LaCie's latest Neil Poulton external HDD does eSATA, too

In typical LaCie fashion, it's latest external hard drive isn't even mentioned on the outfit's own website, but nevertheless, it most definitely exists. The tried and true Neil Poulton HDD has been refreshed with two new ports to coexist alongside the USB 2.0 socket: FireWire 400 and eSATA. Outside of the two new holes flanking the rear, the drive looks essentially the same, and is available on the streets as we speak for $139.99 (500GB), $187.99 (750GB) or $276.99 (1TB).

[Via CNET]

Update: LaCie mounted these up on its website, after all. Thanks, bjrcboy!

[Hugh Newmark @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:40PM]

That's an amazing price. . .

[NineT9 @ Apr 3rd 2008 3:48PM]

wow that is an amazing price

ive been following this drive since it was first released, and for months the price of the 1tb has been $399

$399! They are crazy, regular 1tb external should cost between $200-$300

$300 nortmally, $200 on a good deal

Anyway, yea great price good to see it reduced

[bjrcboy @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:43PM]

Um yeah its on their website...
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11062
500gb is $169.99
750gb is $229.99
1tb is $339.99

Hmmmmp.

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:45PM]

This drive is truly 'none more black'.

[telepheedian @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:56PM]

Nah, the blue light ruins the effect of none.

[Laurence @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:18PM]

Why, oh why, can't they use Firewire 800? FW400 is *so* 2003.

[Wwhat @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:24PM]

Well it took this long to get away from USB2 only for LaCie, plus FW400 is what's standard on most motherboards that have firewire.

[aMac @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:38PM]

As far as I know, LaCie have been one of the bigger pushers of FW800 for the longest of time. At least on their higher end drives I guess.

Also, the fact that FW400 is more standard shouldn't matter. The FW800 interface is backwards compatible like USB 1 and 2. Just include FW800 then throw in a 800-to-400 cable!

[Clayj @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:18PM]

So the light is just bling, huh?

It would be better off without the light. At least on the WD MyBook drives, the light serves a purpose by telling you when there is drive activity (and it makes the drive look like a Cylon).

[CarrerCrytharis @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:44PM]

Actually, I ordered one of these, and it came without the blue light. There was just a tiny green LED on the front of the drive instead.

I actually wanted the blue light, so that kind of sucked...

[Flashpoint @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:18PM]

They shoulda called it the BLACK BOX.

I'd get the 1TB drive and STUFF it with pr0n.

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:30PM]

Then we'd have to enjoy another lawsuit post regarding the FAA.

[Matthias @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:40PM]

In Germany the 500GB is 150 Euro. Not Fair!

[Superevil @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:47PM]

So do these still fail when you unplug them from one XP machine and plug them in to another?

[disciple83 @ Apr 3rd 2008 3:54PM]

no ethernet port? that's pretty lame considering I want a big one to rip all of my dvd's onto for my xbox360. I don't want to have to polish it every time I move it from my pc to my xbox.

[digitallysick @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:39PM]

prices seem great, i usually can't afford LaCie products

[Rahabib @ Apr 3rd 2008 5:15PM]

does it catch fire like their old drives?

[Ty @ Apr 3rd 2008 5:34PM]

oh that's a bummer. I assumed that the blue light was a HD activity light that projected on whatever surface the drive was on.

[xValentine @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:35PM]

I bought one of these not to long ago,only the USB 2.0 port at that time. I have sold it to someone and bought a MyBook Home Edition(usb,fw400,eSATA) instead. The cracking noise is killing me and USB2.0 is slow as hell.

Even slower than FW400, yeah I know USB2.0 is faster, but only in paper IMO. FW's average speed > USB's average speed.

I won't use USB2.0 on my external hard disk anymore. Though I'm still looking for a PCMCIA eSATA Card. :D

[xValentine @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:43PM]

I guess I got a defective one.

[duntuk @ Apr 4th 2008 3:30AM]

dang.... buy.com has it almost $100 cheaper than lacie's site

[myheaditches @ Apr 4th 2008 12:16AM]

You might be able to mod it to use UV LEDs.

[sirius @ Apr 4th 2008 2:04AM]

It has a builtin fire extinguisher now.

[Mike @ Apr 4th 2008 11:48AM]

there are several black product families, make sure you get the right one:
- one with no power switch and a green activity light in the center-front; matte black finish
- one with a power switch and a projected blue activity bar; shiny black finish

the former is pretty generic and a bit cheaper.

[Agent Smith @ Apr 4th 2008 12:33PM]

Does anyone know if this particular product is reliable...? Like the thing wont crash on me and I lose all me data?

I'm strongly considering on buying one.... I just hope it will do its job properly...

thanks.

[Rahabib @ Apr 4th 2008 5:02PM]

trust me... go with another drive. I have inherited 5 LaCie drives at work and all but one has failed over the last 3 years.

[Wwhat @ Apr 5th 2008 7:08AM]

Sure but the reason FW400 drives are that more expensive would be licensing, so I'm guessing FW800 costs even more extra to include, not to mention that you can use dated cheap chips for FW400 and again need to add to the cost to get FW800 chips in there.
And like it or not but people hate to pay a lot, and then there's the competition of eSATA, which is as fast as it goes and as cheap as the connector&cable I'm assuming.

[Wwhat @ Apr 5th 2008 7:16AM]

I know for a fact LaCie uses a decent seagate drives and also uses WD drives, so I guess that if something fails it would be the PSU (very common among externals, especially with cheap no-name enclosures), or the normal failure we know and love from regular HD's.
Mind you it does seem that the -USB2-only at least- drives never power down the drive like you'd have with internal drives, but I'm not sure if that's bad or good, but I guess they are meant to be portable and not on 24/7 huh.

[Wwhat @ Apr 5th 2008 7:17AM]

I apologize on behalf of engadget for my comments not arriving in their proper place as responses to people :/

[Jason Collin @ Apr 5th 2008 10:18PM]

I bought the 500GB version of this drive about a month ago, but returned it. The power brick "buzzes" nonstop, even when the drive is turned off. In normal daytime, it's hard to hear (I live on a busy street in Tokyo), but at night when things are quiet, the noise was loud enough to keep me awake.

It's almost impossible to return things in Tokyo stores, so I asked for another drive, but first wanted to check if the power brick buzzed also. It did. So I fought and got my money back.

I've been using a professional Quadra Lacie drive for years, and it's very good. I looked at the connector for its power brick and it was quite different. So not wanting to spend the money for a Quadra drive just for a Time Machine drive, I got a Porsche designed one since it had the same type of power adapter, and sure enough its power brick doesn't buzz.

I'd be curious to know if anyone else's power brick buzzes?

[Jason Collin @ Apr 5th 2008 10:21PM]

I've used a single Lacie drive for the past 3 years, with no problems at all, very solid. It's a 300GB Firewire 400/800 Pro drive. Just bought a Porsche designed one recently and so far so good with that.

However, a friend has said his Lacie drive wasn't so good.

I trust Lacie however, especially for Macs. It's just a "feeling."