LaCie d2 Quadra Review – just another external hdd?

LaCie d2 Quadra Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Value for Money

Available at Amazon here

The LaCie d2 Quadra is perfect for anyone who does a lot of work creating or editing digital content.

If you are serious about editing digital files, then you might already know that Firewire interfaces perform much better than USB when handling large amounts of data. The LaCie d2 Quadra is manufactured with both Firewire 800 and Firewire 400 interfaces as well as eSATA 3.0Gb/s and USB 2.0 interfaces.

With this many interfaces, you have plenty of options in deciding how you connect up your LaCie d2 Quadra.

On the back of the d2 Quadra, there are 2x Firewire 800, 1x Firewire 800, 1x eSata and 1x USB 2.0 interface so we were able to read and write from both the PC and the Mac with the device formatted to FAT32. For each interface, you also get one cable for each connection so there is no extra hassles finding and ordering the right cable for your connection.

The switch on the back of the device, allows three options – off, on and automatic. When in automatic, the drive will remain powered off until you plug a cable into one of the interfaces. We left ours on and whilst not completely silent, it was suitably quiet on the desk.

The LaCie d2 Quadra feels very sturdy and we were very pleased when presented with an aluminum casing upon opening the box. This added quality to the build. To stand the drive up vertically, there is a stand which you can attach with two screws and rubber feet on the bottom to prevent from scratching your varnished desktop of glass workspace.

By the way you can get the Lacie d2 Quadra from Amazon through this link here

Features of the LaCie d2 Quadra 2TB

• Plenty of storage space, comes with 2TB
• Multiple interfaces – Firewire 800/400, eSata 3Gb/s, USB 2.0 with cables
• Backup software included
• Mac and PC compatible

Before buying consider this

The LaCie d2 Quadra is an all in one professional hard disk offering universal connectivity from either PC or Mac. It is perfect for digital content generation and the Firewire interfaces will provide fast data throughput to help you get the jobs done quickly. In our opinion it is excellent value for money.

However if you are looking for a basic external hard drive for simply storing files, streaming video etc then you might want to consider some of the cheaper options such as the Western Digital Elements 2TB or the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB which will also fulfill that role and save you a few quid at the same time.

LaCie d2 Quadra Technical Details

• 2x Firewire 800, 1x Firewire 400, 1x eSata and 1x USB2.0 interface
• 20cm x 5cm x 21 cm
• 1.5 kg (unboxed)

LaCie d2 Quadra customer reviews from Amazon

The drive is very quiet and fast, just as its predecessor. Overall I’m very happy with it.

RW – June 2011 – View original review here

The LaCie d2 Quadra 2TB – we think it’s worth the money and should definitely be on your shortlist.

Samsung HD103SJ Review – great value for money ?

Samsung HD103SJ Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Value for Money

Available at Amazon here.

My friend recently came to me asking whether I could recommend an internal hard drive which had plenty of storage, performed well, was very quiet and was going for less than £50.

I advised that the Samsung HD103SJ internal hard drive was ideal for their needs.

What makes the Samsung HD103SJ a great purchase?

Well, it is very quiet for starters. Samsung have included their noise reduction technology SilentSeek and Noiseguard. The HD103SJ utilizes advanced 500Gig per platter technology. This enables two-platter 1TB capacity to be achieved yielding an increase in performance of 30% compared with a three-platter design. This is due to the increased areal density per platter.

The Samsung HD103SJ is built to run at a spindle speed of 7200 rpm which provides good performance and it has been designed to operate at lower power for desktops and servers. At around 4 pence per gigabyte, you really are getting value for money.

Buy the 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 from Amazon through this link

What’s not so good about it?

Compared with the Spinpoint F1, the Samsung Spinpoint F3 is not as fast for loading applications, importing photos into Windows Photo Gallery or running Windows Defender for example. According to PCMark Vantage, the older 1TB Spinpoint F1 beats it in these departments, however it is far quicker loading Windows, for gaming and video editing.

