I'm trying to decide on a mobile hard drive for field backups.

I'm considering the Lacie Rugged and the Western Digital Passport.

I've heard some negative comments about the reliability of the Lacie units.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I used the WD Passports (the very small ones) and had reliability problems with video files. It wasn't clear to me the exact source of the problem, but I quit using them for video.
On Philip Bloom's recommendation I switched to Lacie Ruggeds. Phil claims to have beat them up pretty badly over 2 years time with nary a problem.
Mine seem pretty bulletproof so far.

Gdrive mini's work great. I have 4 of them one RAID and three 200GB storage. Small, well built, fast, and stay pretty cool while in use. Bonus nice carry case.

I just bought an OWC Mercury on-the-go drive. Largest capacity on the market in a mini bus-powered drive at 500gb, and it's been favorably reviewed.

Lacie rugged : no problem till know, traveling al over the world.

Begin LaCie rant ---->

You know, these threads are like asking somebody why they use <insert favorite operating system here> or which of their children is their favorite. As to portable HD's, I just bought the same OWC On-the-Go case as Andy and it's doing a fine job. I also feel fairly sure if I have a problem with the case, the OWC folks will help me. However, when you go with a "big" brand like LaCie, you'd expect no less service.

They have their cases designed by some very talented industrial designers. I know because I have shelves full of the older blue and silver models as well as the more recent d2 series that I used in rackmount applications. Then, they go out and buy the bridge chipsets to sit between their lovely case and the lovely <insert brand name here> hard drive. You never know what brand of HD you're getting with a LaCie and, frankly, that's okay with me. However, what's NOT okay, is when the bridge chipset dies and LaCie won't even sell you a replacement. Or, when you have to replace multiple power bricks (do a Google search). But, we're talking about bus powered portables here so my problems with LaCie are only partially applicable.

What I'm trying to say (and maybe not very well) is that no matter what brand you get, be sure you can get replacement parts or some form of technical help if and when you need it. The OWC folks have impressed me lately.....the LaCie folks....not so much.

I used the WD Passports (the very small ones) and had reliability problems with video files. It wasn't clear to me the exact source of the problem, but I quit using them for video.
On Philip Bloom's recommendation I switched to Lacie Ruggeds. Phil claims to have beat them up pretty badly over 2 years time with nary a problem.
Mine seem pretty bulletproof so far.
I can echo this - WD Passports have been horrible for us. Our six production teams have LaCie Ruggeds now and so far no issues.

I don't think you can go wrong with any G-Drive product. In my opinion, they make, hands down, the most reliable drives you can buy. If you're using it in a portable environment then I recommend this drive here:

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE-mini.cfm

I'm using this one myself and its flawless with beautiful design in a really small form factor (slightly larger than an iPod Classic).

I've bought LaCie in the past and frankly I think they're horrible. Incredibly lousy support with drives that have a failure rate that is completely unacceptable. And the noise!! These suckers are so annoyingly loud that its like trying to edit next to a small plane doing an engine run-up. And should you be the unfortunate owner of a drive that fails, well you might as well use it as a doorstop because LaCie won't do a damn thing for you. In my case, the support person I spoke with could barely contain his contempt and impatience with what seemed to me was a routine support call. Basically, I hate LaCie products and won't buy anything they make after that experience.

On the other hand, I've called the folks at G-Technology and not only are they incredibly helpful, but they've responded with professionalism and courtesy and that to me, speaks volumes about the quality of their products.

Sounds like Torv and I were separated at birth. Hey Torv, you and I need some anti-LaCie t-shirts! ;)

Interesting stuff here. I use Lacie 1TB Big Disk Extreme drives (triple interface). No, not very portable, but for me, rock solid. Never a complaint. Just this year I've done 2 large-ish projects, one at 2.5 hours, the other 16 total hours of EX footage. All frames in tact to this day.

I recently purchased, in a mad dash, a WD 1TB (triple interface) Yet the only port that works and has ever worked on this drive, Mac or PC is the USB 2 port. Very unreliable and scary to use. It's basically a dust collector.

I do like the look of the smaller Lacie rugged, and G-drive products. That would get my kit down in weight tremendously.

hmmm... interesting.....

I've had very bad luck with lacie, and flawless use with WD.

I also have had bad luck with maxtor.

I use the Lacie Rugged 160GB FW800....They work great!!! FW800 powered and plug right in the side of my MBP.

Has anyone used the "miniexpress 825S"
It has eSata , Firewire 800 and USB. Covers all bases and would be great for me.

I've always used the OWC's so far and no problems.

Lenny Levy

What has been the experience with Firewire 800 vs 400?

Do you really realize faster transfer speeds?

I would think the disk speed would limit any noticeable performance. I’ve been looking at the G-Drive Mini (200G @ 7,200 rpm) and I trying to decide on the 800 option. My current lap top only has 400 but I’m planning to upgrade in a year.

FW800 transfer is almost twice as fast as my FW400 drives transfer speed...

What has been the experience with Firewire 800 vs 400?
I'm in a slightly different situation to Sean.

My laptop has only Firewire 400 and I'm trying to decide between a G-Drive 5400 and 7200.

Do you think I'd realise any significant improvement with the 7200 over a Firewire 400 connection?

I just had a Lacie rugged go down on me, turns out the SATA connector inside simply came off! not great. I run 4 of these and they seem OK but I'm now switching to the G-drive raid mini http://www.g-technology.com/products/G-RAID-mini.cfm which gives me raid0.

I also use a Drobo for archive and just noticed they have a new firewire 800 version http://www.drobo.com/

Dan

I agree with Torv & Dave--stay away from LaCie. I lost 2 weeks of work when a Big Disk died, and customer service could have cared less. G-Techs have worked flawlessly ever since.

I have a G-Drive (mini?) that I bought for Time Machine when I upgraded to Leopard last year and it's been great. I spoke with their people at MacWorld and got a very good impression of their company and people. That doesn't mean the tning won't break down, but I feel a WHOLE lot more confident that they'd help me out if I needed help. LaCie couldn't care less about their customers.

I've bought this one - it's not arrived yet but I have an older version that has been flawless (so far). It's basically a 7200 rpm Samsung drive inside with Firewire 800 option which should work well with my new Macbook Pro. My older Freecom 500GB external drive is just USB. Sure, this type of drive is not highly portable but it's easy enough for my needs.

I've tended to be very picky with the choice of manufacturers for my numerous external drives (only buying Samsung/Hitachi/Seagate ones and....so far....no problems!). Opps, I forgot, I do have an old WD one (only 160GB) - still going strong too.

http://www.practicalpc.co.uk/reviews/hard/storage/freecom-500gb-hard-drive-pro.htm

There is a very good overview of the relative speeds (real world that is!!!) of USB 2, Firewire 400 and 800 in this linked review too - as an earlier poster (Sean) was asking about this. Also, I would not want a drive that is slower than 7200 rpm for my HD video stuff either. For ease and versatility these kinds of drives are ideal but if you want really fast performance you have to go for different technologies for connection of external drives I think (eSATA etc.) The G-Raid Mini and Drobo links from Dan looks interesting for sure - thanks for that!