LaCie Big Disk Extreme

Believe it or not, 1TB isn't enough space for some power users. With programs getting larger and data becoming more important, a 1TB hard drive in your system is not out of line for many current computer users, and the LaCie Big Disk Extreme is great.

Features of the LaCie Big Disk Extreme

The 1TB LaCie Big Disk Extreme is actually a pair of 500GB hard drives, slaved together to give you a total of 1TB of storage space. The LaCie Big Disk Extreme has a triple interface featuring connectivity with FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0.

The small stature of the LaCie Big Disk Extreme makes it very easy to find a place for the enclosure on top of or under your desk. The LaCie Big Disk Extreme measures in at 1.7 x 10.6 x 6.8 inches and weighs 5.51 pounds.

The LaCie Big Disk Extreme also includes some great software to help you automate your back up tasks. Another nice touch from LaCie with the Big Disk Extreme is the inclusion of cables for all three interfaces. FireWire cables tend to be pricey and often run $20 or more each, it is nice to see LaCie include not only one cable, but a cable for each connection option.

The drives used inside the LaCie Big Disk Extreme are 7200 RPM and each have their own 8MB buffers. The LaCie Big Disk Extreme has a fast average seek time of <10 MS.

When used with Windows XP/2000 or Mac OS X no drivers are required for installation. Drivers required for other operating systems are included on the software disk.

LaCie Big Disk Extreme in Use

Setting up the LaCie Big Disk Extreme on my system was very easy, requiring me to unpack the LaCie Big Disk Extreme, choose my connection option and plug in the power adapter. I used FireWire 400 for my connection option.

The system I tested the LaCie Big Disk Extreme on ran Windows XP Pro, so I did not have to install any drivers before use. I did have to format the drive prior to being able to use the LaCie Big Disk Extreme.

The larger the disk, the larger the space required for formatting and the files required by the operating system for the drive to operate. After I formatted the LaCie Big Disk Extreme with NTFS via Windows Disk Manager, I was left with 931GB of usable drive space. If formatted with Fat 32, there would be somewhat less space than what I listed above.

I was able to transfer files to and from the LaCie Big Disk Extreme without issue and while the transfer speeds were slightly slower than transfer to internal hard drives, the difference was not very noticeable. Once installed and formatted, Windows recognized the drive and I could install programs to the drive and run applications from the drive with no issues.

Overall, I was very impressed with the LaCie Big Disk Extreme. It was very quiet and performed well. I had no issues with installation or the use of the drive and the amount of storage space added is excellent. The LaCie Big Disk Extreme is a great way to add lots of storage space to your system, without having to open your computer up and the LaCie Big Disk Extreme allows you to take your data with you on the road.