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replace a lacie HD with a larger one?


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replace a lacie HD with a larger one?
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 11:11

my lacie 180Gb d2 is making an increadible noice and has done for some time. Today it has become absolutely unbreable and I was looking to buy a new and larger drive. Seems that in Switzerland companies are only selling Lacie - so not much choice.

My question is, rather than buy a new unit, can I simply replace the internal drive with a new one - and larger one? Would be a lot cheaper solution. Thoughts? suggestions on drive type?

Or if not, and suggestions other than Lacie. Not too pleased with this product. Would like to get something about 320GB.

TIA
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Kestrel
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Underground
 
2005-03-02, 11:28

You could always buy a new drive, try replacing the faulty one, and if it doesn't work you could pop it into something like these: http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Pa...le=&Template=1

Aside from that, LaCie doesn't make their own hard drives - they choose from the same OEM products everyone else does. While I suppose it's possible that they have a source of cheap, substandard components, it sounds more like your problem isn't something they have any real control over. Hard drives do occasionally fail much faster than the manufacturer's MTBF. I'd suggest giving their brand another shot before giving up on them completely.
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 11:40

well, I am not sure I can give up on them since they seem to be the main game in town.

However, rather than go the route you are suggesting, taking the HD out and putting it into a new enclosure, I want to buy a new HD and put it in the Lacie enclosure. The point being that I think it is the bearings or somthing about the patter in the HD that is causing this unbearable and ever changing noise. I assume it is a standard IDE drive inside, but there may be something special about the interface to that that may not allow other HDs to be swapped into the enclosure.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2005-03-02, 11:50

Yup. Just replace the HD. My personal preference for drives is Seagate. Make sure you get an Ultra ATA/100 and not a Serial ATA (SATA) drive though.

Installation is a snap. Remove the 2 tiny screws in the back, remove the backplate and then slide the whole sled out of the enclosure. Pull the ATA ribbon and power supply, unscrew the drive (4 larger screws) and reverse the process for the new drive. It's easy.

You're right about the LaCie. It seems to be the worst performing out of all my enclosures (and I have *lots*), and is my least favorite drive.

So it goes.
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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-03-02, 12:04

The IDE drive is definitely a standard drive. The only concern I'd have would be that LaCie might not make their enclosures super easy to open. But you should give it a shot.

NewEgg is the place to go for general components like hard drives. 80-250 GB hard drives generally range in price from $60-$150.

EDIT: Beaten! Oh well, I will say that if the LaCie has a fan (and I'm not sure if it does or not), you should make sure that isn't what's making the noise.
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 12:40

I just opened it (voided the warrantee he he he...) and it was a western digital 200gb drive. You say I need IDE 100. However, a quick check of one of the local online mac shops has these drives: (remember this is Switzerland - and since this is my backup drive, it is important to get up and running again fast)

200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10, 7200 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 8 MB L149.-
250 GB Maxtor MaxLine Plus II, 7200 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 8 MB L224.-
300 GB Maxtor MaxLine Plus II, 5400 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 2 MB 287.-
400 GB IBM Hitachi-Deskstar 7K400, 7200 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 8 MB L495

Or another site:
SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831A, 300GB, Bulk
UDMA/100, 8MB Cache

Isn't this what is important: 7200 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 8 MB? Or must it be 7200, ATA100 (is that the same as UDMA/100???

So if I can get a seagate, maxtor, or IBM or other drive around 300-400Gb that will work in this housing?
Thanks for the help!
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 13:26

found another source - would this be OK?

HD Hitachi Deskstar 7K250/250GB ATA6 7200rpm 8MB Cache

It is listed as ATA 100.

TIA
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2005-03-02, 13:29

You could use any of the above drives, either ATA 100 or 133, although I wouldn't go with the 2MB buffer drive. The Seagate 7200.8 has been getting great reviews, and it has a 5 year warranty.

So it goes.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2005-03-02, 13:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by loungetime
found another source - would this be OK?

HD Hitachi Deskstar 7K250/250GB ATA6 7200rpm 8MB Cache

It is listed as ATA 100.

TIA
Ack! Not the DeathStar!

Seriously though, while the Hitachi drives have gotten much better, they were nick-named that for a reason. I just had one (admittedly, older) die on me last week.

So it goes.
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 14:17

Quote:
Originally Posted by 709
You could use any of the above drives, either ATA 100 or 133, although I wouldn't go with the 2MB buffer drive. The Seagate 7200.8 has been getting great reviews, and it has a 5 year warranty.
Not so easy to find the seagate here. seems no one has it in stock. and your opinion of Maxtor?

250 GB Maxtor MaxLine Plus II, 7200 rpm, IDE (ATA133), 8 MB
L
224.-

L= they have it, and 224 is CHF.

What aI want is quiet... I just turned off the current drive since it sounded like I was at the dentists office all day... not good for the mood.

Thanks
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 14:23

or... just buy a new d2:

320 GB Extreme LaCie, 7200 rpm, 2 x Firewire 800, 1 x Firewire 400, Silber-Gehäuse d2
L
365.-

So either pay around 230CHF for just a drive, stick it in the old case, or get the new drive (newer revision of internals) for an additional 140CHF.... Later I can find a better deal on an external drive and reuse the old housing? hmmmm quandry country.

