Comments on: Hardware Review: LaCie 2big Quadra External RAID Hard Drive

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:25:19 +0000

I managed to solve the fan problem by having the disk unmount after Time Machine had done its thing using the following applescript just change the values as needed.

tell application “Finder”
if not (exists the disk “DISK_NAME_HERE”) then
do shell script “diskutil mount `disktool -l | grep ‘DISK_NAME_HERE’ |
sed ’s/.*\\(disk[0-9s]*\\).*/\\1/’`”
delay 15
end if
end tell
do shell script “/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper >/dev/null 2>&1 &”
delay 90
tell application “Finder”
if (exists the disk “DISK_NAME_HERE”) then
eject “DISK_NAME_HERE”
delay 2
end if
end tell

By: charlie

charlie — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:49:35 +0000

Thanks all for your experiences with the Lacie 2big Quadra. I’ve just today started exploring a RAID system because I’ve just inherited an HP xw4600 workstation running XP Pro from work, and I run an iMac (Snow Leopard etc) at home. I use Photoshop on the iMac and also have it on the HP so now want a common system for access and backup for both machines. The kid at the local iMac store suggested the Lacie. Apart from the fan noise problem, can anyone advise on whether this unit will meet my needs. I did read a review which said file loading/saving into RAID can be slow, and I’ll be wanting to work on large digital images – average 10-12MB but up to 60MB – and sometimes there will be two of us editing images? Cheers

By: Oli

Oli — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:34:51 +0000

Another owner sitting in a wind tunnel Does anyone know is it possible to just disable the fan? Or will the standard drives rapidly overheat?

By: Jake Duvall

Jake Duvall — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:01:38 +0000

I found this site between replies from LaCie Tech Support for help with my brand new 4Tb 2big. Good to hear of others’ views. I’ve feared that changing the RAID mode before installing the thing (to a new Win 7 machine) was the reason for the 2big never showing up so I could reformat it. It seems to be stuck in some weird looping behaviour. And boy it is LOUD! And such a bright BLUE! (unfortunately always blinking…). I have the same needs as SOS. I want 3 or 4 TB Raid. My other LaCie portable HDs are great even with all Windows machines, but I guess I’ll send this back & look at WD. Sigh.

By: Andrew Tindell

Andrew Tindell — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:08:18 +0000

I have used many disk drives with my multiple Macs and would not recommend WD drives of any sort even the ones supposedly for Macs. I have found that they unmount, fail during writing substantial amounts of data ( > 100Gb in a single copy ) . In the case of a MyBook Raid array it totally failed and I ended up removing the drives which worked perfectly in another enclosure. I have always for LaCie drives work properly with Macs although I have do date only used the triple interface sort. I have just bought a 2Big Quatra 2Tb drive and will be interested to see if it displays the issues of noise described in this article. Mind you I have a Drobo too and that gets very noisy when hot. However the Drobo using firewire 800 is only around 40% of the speed of the 2Big Quatra drive.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:57:20 +0000

Hey Chris,

My wife’s got a MyBook 1TB (USB/FW/eSATA), that’s about two months older than the Studio Edition II that I just bought. I’ve experienced the spontaneous unmounting issue with her MyBook, but so far have not experienced it with the Studio Edition II. I really hope it doesn’t, as so far I really like the unit.

LaCie has told me that they will be replacing one of my Big Disk Extreme+ Triple Interface units, but who knows with the other one. Hopefully they will replace both units, as I have no faith in that drive anymore.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:56:09 +0000

@ Dave:

If you’re using the MyBook with a Mac, I’d like to know if you experience the spontaneous unmounting problem that a lot of Mac-using WD customers complain about.

(And yes, the fans on the 2Big Quadra are as loud as we say. Much to our dismay.)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:11:59 +0000

Hey David (November 14th, 2009),

I’ve just bought the WD MyBook Studio Edition II (2TB) because I needed back-up from my LaCie Big Disk Extreme+ 1TB drives (because the power supplies failed, and then the drives failed… yes, both of them).
The MyBook Studio Edition II is downright noiseless. There are no fans, and the drives are silent, and it takes up very little space on my desk. There doesn’t seem to be too much heat coming off the top, even after transferring 700 GB to it. Also comes with very nice quality cables, and a 5 year warranty.
I was hoping to replace my LaCie Big Disk Extremes with the 2Big Quadra 2TB, but if the fans are as loud as you say…

By: SOS

SOS — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:17:02 +0000

So has anyone found a good RAID 1 device that is noisless and can recommend? I’m looking for a 3-4 TB unit.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:08:50 +0000

Just wanted to say I wish I had seen your review before I bought the drive — mine (a 3TB version, received some 2 weeks ago) has the exact same characteristics that you describe and it is driving me mad. I own several LaCie drives, including a 2TB version which is almost noiseless, even when in heavy use, so I was very surprised. And worried, quite frankly: I don’t believe the fan unit will last very long if it is running at what sounds like full speed most of the time.