15 degree reduction in temperature by putting a small amount of thermal conductivity paste on the screws and then making sure the screws were tightly holding the drive to the chassis.

Still, why should I have to do all of this after shelling out all the cash! I won't be buying any more LaCie products, nice looking, badly engineered.