M
MattK22
Just a word of warning to people depending on Lacie
External Drives for storage, especially of professional work:
I recently purchased the newest "Porsche" designed Lacie external
drive, the 250GB model, for use with Vegas and my 2.3 Ghz HP, running
Windows XP.
I have never had any problem with any drive, on my computer, or any
hardware that is compatible with XP, but the Lacie drive completely
failed, after about 3 weeks of use.
For 3 weeks, I was very pleased with the drive (not to mention the
price), but one day while editing the drive suddenly, and without
warning, ceased to be readable to my computer.
The drive directory simply vanished, or became illegible, though the
hardware read as intact. The data, since the computer suddenly read
the drive as unformatted, was completely inaccessible, and
irretrievable to me. I (very painfully) lost 12GB worth of precious
work and work time.
When I called Lacie customer support, their technician told me I had
only two options:
1) Get Norton Disk Doctor -- I did this, and Norton Disk Doctor
refused to recognize the drive as well, and because it would not read
it could not make any recoveries of the files there -- or
2) Send the drive to a professional disk recovery service. The Lacie
representative estimated the fee for this at $500.
Beyond this, the tech told me there was absolutely nothing the company
would do, or could do - since they have, he told me, no outside
consultants - other than to "escalate" my call for further attention,
at some later time (I have yet to hear back from the company, or
receive any further assistance; I have no doubt that none is
forthcoming).
The company did not offer data recovery assistance of any kind, the
representative did not express any form of accountability on behalf of
the company for the loss, on my part, of 3 weeks worth of professional
video editing work, and did not offer or even attempt to conceive of
any further assistance other than the two (either impotent or
expensive - twice the cost of the drive) solutions mentioned above.
The most upsetting thing about the tech's service on my call is that
he characterized the failure as an unknown issue, and exhibited no
concern whatsoever to either solve the problem or research it. The
tech did not request or suggest that I send my drive to Lacie. As I
have come to understand it, since, this is probably for the best;
apparently, when one does send a failed drive to Lacie, the company
does not provide data recovery service of any kind. Still, again, the
troubling thing in this is that, no doubt, the next person who calls
with the same problem I have suffered will also be told by the tech
that it is an "unknown issue," because when issues like this arise the
company evidently does nothing to resolve or research them.
Long and short, if you must use these drives, use them with the
knowledge that back-ups (or even back-ups to your back-ups) are
absolutely necessary and indispensable.
Buyer beware.
External Drives for storage, especially of professional work:
I recently purchased the newest "Porsche" designed Lacie external
drive, the 250GB model, for use with Vegas and my 2.3 Ghz HP, running
Windows XP.
I have never had any problem with any drive, on my computer, or any
hardware that is compatible with XP, but the Lacie drive completely
failed, after about 3 weeks of use.
For 3 weeks, I was very pleased with the drive (not to mention the
price), but one day while editing the drive suddenly, and without
warning, ceased to be readable to my computer.
The drive directory simply vanished, or became illegible, though the
hardware read as intact. The data, since the computer suddenly read
the drive as unformatted, was completely inaccessible, and
irretrievable to me. I (very painfully) lost 12GB worth of precious
work and work time.
When I called Lacie customer support, their technician told me I had
only two options:
1) Get Norton Disk Doctor -- I did this, and Norton Disk Doctor
refused to recognize the drive as well, and because it would not read
it could not make any recoveries of the files there -- or
2) Send the drive to a professional disk recovery service. The Lacie
representative estimated the fee for this at $500.
Beyond this, the tech told me there was absolutely nothing the company
would do, or could do - since they have, he told me, no outside
consultants - other than to "escalate" my call for further attention,
at some later time (I have yet to hear back from the company, or
receive any further assistance; I have no doubt that none is
forthcoming).
The company did not offer data recovery assistance of any kind, the
representative did not express any form of accountability on behalf of
the company for the loss, on my part, of 3 weeks worth of professional
video editing work, and did not offer or even attempt to conceive of
any further assistance other than the two (either impotent or
expensive - twice the cost of the drive) solutions mentioned above.
The most upsetting thing about the tech's service on my call is that
he characterized the failure as an unknown issue, and exhibited no
concern whatsoever to either solve the problem or research it. The
tech did not request or suggest that I send my drive to Lacie. As I
have come to understand it, since, this is probably for the best;
apparently, when one does send a failed drive to Lacie, the company
does not provide data recovery service of any kind. Still, again, the
troubling thing in this is that, no doubt, the next person who calls
with the same problem I have suffered will also be told by the tech
that it is an "unknown issue," because when issues like this arise the
company evidently does nothing to resolve or research them.
Long and short, if you must use these drives, use them with the
knowledge that back-ups (or even back-ups to your back-ups) are
absolutely necessary and indispensable.
Buyer beware.
