Which of these two externals would you buy? Lacie or WD

[Obsoleet]

Lacie Rikiki 1TB or WD Passport 1TB? I need a new external as the MyBook I'm using is starting to fail, which was a replacement for my 7200.11 internal that failed. I don't want an enclosure + HDD setup, thanks tho before recommending it. USB powered only as I don't need more than 1 TB. I'm not a huge fan of WD, never had any luck in 20 years with their drives, but I'm never one to write off a product/company forever (things change).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

[razel]

Recent WD USB externals aren't the usual SATA HDD with a SATA to USB adapter. They are USB only. Actually, there is a USB port and additional pins on the circuit board. More than enough pins for SATA. Anyhow, if that bothers you then go with the Lacie.

Awesome avatar! That's one of my favorite games.

 

[Obsoleet]

Thanks for that info, WD.. always trying to stop people from using products as people would want to (ie replace the drive when it dies). Oh well.

I ordered the WD, it's cheap, and I found some threads that were pretty negative towards Lacie's electronics failing. Because they don't make their own HDDs, and because I'm far less sure on their engineering expertise compared to WD, as well as their RMA process... I had to go with the WD.

also picked up the Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 add-in. I won't be upgrading this PC for a few years as I'm happy with it.. so figured it was worth the $30.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

I'd gone with the new self powered Seagate 1TB USB3 drive, but the cheapest price for it is $180 which is ridiculous.

Can't beat trips to Spielburg 😉

 

[tweakboy]

For externals LaCie pownz and uses Samsung HD inside it. and have turn off button where WD doesn't have a on off button.

 

[Obsoleet]

Yeah the lack of power button was always annoying to me, but it needs to be on all the time for me anyway. I use externals as my only storage drive. USB storage with SSD inside. I would have gotten the Lacie and give them a shot, but really found a lot of negativity directed towards their products.. seems popular in the Mac community though (which is where I found all the negative experiences). WD is a big, age old company that I trust.. even tho I'm an old school WD hater (Seagate guy typically).

 

[bruceb]

I just picked up a WD 1TB Elements External Hard Drive (USB 2.0).. $69.99 shipped from Amazon. I see the one you selected is USB 3.0 which my current pc does not have and is not worth swapping a good USB 2 card for a USB 3 version. I went with that model as it comes with no software of any kind preinstalled on or needed by the drive, like you find on the MyBook series.

 

[Obsoleet]

The USB card is $30. Not much coin. Check out the differences in this guy's USB2 to 3 comparison with the 2.5" WD Passport.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-me...e=UTF8&index=0

CPU utilization at 3.5% compared to 9.5%
40MB minimum transfer vs 22MB min
86MB max vs 32MB max
70MB average vs 32MB avg

I'd hate to see the difference between a 7200RPM USB2 drive compared to a 7200RPM USB3. The difference for this 5400RPM is large enough I'm willing to put in a USB3.0 PCIE card.

 

[tweakboy]

Well, USB external is going to be very very very slow!

IF your getting a external now adays make sure it has eSATA ,, which the Neil Poulton design LaCie has along with on off button, killer design and sexy looking and sexy blue light from underneath. gl

 

[Obsoleet]

It's not slow. My results are a little better than the results from the Amazon review I posted above. I'm getting 70MB/sec minimum, up to 95MB/sec (which is not uncommon) on this drive using the U3S6 card, not bad for a 5400RPM external drive. After dealing with the crap WD puts on their drives though, I'd buy Lacie next time, just not a huge fan of the customer support from foreign companies.

 

[bruceb]

After dealing with the crap WD puts on their drives though, I'd buy Lacie next time, just not a huge fan of the customer support from foreign companies.

I agree about the WD crapware on some of their drives. That is why I went with the WD Elements line, which has no crapware of any kind installed on it.