G – RAID discontinued – Any Idea?

[Richard Sanchez]

I’ve always used Lacie external drives and never had any problems. The Quadras are nice.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Eugene Reynolds]

According to the G-Tech website:

https://www.g-technology.com/Products/g-raid.cfm

“What happened to the G-Raid 3? – Nothing really, we’ve just shortened the name”

Seems to have just reverted back to the old name, pre-eSata connection.

[Jack Bibbo]

yes I have used the Lacie too. They are fine.

I just noticed, when I call the comp shop, that that one was discontinued.

Maybe it just its name?

[Ben Holmes]

Much the same happened to me ordering a g-raid mini. It looks like G-Tech are in the process of refilling their supply chain with updated versions of some products – in the meantime, they ran out of the older stock – whoops. I’m sure this was not planned, and is pretty bad business – I wonder if it had something to do with G-Tech being bought recently?

Whatever (pure speculation above) it’s worth waiting for the G-Tech drive, or looking for one still in stock at a reseller. Unless you plan on never unplugging the drive or moving it, I wouldn’t recommend Lacie drives, as I have had too many failures in the past due to poor quality connectors – others here will tell you of drive problems as well. I only use G-Tech now for outside broadcast work.

Edit Out Ltd
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[Walter Biscardi]

[Ben Holmes] “Unless you plan on never unplugging the drive or moving it, I wouldn’t recommend Lacie drives, as I have had too many failures in the past due to poor quality connectors – others here will tell you of drive problems as well. I only use G-Tech now for outside broadcast work. “

Ever since LaCie switched to power switches, I’ve not heard much about failures on those products, we still run them almost daily here is some capacity. Some of my units date back to 2001 and are still working today. The lack of a power switch was a major issue on a line of the products, but I can say here we’ve had one failure with a LaCie product since 2001. I think we’ve had about a dozen or so of their products through the years.

We have many more problems with MyBooks and Passport products from Western Digital though. Those are two products I don’t like seeing come through the shop.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Owner, Biscardi Creative Media featuring HD Post
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
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[Ben Holmes]

My problems were with the firewire connectors – they did not like being repeatedly connected/disconnected. When I cracked one open, I found it was basically spot soldered to the board, with no real attachment to the chassis of the drive. Coupled with other reports from colleagues, and on here of drives failures it was enough for me to make a switch, although I fully accept my drives get put through a bit more of a stress test than others!

Edit Out Ltd
—————————-
FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/casestudies/detail.asp?case=therydercup

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Here in India we have exactly the opposite experience. While I too have a couple of LaCies from some years ago, in general LaCies don’t last too well… our climate, presumably. Especially the 2-drive RAID 0 drives. Aargh!

At our post facility we do not accept LaCie for data backups from clients. However, our experience with Western Digital is exactly the opposite. Extremely rare failures and even those attributable to human error – spilt liquids, dropped while spinning etc.

Western Digital in India has an almost overnight no questions asked replacement by paid courier.

LaCie in India has no support to talk about. They do not reply e-mails, no telephone. I have two LaCie Biggest 4 drive RAIDs both with failed Firewire ports (while in warranty) and one with a failed drive. No replacement, no replies to support mails.

So no LaCie for us.

Really sorry for the OT rant, but since you mentioned LaCie…

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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Jack Bibbo]

Seems like we all have our favorites. I have some Lacie’s that are pretty old too – 2000 or so. And then some from the same era that have died.

Drives fail.

Redundancy is what I subscribed to now.

The new GRAID 1TB started shipping on 9.23.09. So I ordered one. I have used the G TECH many times and like them as much as anything. And when I get around to it I may install a SATA port to take advantage of the esata capabilities.

It is fun hearing what everybody thinks and hearing what there favorites are.

thanks

bibbo

[Walter Biscardi]

[Neil Sadwelkar] “So no LaCie for us.

Really sorry for the OT rant, but since you mentioned LaCie… “

And I’ve had three CalDigits that imploded in 6 months time, but how many people on here rave about their success and reliability? I won’t use them, but lots of other folks are getting along just fine with them.

G-RAID 2’s were a complete bust for us but we’re still running two of the original models.

All companies have bad products or products that fail for the end users. I will never refuse to allow any drive to be shipped here by a client, and we get plenty of MyBooks sent to us. You obviously won’t install LaCie in your shop, I won’t put CalDigit in here, but those are personal choices you and I make for our own installations. Personally I go with Maxx Digital for pretty much everything these days except for that sweet WiebeTech RTX 200.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Owner, Biscardi Creative Media featuring HD Post
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

Read my Blog!

Twitter!

[Neil Sadwelkar]

My favourite nowadays is a bare drive. Popped into a SATA Dock like a slice of bread in a toaster. This connects to my MacBook Pro via a Sonnet Express card SATA adapter.

So now my MacBook Pro has a SATA 3.5″ drive that’s wicked fast. When the drive fills up I pop it out and pop in a new one.

To connect to a MacPro, I use a Sonnet eSATA card. And to my iMac via USB.

Like this one…
https://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222999

I got mine from Maplin at Tottenham Court Road in London – the geek’s ‘Chocolate Factory’.

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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India