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External Firewire/Wiebertech question
Want to buy external Firewire for editing. Heard that one of the best ways to do this is to buy a regular internal HD, then stick it inside a Wiebertech external HD case?
Can anyone elaborate on how this is done, what I need and what the advantages are over a regular LaCie external FireWire HD?
Thanks
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17 Replies
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LaCies have a high failure rate. Every week there is a post here about someone with a drive failure, and the drive is always a LaCie.
Look into EZQuest drives. I have two that I have used for 4 years with no issues. Also look at G-Raids, or any G-Technology drive. A bit spendy, but solid.
As a rule, if you buy cheap, you get cheap.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
[Shane Ross] “LaCies have a high failure rate. Every week there is a post here about someone with a drive failure, and the drive is always a LaCie.”
I would definitely dispute that LaCie’s have a high failure rate if you look at how many are sold vs. the rate of failure. If you look at the numbers I’m pretty sure you’ll find that there are more LaCie’s sold than any other manufacturer. So while you might see some drives that fail on these forums, percentage wise, I’m pretty sure they’re at or below averagef for the industry.
Also, when it comes to external devices, I find that operator error causes a lot of issues with drives, especially in terms of fragmentation, connecting / disconnecting devices when turned on, etc….
I’ve run LaCie’s for four years here and haven’t had a lick of trouble with them, but then I re-initialize them all the times, as I do with all my drives. I recommend LaCie’s all the time and it seems everyone I know that runs them is satisfied with them.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[iMan] “Can anyone elaborate on how this is done, what I need and what the advantages are over a regular LaCie external FireWire HD?”
Hi,
How it’s done:
Open the case, plug in the power and pin cables, use a screwdriver to mount the drive to the case. Close the case. Initialize with Mac OS Extended. Done. Very easy to do, and you can also follow the instructions that come with the case.Advantages over a LaCie: None really. Other than saving you money and having the option to put higher quality drives in the case.
All my FireWire drives are home built. No problems, but I’ve got high quality drives and maintain them regularly.
Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Seminar!
fcpworld.com -
iMan,
Learn to deal with hard drives and other technical cuomputer related issues and you’ll become more confident and self-sufficient. Its like the difference in having someone give you a fish vs. giving you a fishing net. The fish will feed you for a day, a net feeds you for a lifetime.
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I tend to agree with Walter. Many people do not know how to care for their external drives – such as failing to unmount them before shutting down, failing to reinitialize EVER, never running Disk Warrior, etc. I’m sure this is at the root of the bad rep La Cie has been getting lately.
Unfortunately, not everyone can be professionally trained, where they ingrain this stuff into your head.
Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Seminar!
fcpworld.com -
Sorry Walter, you are right. They do make a LOT of drives. So percentage wise it is probably pretty good, or on par with other drives.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
iMan,
I would agree with others that La Cie likely sells a lot of drives so you’re more likely to hear about failures. But, none of us knows the real failure rate. People do tend to post about problems and not about successes.
However, very tech-savvy people post to places such as macintouch.com. There have been many reports about issues with La Cie drives posted there.
I have 3 different La Cie drives myself. One began to fail due to a bad power brick. The drive would unmount, or not mount at all, or cause the spinning beachballl cursor in the Finder. Since my drive was already out of warranty, I needed to buy a new power brick. La Cie couldn’t sell me one (it isn’t part of their business model). Fortunately, third-party vendors carry compatible power supplies.
This leads me to the following recommendation….
Don’t buy La Cie drives. Why? Because WiebeTech drives and enclosures are a smarter way to go. Why? Well, La Cie won’t service anything out of warranty, nor will they sell you parts. Most often, the interface “bridge,” a fan, or a power brick is the source of failure with many drives (La Cie drives are often cited for these exact reasons). WiebeTech WILL sell you parts and help you with repairs beyond their warranty period (not free, of course). So, to me, I would rather go with a company that is more than a reseller of drives, as La Cie is, so that when an otherwise good drive goes bad, you can get parts for it and keep on using it.
Another way to look at it… WiebeTech is like the local, high-end stereo/hi-fi repair shop and La Cie (and other companies like them) are the superstore retailers. Who do you think will be able to give you the best service when/if you need it?
-Dave
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Hi Guys,
Can someone elaborate a bit on the re-intialize drive maintanence. How often do you recommend this ? How does this fit in to your workflow ? thank you. BW -
Kevin,
To give you an idea, LaCie shipped more than 2 million drives the year ending June 2005.
We will exceed that this year.
Mike
LaCie -
Dave,
Let me comment on the primary reason LaCie does not offer repair services beyond the warranty period:
– the actual product design is periodically updated to account for new types of drives, and component changes throughout the product lifecycle
– we do not keep an inventory of older parts, preferring instead to maintain an continuous inventory of new parts. These newer parts may not be perfect replacements for older products
– when you factor in cost of inventory, replaced components or drive, packaging, handling, benchtime, shipping, and the fact that the warranty is not extended for the repaired drive, a comparison needs to be made to the cost of a newer drive. There comes a time when a new drive is a better investment, as the repaired drive could be more costly. The new drive also comes with a new warranty.To your point, if one has the skills to “build-your-own” drive, then there is little need for the support posts here, and little need to ask how to do it, or how to fix a drive when it goes bad. There are indeed many, many sites that help users with this path.
LaCie does not intentionally design products to fail. We would not be successful otherwise.
As to longer warranties, there are very few companies that offer a warranty longer than one year for external drives. For the one or two companies that do, even they experience failure, and few, if any sell replaceable parts for the reasons I outlined above. There are also few if any companies that offer warranties longer than a year for computers. Our warranty is a repair or replace warranty, and sometimes the user gets an almost new or better replacement product whenthere is a failure, as hard disks really are not repaired.
That does leave an opportunity for companies to come in and offer products that meet those needs: longer warranties; replaceable parts; build-your-own drives. If this is the route you choose, that is fine. Just do your research with the company and find out what guarantees there are 1 and 2 years down the road.
With drive manufacturers rolling their drive models every 6-9 months, it will be difficult to get a guarantee that a particular drive model will be available when you really need it. Sure, there will be a replacement drive, but perhaps not an exact replacement; more likely a better product at a better price.
Macintouch was mentioned in a previous post. I am the Mike from LaCie that is frequently quoted in these reports and follow-up. If you wish to contact me directly, send an email to “firewire at lacie dot com”
Mike
LaCie
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