Of course, the new drive is also about 50-60GB larger capacity (formatted)... and that may be workth it since I do use this as a network backup drive...
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Kestrel
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Underground
 
2005-03-02, 15:10

If you want a low-noise drive, getting a slower spindle speed will make a huge difference. Maxtor makes a 5400 RPM, 300 GB drive that sounds like it would fit your needs well: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...google&ATT=668 Read/write speed won't be quite as fast, but that isn't usually an issue with backups.

Does anyone know how much cache size affects external drive performance? I would think that with a backup operation speed would be limited by the read/write speed of the drive head(s), but perhaps there would be more overhead involved if the drive has to break things into 2MB chunks instead of 8? I would think that in this kind of situation a 2MB buffer would be fine, and the 8MB buffer wouldn't be worth the price premium.

Last edited by Kestrel : 2005-03-02 at 15:12. Reason: Forgot the link
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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-03-02, 15:16

BTW, I wouldn't really consider any one drive manufacturer "better" than another. In my mind, they differ only in price and warranty options. Seagate is the most expensive but has the best warranty. I've heard just as many hard drive horror stories about Seagates as I have about Hitachis and Western Digitals and Maxtors. They're pretty much all the same.
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 16:28

I tend to agree that they are all mostly the same. Whatever one you have that works you like. if it sucks, you don't trust it anymoer - and we like to trust our tech :-)

I think I will get the lacie because of the size, cost, and they have it. I can take more time to look for a better deal just on a HD and swap my old lacie HD/case. If there is a problem, I don't wast time. Love to save some money, but too many other things to deal with.

Thanks for all the advice!
Cheers
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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-03-02, 16:52

LaCie d2's are loud generally, FYI.
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-02, 19:12

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonOfSylvanus
LaCie d2's are loud generally, FYI.
great... thanks...

since there is only the HD inside to make noise, it must be the type of drive manufacturer. then the question is will the new d2 also use western digital which might be as noisy as the last one - or maybe it will be from another supplier. Hmmmm.
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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-03-02, 19:27

Which is why you should get a new hard drive instead of a new enclosure. It doesn't take any longer - in fact it probably takes less time since NewEgg is so bleeding fast at shipping. I've heard a few people say Western Digitals are slightly louder than the rest, so consider a different one. Assuming the enclosure doesn't have a fan, then it can't be making any noise. I've had some really damn noisy enclosure fans though.
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SonOfSylvanus
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-03-03, 04:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by loungetime
great... thanks...


What?
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loungetime
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-03, 05:07

ordered a maxtor 250gb. spoke to a tech at the reseller, and he told me that this particular d2 housing (200gb) can only recognize up to 250gb, anything larger will be ignored. good to know.

thanks agian for the help and advice.
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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-03-03, 05:20

That's probably wrong. The tech is probably confusing "supports up to 250 GB" with "actually works with up to 250 GB." There is no magical 250 GB barrier. Older enclosures may only actually work with drives up to 128 GB in size, due to a limitation in the drive controller itself. However, for quite a while there were numerous drive controllers that claimed to "support up to 250 GB" because at the time, the largest hard drive available was 250 GB. Since then the maximum hard drive size has increased to 400 GB, and you'll see enclosures advertising "capacities up to 400 GB." Technically, the current ATA spec, which includes 48-bit addressing, can support up to 16 exabytes of data (that's 16 billion gigabytes).
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-03, 16:55

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonOfSylvanus


What?
muddied the waters...
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-03, 17:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luca
That's probably wrong. The tech is probably confusing "supports up to 250 GB" with "actually works with up to 250 GB." There is no magical 250 GB barrier. Older enclosures may only actually work with drives up to 128 GB in size, due to a limitation in the drive controller itself. .
I beleive he meant that the lacie internal controller from 1-2 years ago on that particular drive would not recognize it, or ignor it. I imagine that lacie optimize components to ensure a certain flexibilty within their line with easy product transitions, but I think they would also not add capability that was not necessary, or might cost more. Regardless, this tech "seemed" to be speaking from the experience of actually haveing done it. And I really cannot afford the time or money to buy a drive only to find that it does not work, then have to get a new enclosure for that, or whatever. PITA. I'll be happy with 250 as long as it is quiet!

I'll report back after I get it and install it.
Cheers
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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-03-03, 17:14

That's fine, drives above 250 GB tend to increase in price more rapidly than they increase in capacity. $/GB for 300-400 GB drives are fairly high, so I'm sure you got a fine deal on your 250.
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loungetime
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2005-03-04, 09:26

Installed and running absolutely silently! Fantastic! Only had to change the jumper to the correct position, and everything is fine! Formatted 233gb. 50 more than before.

I actually should have bought another one to stick in my old G4 (I run as my server) as that is now the noisyest thing in my studio - except when my PC is on... solution= turn up the music!

Thanks again to all for the advice. very happy with the solution.
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