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 Technical Details

• 1 terabyte of storage
• 7200 rpm
• 32 Mb buffer size
• 8.9ms average seek time
• Serial ATA-300
• 300 Mbps data transfer rate
• 3.5 inch x 1/3H form factor
• W:10.2cm D:14.7cm H:2.6cm

So what do others say about the Samsung HD103SJ ? Check out these reviews from Amazon.

Easy to install and great value for money. Quiet in operation. No more worries about lack of drive space anymore.

- Charles F. – May 2011 – view original review here

Top notch HDD – fast, easy to install, reliable and large! This is the second one of these I have bought and I’ve not had a single issue with either.

- Sam – Jan 2011 – view original review here

Whether you are on a budget or not, this drive is simply a great deal and it is currently on sale at Amazon for less than £45. If you want one, you can get the Samsung HD103SJ through this link right here.

Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB

Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Features
Value for Money

Save over 40% by buying from Amazon

There are many high quality external hard drives on the market and the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB is one of them.

So why is the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB deserving of a review? Please read on.

Features of the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB

What I like about this external hard drive is that it comes with software that will help make your life a little easier.

Should you wish to enable it, WD Smartware provides 256bit hardware and password encryption protecting your drive from unauthorized access or theft. There are hardware diagnostics and a sleep timer which you can adjust to your liking if you wish your drive to not go into an idle state too quickly. Or perhaps you want to ensure that your Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB goes into idle state shortly after you have finished accessing your data in order to save on power.

The backup utility can help you backup your files automatically. Files can be selected by category, so if you were only interested in backing up your documents but not your music collection, then this is possible.

Backups can happen automatically whenever files are created or modified on your source system and if the drive is disconnected for any reason, it will resume backup operations once connected again. You can of course manually backup to it as well.

Data retrieval can be done at the file type, folder or file levels. A neat feature is the version control. The WD Smartware software will allow you to retrieve from up to 20 versions of your backed up file allowing you to retrieve older copies if needed.

Buy the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB from Amazon

Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB need to know information

Similar to the Western Digital Elements 2TB which I reviewed recently the drive is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Max OS X and comes with 2TB of storage.

What is different about this external hard drive compared with the Western Digital Elements 2TB is the wealth of features and the faster USB 3.0 interface however, unlike the Elements 2TB, the RPM of this device is not listed.

So I checked with Western Digital support and the response I received was

Unfortunately this information is not available as the internal drive can vary from one external drive to another.

Ok, so RPM speed is not guaranteed however this should not detract from what is a good value external hard drive with transfer speeds up to 5Gb/s if you have a USB 3.0 interface to hook it up to.

If you don’t have USB 3.0 well don’t worry as a USB 2.0 interface will still provide up to 480 MB/s transfer speeds but it is a lot slower and will be noticeable if you are working with really large files for example.

Whether you have USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, transfer rates will vary depending on your system so don’t expect these sorts of speeds necessarily. These figures have been produced by the manufacturer using systems which will vary from your own however the difference between USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 will be noticeable as the newer 3.0 interface is a lot faster than version 2.0

The Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB is generally quiet but we found that the Elements 2TB was quieter in comparison.

Packaging is minimal and the drive comes pre-formatted with NTFS so if you are a Mac user then you will need to format the drive using the Disk Utility tool. If you are wanting to attach it as a PS3 external hard drive then this will also require re-formatting as FAT32 and a tool which can do that is SwissKnife

Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB Technical Details

• 2 terabyte storage
• USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatible
• Data transfer speed up to 5Gb/s for USB3.0, up to 480Mb/s for USB 2.0
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 compatible
• Macintosh OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard compatible
• Pre-formatted for NTFS. Requires reformatting for Mac OS X or PS3
• Weight 1.18kg / 2.6lb
• W:13.5 cm (5.3 in) D:16.5 cm (6.5 in) H:4.8 cm (1.9 in)

What are others saying about the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB ? Check out these reviews from Amazon.

….this is a fantastic product, simply because it does exactly what it says on the box; it’s well designed, simple to use, and will provide back-up for even the most intensive user.

