USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Review

A significant feature of the LaCie d2 Quadra external hard drive is the quadruple interface including USB2.0, FireWire800, FireWire400 and eSATA. Not being able to supply power eSATA is not as popular a connection interface for external hard drives but, it’s 300Mb/s transfer is certainly something to be appreciated especially if you are working in an office or home office situation and have regular backups to contend with. Anything that makes backing up simpler or quicker is going to reduce the likelihood of needing to undertake data recovery.

LaCie d2 Quadra

Notable features of the LaCie d2 Quadra external hard drive include;

large 16MB cache
advanced 3-level power management - On, Auto and Off with Auto allowing the drive to spin down when not in use for power savings (must be connected via USB or FireWire)
included backup software - EMC Retrospect Express for PC or Mac
versatility to stand upright or be stacked or rack-mounted to save space
Shortcut Button for launching backup software (or any other application) with a single press.
Bootability if connected to a PC or Mac (using FireWire or eSATA)
Plug & play – simple installation with no need to install drivers
compatible with Time Machine
Smart Fanfor noise and power reductions by regulation of speed depending on the internal drive heat

Specifications LaCie d2 Quadra 1TB, 750GB, 500GB and 320GB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Item Number :	301108U /301110U / 301109U / 301224U
Capacity :	320 GB / 500GB / 750GB/ 1 TB
Interface :	1 x eSATA (rugged) port 2 x FireWire 800 (9-pin) ports 1 x FireWire 400 (6-pin) 1 x USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1-compatible)
Rotational Speed (rpm) :	7200
Cache :	8MB or greater
Interface Transfer Rate :	eSATA: up to 1.5Gbits/s (150MB/s) FireWire 800: up to 800Mbits/s (100MB/s) FireWire 400: up to 400Mbits/s (50MB/s) USB 2.0: up to 480Mbits/s (60MB/s)
Burst Transfer Rate (max. drive speed) :	eSATA: up to 80-90MB/s FireWire 800: up to 65-75MB/s FireWire 400: up to 35-40MB/s USB 2.0: up to 30-35MB/s
Average Seek Time (Write) :	<10ms (eSATA)
Size :	1.7 x 6.3 x 6.8 in. / 44 x 160 x 173 mm
Weight :	3.31 lbs. / 1500 g
System Requirements :	Computer with an eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 or USB 2.0 port Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista; 500MHz processor or higher Mac OS 10.2.8 (Mac OS 10.3 for eSATA) or later; G4, G5, Intel 500MHz processor or higher Minimum 128MB RAM (512MB or greater recommended)
Compatibility :	Compatible with Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (including Time Machine)
Box Contents :	LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Drive; eSATA-to-eSATA cable; FireWire 800 (9-to-9 pin) cable; FireWire 400 (6-to-6 pin) cable; USB 2.0 cable (USB 1.1 compatible); external power supply; drive stand for upright desktop use; LaCie Utilities CD-ROM; LaCie ‘1-Click’ Backup Software for PC or Mac; SilverKeeper Software for automatic backup and file verification (Mac); EMC Retrospect Express 6.1 (Mac); EMC Retrospect Express HD 2.0 (Windows)
Warranty :	3 Year Limited Warranty