LaCie Update Tool version 2.0.1

Last year, _almost_ 12 months ago(!) I bought a 2tb Bigger Disk Extreme. I couldn’t format it without my Windows XP losing connection to the drive. Eventually it formatted, but then when I was copying large files to it (my photo archive), it would choke and lose connection again with delayed write failure. This was either by USB or FireWire.

I had to send the drive back, with fear of losing my data. Fortunately they repaired it without losing anything, but would not tell me what the problem was. This was a problem that existed straight from the word go, so I was more than annoyed when the supplier wouldn’t actually replace the drive, but insisted on a repair.
Sadly, less than 10 months later, my drive has died again.
I can’t hear the drives spinning and there is no sound coming from the unit except for a faint ticking, approximately twice a second.

I don’t think I’ll buy another Lacie disk, unless they can fix this without losing my data again.. but will I trust the drive? unlikely.

One of the Western Digitals in my Lacie Big Disk Extreme has had it’s days as well. Have you got anymore further detail on what you needed to do to your newly installed PATA drive to get the unit back in action again.

I’m thinking of buying a couple of 250GB’s to install and was contemplating buying some more Western Digital PATA drive’s to install.

Cheers

Timi

First, if either of the two disks in the LaCie dies, it’s a brick. The controller won’t recognize the remaining disk if the first disk does not come up as “ready.” If the disk itself is working, but the file system is damaged, you may be able to recover data with a tool such as Alsoft Disk Warrior. I successfully used this tool when my Big Disk first had issues. However, my problems were fairly bad. A head crash was in the offing for the primary disk of the two. I was likely able to recover the data I needed because I had so little of it to retrieve and most of it was on the second disk.

For backups, I recommend using Chronosync by econ technologies (for Mac Users.) I use Chronosync to keep the files on my Big Disk and my Mac internal disks in sync with a pair of LaCie Etherdisks. The software is scheduled to run nightly and automatically ships any new or changed files to the Etherdisks. It’s great for bulk file copying – if you’re interrupted, it can determine which files are left to copy and move only those missing files. It’s my swiss army knife for bulk file migration and costs just $30.

Drive cooling is key. The Big Disk doesn’t sport a fan, but has a fairly robust heat sink. Still, if the bearings on the drive overhead because the aluminum enclosure can’t bleed heat off effectively, you’re more likely to see drives dying much more quickly than drives that are not running as hot.

Lastly, I have a post on my blog which details how to replace the drives in the Big Disk Extreme – which I performed tonight after the head crash. I grabbed a 250GB Hitachi PATA drive I had lying around from another upgrade and installed it in place of the failed Western Digital unit. Some special configuration is required to get the LaCie to recognize the drives as a single 500GB volume – but it is possible – and perhaps one can even upgrade the drive capacity.

http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/

p.s. please use the head, "Fix Lacie" or the e-mail might get filter by my university