LaCie updates external hard drives, launches the Little Big Disk Quadra

Alright, LaCie. We understand when you namecheck the designer of your new ultra-minimalist external drives, but the d2 line has been shipping since like 2002 -- so we're not going to get excited about the look of the thing, no matter how "quintessentially Neil Poulton" the design. Additions to the lineup includes a revised d2 Quadra eSATA / FireWire 800 / FireWire 400 / USB 2.0 drive, an eSATA version of the Big Disk Extreme+, and the new Little Big Disk Quadra portable drive. The d2 Quadra gets a couple more heatsink ridges and a new lower starting price of $189, while the Big Disk Extreme+ stays pretty much the same with the addition of eSATA. The new 1.4-pound dual-disk Little Big Disk Quadra starts at $475 and features a fanless design with one eSATA port, two FireWire 800 ports, and a single USB 2.0 port for access to capacities of up to 500GB. The drive also features built-in RAID 0 capability, which boosts transfer speeds to 110MB/s over eSATA. All this stuff is available now, according to LaCie.

Read - d2 Quadra
Read - Big Disk Extreme+
Read - Little Big Disk Quadra

[NG @ Jan 8th 2008 12:30PM]

They are really nice, but too expensive :(
I have one only 2 years old and now it's making the "click of death"...

[Marshall @ Jan 8th 2008 1:17PM]

LaCie needs to work on naming. If someone asks me to recommend an external drive, I can remember the name "MyBook" and to a lesser extent "FreeAgent," but the "Big Disk Extreme+" and "Little Big Disk Quadra," are pretty big mouthfuls. I realize the other products differentiate themselves with "pro," "express" and similar add-on names, but that is something people can figure out when they get to the store.

[absurdio @ Jan 8th 2008 1:31PM]

I've got two LaCie drives that - so far - have served me admirably. On LaCie's site now, they offer the "LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Drive" (which is the same enclosure as the two I've got) and the "LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk" (which'll ship in February and which has the newly heat-sink-ed enclosure and more or less identical specs/capacities). Talk about confusing nomenclature!

Also, if the former model is discontinued to make room for the latter, I'm going to lose it when I need a third drive. I'm WAY too ocd to tolerate minor changes like this. :p

[Brian McBride @ Jan 8th 2008 1:37PM]

After having LaCie drives fail on me numerous times, I recommend avoiding anything to do with their raid technology. I am sure if your are getting an enclosure with only one drive inside, that is fine - but they have a history of problems with their raid controllers and power supplies. It sucks to have to restore tons of data (that is if you do backups!)

Sounds like this drive is one of their 2-disks-in-one setups. Just avoid it and save yourself a world of future pain.

[Rocky @ Jan 8th 2008 1:52PM]

I have two "bigger" disks from LaCie - the ones with 4 500gb drives to make two TB. Both had problems in warranty which were covered promptly. One recently died after 14 months and LaCie refuses to service. They have NO OUT OF WARRANTY SERVICE and no diagnostic utilities to figure out which drive is dead.
Great for the planet, huh?

[Rahabib @ Jan 8th 2008 2:49PM]

lol just had a 1Tb Bigger Disk go up in smoke on me this morning... literally! there was smoke coming out of the drive!

[Naga @ Jan 8th 2008 3:22PM]

After using them I've found their quality to be sub-par, and their support non-existent and impossible to get ahold of. Highly prone to failure. They're fast, but the raid most of them offer doesn't give redundancy for when the drive WILL fail.

[otologic @ Jan 8th 2008 4:21PM]

LaCie Drives are unreliable crap. I've known of many clients who have had them fail. DO NOT TRUST THEM. ANOTHER Warning to all: LaCie uses the same style connector for their power supplies but they have DIFFERENT amperage!! I know several people who have multiple LaCie drives who have accidentally destroyed their drive.

@Rahabib: I actually saw one go up in smoke as well

[DriveBy @ Jan 9th 2008 12:26AM]

At least with a Drobo you can swap and interchange disks.