G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500 GB Quad-interface External Hard Drive

List Price: $522.87 Discount Price: $226.22

Features:

• Quad interface external hard drive with 500 GB capacity for Mac and PC
• 7,200 RPM spin speed for fast read/write; up to 85 MBps transfer rate
• Features FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA ports
• Includes FireWire 800 cable, FireWire 400 cable, USB 2.0 cable, eSATA cable, universal power supply, and CD manual
• 2-year warranty

Customer Reviews:

500GB G DRIVE Q and Leopard [Posted on 2007-11-24]
Bought this drive to work with Apple 10.5 Time Machine. It has worked flawlessly. If you read the Apple discussions on other drives and their problems with time machine, you will see that this drive is what you want if you are going to run Leopard. It also has a good reputation for reliability.

Excellent Mac Choice/Value for Time Machine [Posted on 2008-01-31]
As a back-up drive for an iMac this product is very user-friendly.
It is VERY painless to set-up with Time Machine via Firewire.
It comes Mac formatted. Plug and Play as advertised. The initial backup could take hours. Be prepared.
It is very quiet.
Aesthetically it well designed.
It does use some CPU when it does it's periodic backups. If you have an older iMac (I have a G5), there is a slight slowing in some functions.
Don't buy any cables! It comes with everything you need.
I have't had any quality issues. -On a rare occasion (3 times in 7 weeks) I get a "back-up failure" message from Time Machine. I have just flipped 'power-off' switch on the drive for 10 seconds, then back on. (So, far it has just happened while I have been performing resource-intense work. I wonder if it is a computer issue.)

Too bad Apple hasn't enabled Airport/Wireless backup for Time Machine (without buying Time Capsule). That is another story.

The Little Drive That Could [Posted on 2008-02-09]
G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500 GB Quad-interface External Hard Drive Fast, Quiet, and works right out of the box. All four cables included. I am really impressed with this little wonder. Great for Mac OS X and Time Machine, for video (using FireWire), as well as for recovery in Target Mode which requires that the external destination drive be USB.

Fragile drive, poor customer service [Posted on 2008-04-23]
I bought the 250 GB version of this drive six months ago. It worked great, until I foolishly disconnected it without performing whatever mumbo-jumbo is necessary. I shut down my Mac, shut off the drive, shut off the surge protector/power strip. Ate lunch. A couple of hours later, I disconnected both external drives (other one is a LaCie), printer, etc., to rearrange my computer desk. When through, I hooked everything up, switched on power to drives, started computer -- and the G-Tech drive was nowhere to be found. All I got was a flashing light. The LaCie worked fine, as it always has.

I contacted G-Tech customer service, was told to ship the drive to them, given a P.O. number, etc. The website directed me to a page showing how to pack the drive, since they were adamant it had to be done just so. Picture showed the drive and all cables included, so that's what I did. Two weeks later I got the drive back, nothing wrong with it but some corrupted data -- but no cables with it, no power supply.

I called the company, got a guy who said there was no record of cables or power supply in the box I shipped, and whose tone suggested he thought I was lying (why? to score a power supply and FW 800 cable?). Nevertheless, he agreed to replace cables, etc. The package arrived today, a week later -- but the 9-pin to 9-pin FW 800 cable I needed, and that I had sent, and that was listed on the packing slip, turned out to be in fact a 9-pin to 4-pin cable -- great for connecting my Sony camcorder to FW800, but no good for the G-Drive.

I connected it with a FW 400 cable, and yes, it worked fine. But now I have a FW 400 drive when a few weeks ago I had a faster FW 800 one. Plus I've had a boatload of aggravation with G-Tech.

My advice? Stay away from them unless you feel lucky. Next time I'm buying another LaCie.

UPDATE: After I posted this review, and sent a copy to G-Tech, they sent me the proper FW 800 cable. After I reconnected the drive, it works fine, and is faster than FW 400. I wish this hadn't taken so many steps and caused so much aggravation, but at least in the end the company got it right. I guess that's worth a second star.

G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500 GB Quad-interface  [Posted on 2008-05-15]
This is a great drive. To get its full potential use the firewire 800 if possible. My only complaint is that it uses 35gb of space formatted ( mac osx extended ). Quit pondering on which brand to buy. Once you have it your questions will be answered...Also you wont find this drive anywhere cheaper than amazon. Free shipping no taxes...and a high quality drive...what more could you want. Right now this drive is selling for $226.00...I paid $276.00 for mine at amazon. tempted to buy another and daisy chain them.

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