LaCie 301257U 1 TB 2big Network Attached Storage Hard Drive with 2-disk RAID

List Price: $326.99 Discount Price: $301.99

Features:

• Ethernet for file sharing
• RAID 1 mode with automatic data-rebuilding
• 2 hot swappable disks with locks
• 1-click data sharing for automatic file transfers
• 2 USB ports for storage expansion

Accessories:

LaCie Big Disk Extreme+ 301199U 1 TB USB 2.0/FireWire400/FireWire800 RAID System

Customer Reviews:

Solid so far [Posted on 2008-02-11]
The LaCie 2big Network was easy to install. I am using the RAID feature, which cut the 1 TB in half, so I have a little under 500 GB of usable space. Setting up the RAID took a couple of hours for the disks to sync. It is a quiet unit and the casing doesn't get too hot.
The security setup is easy to use and is robust. I am currently accessing the 2big from XP and Win ME machines. I have only run into one issue, a deletion command that did not finish correctly. It required the system to resync (which took a couple of hours), but I lost no data.
After about 3 months of usage I haven't had to test the hotswap feature of the disks (and hope I don't have to), but I did remove a disk and plug it back in without any problems.

Pretty cool for a home media server [Posted on 2008-04-27]
I purchased this so a few people could store their music, photos, etc., in a single place. Using it with 3 Apple computers and an Airport Extreme in RAID mode, so the data is all backed up. Feel completely nerdy but it is easy to set up and use, and works as advertised. Do NOT purchase this unit unless you definitely intend to connect it to a router via ethernet, it will not connect straight to a computer as far as I can tell. They make the same thing in triple interface format for that purpose. This unit is not what I would call quiet. If your router's in a room that's not where you sleep or relax it won't make the least bit of difference. It gets hot, too. I had in an enclosed cabinet and it got hot beyond what I was comfortable with, so now it's out in the open, which considering its size and rather clunky appearance (and huge blue light) is a little funky, but again, if you're connecting it to a router somewhere out of the way, again it won't make a difference. Setting up accounts to access are via a web interface, and while fairly straightforward, I would say if you're a tech newbie this may not be great for you unless someone can help you set it up.

Not for Mac [Posted on 2008-07-29]
This is a warning for Mac users. Though I've seen that there is a review from a Mac owner on this page who's not complaining about my problems.

I wanted to use the drive as backup device for my macs (leopards and tigers). Unfortunately it seems that the LaCies AFP implementation has some serious problems. One of them leads to setting the invisible attribute switched on for every transferred file. Which forces you to use some developer tool (SetFile) to switch it back. This does not happen for every app but one is rsync an for that matter every backup solution I know.

The problem seems to exist for a couple of other apps too. Google for "Lacie afp invisible". Customer support in germany confirmed the problem saying that there is no workaround.

Since I'm a developper I might come up with a patched version of rsync but thats probably not your thing. Actually its not mine either and it frankly puzzles me that such a thing went through LaCies quality assurance.

Anyways that problem is Mac only. Can't say anything about other environments.

Don't be fooled.... [Posted on 2008-08-15]
While this product advertises a 1 gigabit network card, it actually has a throughput equivalent to a 100 megabit network card, which was the standard about ten years ago. I spoke with customer service and they said 6 to 12 megabytes per second is the normal write speed. Your internal hard drive is probably running at 400 megabytes per second.

Why worry? Because when I use it for backup, it is not unusual for me to see an elapsed time of 4 or 5 HOURS. I have a 1 gigabit network because I need it. But this drive does not operate at that speed.

And not only that, it seems to have a problem with writing the date created for the new file, and instead uses the date modified for the old file in both the date modified and date created. Again I talked to customer service for the limit of my patience and got nowhere. My usual backup software was rewriting every file every time because of this. I did find something different to use, but should not have had to do this.

Could be easily much better [Posted on 2008-08-23]
Installation happened to be very straightforward. Setup was tricker, but doable. The user's manual as all manuals written poorly. The worst part of it is the backup software. If you want to use it as a backup drive, beware.
Ideally, the backup shall run in the background, constantly backing up your files to the drive and you shall not be concerned about specific setup. LaCie offers a backup where you have to manually initiate it, manually select files and folders and manually select target. Or you can leave it with the default backup of entire "My Documents" directory to the external drive and still you will have to start it manually. With this software we are back in early DOS times when XCOPY command was not yet invented, let alone luxuries like incremental backup (which came as standard software with my first tape backup long time ago). No optional software upgrade is available. You may elect to buy a backup software additionally on the market (allegedly any of them will work with this drive), but most of these backup programs are using proprietary file format and that makes the backup files not accessible directly from the Explorer. Therefore, if your computer fails and you hope that your backup files will be readily available from another computer, you are wrong!
Last but not least matter is price. With the package, you will receive an offer of Advance Replacement. If your unit happen to fail, LaCie will send you a replacement before you return failed product or part, shipping paid. The cost of this offer is about $115, i.e. about 1/3 of the Amazon price! Of course, you don't have to buy it, but then you have to ship the unit/part, pay the cost of shipment and LaCie will send you replacement unit within undisclosed period of time, while you are entirely unprotected, although you did pay the money. This situation dictates practically buying this option, but the final price is radically higher than the advertised one. On top of it, LaCie will not protect your data whatsoever! If you loose a drive, you have to take care on your own for data recovery, prior to shipping it for replacement, since even if the drive happen to be repairable, LaCie will re-format it (data loss!) even if the data would be recoverable. Think twice before you go for it. It sounds like you are dealing with a proverbial used car dealer.

Click here for more details and discount information...