LaCie d2 Quadra vs. Glyph GT 050Q

Hello everyone,

 

I need to buy external storage and it seems like these two brands, LaCie and Glyph, are popular choices for audio and video production. Though the specs for LaCie d2 Quadra and Glyph GT 050Q are very similar, what makes Glyph so much more expensive? For instance, a 500 GB GT 050Q costs around the same as the 1 TB LaCie d2 Quadra.

 

Please tell me what your experiences have been with either so I can make a decision. Right now, I just don't see any reason to buy the Glyph because of the price.

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

I haven't used or heard about the Glyph, but I do have the LaCie... just received it and hooked it up yesterday to my iMac. All I can say is that it works great so far, and I got it at a good price so i'm happy

Dude stay as far away from Lacie HDs as you possibly can. these drives are VERY unreliable. Between my friend and I we have gone through 4 of them. If you search on the internet for "Lacie HD drive disappears" or something to that effect you will find that their interface is REALLY lame.

 

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000AAZRIU?filterBy=addOneStar

 

Problems like these are annoying but I would never purchase another lacie drive again. It was very slow as well

You may also want to investigate the Pro Audio EZQuest drives. I have a couple Lacie d2 drives and they seem to work fine - though I did have a period where they would mount unpredictably. That seems to have cleared up just as mysteriously.

 

http://ezq.com/index.php?cPath=21_24

Edited December 9, 2007 by threebg

I agree. Stay away from LaCie. I have had one drive in my home studio die, and two at my work studio. When I called LaCie about the home studio (320GB) drive, I eventually got through to their sales department head and he told me in no uncertain terms I had no recourse from them for a new drive. I'd only had mine a couple of months, but it was just beyond their replacement period. I was hoping they'd make it right, but he wasn't having any of it.

A year later than the original posts, and I'm looking at a 1TB LaCie. Still think I shouldn't get one? I hope it's OK I have to say, because the price/specs are sweet!

 

Thanks

I would also recommend staying away from LaCie, and in fact from most pre-made external drives. You can save a lot of money buying a fanless enclosure, putting a 1TB drive inside, and not only is it less expensive, it's a much better final result. I've had less problems with the drives I made myself than with any pre-made drives I ever bought.

Noted. That'll take a little research for newbie me.

 

But just to play devil's advocate , do you recommend Glyph over LaCie? I ask because I might just have an emergency situation where I'll have to buy something in a store here in NYC today! There's a good sale on at Tekserve.

 

There are two external drives there that look good to me: both with FW800/400 / USB 2.0 / eSATA ports; both 7200 rpm.

 

1) Glyph GT050q 500GB Quad Interface External Hard Drive. Normally $319, selling for $229 (I got this price by phone).

2) LaCie 1TB d2 Quadra External Hard Drive. Normally $249, selling for $199.

 

With the Glyph at $229 and the LaCie at $199, I could consider the $30 negligible if the Glyph were the better.

 

The Glyph is $90 off its usual price, $70 off if you go by online prices. That's huge percentage-wise. The LaCie drops $50 bucks, which is less but not shabby. Shabbier though if you consider some onliners selling for $225.

 

But the Glyph has half the capacity of the LaCie. It may be a natural impulse to be space-greedy in these situations, but might the Glyph be a more preferable drive for sound apps, having Seagate SATA drive mechanism and all?

 

Looks like the 1TB LaCie has a 32MB buffer while the Glyph 500MB has a 16MB cache.

 

Neither is bus-powered, but I should mention that the LaCie has a wall wart adaptor. Glyph has a fan. I have a prev-gen Glyph, GT050 without the "q", and it always worked fine, quiet enough. Never owned or worked a LaCie.

 

Might you offer an opinion?

The glyph will not fail. I have used these many times. The power supply is FAR better, and the interface is the fastest I have ever used. As soon as you power it on it mounts. It seems extremely robust. Just tore into one at the studio and swapped out the drive with a bigger one... very well built.

 

I agree Lacie is a crapshoot. 5 years ago, I would have recommended them to anyone. However, once they started in with the porsche and the lego drives things seemed to go downhill.

Dude stay as far away from Lacie HDs as you possibly can. these drives are VERY unreliable. Between my friend and I we have gone through 4 of them

 

+1

 

Those are worst drives out there.

I purchased a Lacie 500 FW 800 HD 6 weeks ago and have had zero issues in the studio so far. It has been stable and mounts up right away.

 

I suppose I got lucky after checking out this thread.

 

Anyone else up and running with a Lacie?

People should feel free to keep the thread going to talk about these drives, but so far as I'm concerned I've already jumped. Bought the Glyph because I spoke to too many people with doubts on LaCie. And a good local shop said they get a LOT of requests to repair or recover LaCie externals, and virtually no one comes in with Glyph problems. People having great experience with LC should maybe consider themselves lucky. I've been too unlucky in other areas though to personally take that chance!

Buy all my externals from OWC at www.macsales.com

Great stuff at great prices.

When you guys make your own external drive,

is it cool to use a 7200rpm 2.5" laptop drive? -

and do you use FW800, as i'm guessing that would be the best,

also, my Duet is currently taking the FW400 on my MBP...

or is it better to use 3.5" ??

 

Also, can you get HD enclosures that provide bus power?

And if so would this be OK for audio applications?

Can anyone recommend a good HD and enclosure?