Highly recommended.

Steve J. – Nov 2010 – View original review here

If you are looking for an external hard drive that combines capacity, features, performance and great value for money then the Western Digital MyBook Essential 2TB has to be on your short list.

Western Digital Elements 2TB

Western Digital Elements 2TB Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Features
Value for Money

Buy the Western Digital Elements 2TB through Amazon

A friend of mine was looking for a PS3 external hard drive and went for the Western Digital Elements 2TB. He called me round for a coffee and showed me his new purchase happily attached to the PS3 console. I was so impressed with this 2tb external hard drive that I had to write a review about it.

Western Digital Elements 2TB need to know information

Of course the Western Digital Elements 2TB is not just designed to be compatible as a PS3 external hard drive, it can be a used with Macintosh and PC too.

Out of the box, the drive is pre-formatted for Windows systems as NTFS but can be easily formatted for Macintosh or PS3.

In order to turn the Western Digital Elements 2TB into a PS3 external hard drive, you will need to format it as FAT32. Formatting FAT32 drives over 32Gb requires special tools and we used SwissKnife in order to do this. To format for Mac, use the Disk Utility program found in your Mac OS installation.

We tried the WD Elements 2TB on a Windows Vista system and as it is plug and play, the operating system had little problem in picking it up as external storage. Inside the chassis is a 3.5 inch hard disk and at 7200 rpm it is nice and quick helping you to get your data moved quickly. You will also appreciate how quiet it is.

The Western Digital Elements 2TB has been designed to be kind to the earth. Packaging is minimized and is made from re-cycled materials which are in turn, recyclable. To save on power, the device will go into idle mode when not in use. It will power on and off with your computer and inside the casing is a drive with Western Digital GreenPower Technology designed to save on power.

The drive is a relatively small unit measuring approximately 5 inches across, 8 inches long and approximately 1.5 inches high making it ideal for small compact spaces either on your desk or tucked away in your TV stand next to your games console.

Let us not forget that the Western Digital Elements 2TB has a whopping 2TB of storage making it an ideal place to store all of your videos, images, music and files. According to the packaging, this equates to 240hrs of HD video or 500,000 Mp3′s or 400,000 jpeg files.

Comparison with other external drives

The WD Elements 2TB is light on features and does not come with any backup software which figures as the price of the drive is very competitive. So if you thinking of using your external hard drive as a backup destination, then you will either have to copy the files onto the drive manually or acquire a third party piece of software to help automate this for you. If you want your files backed up automatically then you might want to consider the Western Digital My Book Essential 2TB. The cost of this drive is a little more but it does have a number of features, including backup.

Western Digital Elements 2TB Technical Details

• 2 terabyte storage
• USB 2.0 interface
• 7200 rpm disk rotational speed
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 compatibility
• Macintosh OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard compatibility
• Pre-formatted for NTFS. Requires reformatting for Mac OS X or PS3
• Weight 1.02kg
• W:12.5 cm D:20.4 cm H:3.6 cm

So what do others say about the Western Digital Elements 2TB ? Check out these reviews from Amazon.

This product is wonderful!
It does exactly what it should: Stores data reliably…..

Chris – May 2011 – View original review here

This hard drive has surprised me. I bought it because I needed one quickly and cheaply and this seemed to be the best for the price. It is far better than any other external drive that I have used….

James C – May 2011 – View original review here

The Western Digital Elements 2TB certainly ticks a number of the boxes from what I would expect from an external hard drive.

Samsung HD204UI packs 2TB on three disk platters

Samsung HD204UI Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Value for Money

Buy the HD204UI though Amazon here

The Samsung HD204UI internal hard drive provides huge amounts of storage, is quiet, is designed to run cooler and is incredible value for money!

Enough of the marketing hype, explain yourself I hear you say! Ok then, lets take a look at it the Samsung HD204UI in more detail.

So what makes the Samsung HD204UI a great purchase?

