Does the fact that these drives draw power from the USB decrease their performance? I'm concerned, however, in two regards: 1) Will this feature result in decreased performance of the drive vs. the same size, same rpm, same buffer sized drive which is...
1363739
I'm believe you're confusing the 2.5" HD enclosures and external HD with the 3.5" ones. 2.5" are powered only by USB where as the latter require use of the included AC adapter. 1) I believe any decreased performance would be due to the drive's quality (manufacturer) and how often the drive it's defragmented. In any case they should be minute. 2) It wouldn't seem likely the other USB devices be sluggish unless perhaps your using multiple tasks with a slow CPU, not enough RAM, low PSU, etc. 3) Answered above.
1829324
I personally bought it specifically for usb 3.0 myself, though I really can't see much of a boost, even on hardcore downloads (GB in size). Then again, at some point it probably comes down to SATA write speed and buffer anyway. I did have some problems with powering it off the usb though, so make sure you have a solid motherboard(ports on back) and case (the ports on the front). If you start seeing it lose connection and have to replug it in, stop using that port immediately, because it ended up causing my device to fail. Which brings me to my next point, the warranty service was EXCELLENT. great customer support with amped. Enjoy your product :) I personally bought it specifically for usb 3.0 myself, though I really can't see much of a boost, even on hardcore downloads (GB in size). Then again, at some point it probably comes down to SATA write speed and buffer anyway. I did have some problems with powering it off the usb though, so make sure you have a solid motherboard(ports on back) and case (the ports on the front). If you start seeing it lose connection and have to replug it in, stop using that port immediately, because it ended up causing my device to fail. Which brings me to my next point, the warranty service was EXCELLENT.... » Read More I personally bought it specifically for usb 3.0 myself, though I really can't see much of a boost, even on hardcore downloads (GB in size). Then again, at some point it probably comes down to SATA write speed and buffer anyway. I did have some problems with powering it off the usb though, so make sure you have a solid motherboard(ports on back) and case (the ports on the front). If you start seeing it lose connection and have to replug it in, stop using that port immediately, because it ended up causing my device to fail. Which brings me to my next point, the warranty service was EXCELLENT. great customer support with amped. Enjoy your product :) « Show Less
1600661
I have had the drive as my main operating system, as well as mass storage drive for almost a year, and so far, it has been reliable, fast, and quiet. However, as the previous person responded, I am using Linux, which does put less stress on the drive and the file system is a bit better at file allocation, ETC...My experience is very positive in this environment. (Using the 3TB version partitioned into three sections)
1733286
I haven't noticed any decrease in performance between the powered 3.0 drive and the 2.0 flash drives I have plugged into this hub. They work at their rated speed for the most part. For the most part the computer's controller chip and the device controller work those issues out unless there bad programming involved
1707711
I used one of these enclosures today ( an older generation ide version) The drive drew too much power from the single usb cable, so it needed a usb power cable as well. (Standard usb on one end goes in computer, the other end is a power tip.) I thought they were generic. I had it from another old enclosure. (Drives used to take more power so often came with more power cables), generally if they require over 500mA (look on the drive), it can't be powered by 1 usb port alone, I believe. Not sure on firewire, I think it can handle more power.
1826120
Yes. It does not run power of USB cord. You must have the power cord. I purchased 2 of these 3 years ago and have been moderately happy with them. Though now I require much greater space for my back-ups. Last year I had to purchase 2 new power cords as both of them stopped working. This is a known issue with this Lacie drive. If you buy be prepared to purchase a new power cord about every 18 months.
625579
It depends on the enclosure. Some enclosures are capable of powering the drive with just the USB.
1931462
These drives are kind of strange. It transfers off the drive at high speed (~20 MByte/sec) but only writes at ~2 MByte. So I think it's USB 2.0 but the internal flash management chip on the drive must be pretty inefficient so it can't keep up with the comm. speed when it's doing write operations. Delete operations are also really slow. So overall I probably wouldn't recommend this product. I got them because they were cheap and I don't need high performance for what I'm using them for.
2245376
Could someone who has one of these drives post the size of the power port on the back? I am interested in getting one of these with an external power adapter, and would like to be able to order simultaneously.
1756979
I haven't tested this personally, but considering the hard drive has AC power, it should not be an issue. I'm assuming this probably wouldn't work well or at all with a USB powered hard drive.
1034516
I have had nothing but bad luck with LaCie drives, I have had two of them not function out of the box. My experience is the exact opposite with the G Drive, these drives are quiet, and seem to run forever. I have not had a single issue with any one of the seven I own
2061834
I run 4 of them right now with one slot empty in between them and it will run without a fan.However, these seem to dip to 1.4 GHash/s after awhile (even with a fan). Could be my USB hub. Seems fine if restarted.
1273332
It is "powered" through the USB port, so expect it to provide only as much power downstream as it receives. In particular, it may not power multiple of those portable hard drives that get power through USB, but it probably will power a single one, depending on how much power it receives from the port it is plugged in.
584199
Have two of these devices, and they work with all form factor 2.5", 3.5", and have used with 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB drives, 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM and while not having used this with 10,000 RPM, I cannot imagine drive speed has any consequence, as it worked with hard drives, and SSD's and flawlessly on my drives, independent of using the computer system, as long as you have drives properly connected.
1360661
I use mine with a MacBook Pro (Retina) and I do find that it seems to use less power than my spinning external drives. I've never done a fully scientific test to see what the actual differences are, but I do notice less drain with the LaCie SSD vs. other brand's spinners.
248976
The drive is used for dvd backups and picture storage. When the old drive failed, I purchased another USB 3.0. That didn't help. I recovered almost 1 TB in two days. Then, since I had not yet received the new 3.0 card, I tried using the USB 2.0 to transfer from another backup (a western digital) to the Seagate. In 3 days, I moved about 300 Gb. That was left on 24 hours, too. After I got and installed the new 3.0 (I still doubted the old one), all remaing 500 plus Gb moved in less than 3 hours!. I never measured or recorded the speed. And the old 3.0 USB worked similarly.
754490
These drives can be very slow if you aren't aware of the restrictions of an Advanced Format drive and you fail to follow the directions on the WD web site:http://www.wdc.com/en/products/advancedformat/In particular, most of the negative reviews here directly state a condition that is guaranteed to cause a performance problem (such as cloning an existing unaligned file system to it or using XP to initialize the drive without using the WD utility to ensure that it is aligned).