Samsung have done an incredible job here. It’s got 2TB capacity and instead of four disk platters to provide all that storage space, they have done it with three, each with a density of 667Gig. With less platters, there is less work for the motor, less noise and less power consumption. In fact, the HD204UI will consume 23% less electricity than its predecessor, the four platter F3EG, when in standby mode.

Noise reduction on the HD204UI comes in the form of Samsung’s SilentSeek and NoiseGuard technologies with performance enhanced by Native Command Queuing and a 32Mb disk buffer.

At less than 3 pence per gigabyte, the Samsung HD204UI is absolutely incredible value for money. It is not tops on the speed list with a 5200 rpm rotational disk speed, however it provides good performance and will easily allow you to transfer gigabytes of data, such as Blue-Ray movies in good time, making this hard drive an ideal choice for media storage.

You can buy the Samsung HD204UI through Amazon here

Something you need to know about the HD204UI Samsung

When doing my research on this drive, I did find this link from Samsung regarding upgrading the firmware to address write issues which you should read before installing the HD204UI Samsung – you can read it here

Some forums indicate that the drive has this patch already applied to it if the manufacture date is after Nov 2010. If you are in any doubt about it, please contact Samsung before you install this drive.

Samsung HD204UI Technical Details

• 2 terabytes of storage
• 5200 rpm
• 32 Mb buffer size
• Serial ATA-300
• 8.9 ms average seek time
• 300 Mbps data transfer rate
• 3.5 inch x 1/3H form factor
• W:10.2 cm D:14.7 cm H:2.6 cm

So what do others say about the Samsung HD204UI ? Check out these reviews from Amazon.

…..The drives seem quiet, run fast and most importantly have remained free from errors. No complaints. Well worth the price.

- Mr Welch – May 2011 – view original review here

Well, the fact I now have 6 of these drives must say something. I have 4 in a NAS drive and 2 in my main PC for use with Video Editing, the size allows for massive films to be worked on, together with loads of copies and backup’s etc….

- Leon C – April 2011 – view original review here

Great value for money, good for the environment and quiet. The Samsung HD204UI is well worth consideration.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB – roomy upgrade

Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10TEVT Review

Performance
Power Consumption
Noise
Value for Money

Available from Amazon here

Laptop hard drives have traditionally lacked the storage capacity of their 3.5inch counterparts, however the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB helps to bridge the gap.

If you are looking for an internal hard drive which is suitable for notebook or Macbook, then this model is worth consideration.

With 1TB of disk space the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB is a great value upgrade with the price per gig at around the 10p mark.

Need to know info about the Western Digital Scorpio Blue

Certain sacrifices have had to be made in order to achieve the high 1TB capacity. There are three disk platters and in order to make room for them, the height of the hard disk is not the standard 9.5mm but has been increased to 12.5mm. This is an important to know if you are considering buying this drive. It may not fit inside your system, so please check this out before you make a purchase.

The WD Scorpio Blue WD10TEVT is nice and quiet with WD’s WhisperDrive technology and at 5200 rpm, you should not expect it to break any speed records but this laptop hard drive is all about capacity and it certainly delivers on that front.

Buy the Western Digital Scorpio Blue from Amazon through this link

Western Digital Scorpio Blue Technical Details

• 1 terabyte of storage
• 5200 rpm
• 8 Mb buffer size
• Serial ATA-300
• 12ms average seek time
• 300 Mbps data transfer rate
• 2.5 inch x 1/6H form factor
• W:7 cm D:10 cm H:1.3 cm

So what do others say about the Western Digital Scorpio Blue ? Check out these reviews from Amazon.

This product arrived quickly and was well packaged so was in perfect condition. It was installed a few weeks ago and I’ve had no problems with it. It was a very good buy – much less expensive than if I’d bought it from a shop and exactly as described.

- RA – April 2011 – view original review here

….It is so much faster on Itunes and of course I can hold loads more music.

- Lilac March 2011 – view original review here

This drive is definitely worth a look. Its not the quickest but the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB delivers on storage space.