Home > Consumer Reviews > LaCie 301138U Ethernet Disk Mini 500 GB Ethernet/USB 2.0 Network Attached Storage Hard Drive

Bottom line: This is a good NAS, and it is cheap. I'm satisfied. It just works. First, it's a server that runs independently, so you don't need to install softwares. It does a good job for those who want to concentrate files in a single network device, to be accessed from any machine from either LAN or Internet, which can't be done with USB devices.

Important points:

- Web interface speed: This is the major complaint. Yes, it is very slow indeed, but good news is that LACIE just released a firmware update 1.1.2.1 and now it is just slow. The point is this: This bothers only when you're configuring it. Once you're done with configs, you'll forget it. I consider it to be a minor problem. Check LACIE's webpage constantly for firmware updates.
- There are no ridiculous copyright restrictions as to which file formats you're allowed to share.
- You can create users and levels of access to folders: none, read-only, read-write. That helps privacy.
- It is silent.
- It is small.
- The case is very sturdy, metal made, not cheap plastic. It helps heat dissipation. Real good construction material.
- The internal fan turns on/off/mid-speed as needed, automatically.
- You can fix an IP address (come on, file servers aren't meant to use DHCP-assigned dynamic IPs!).
- Copy speed: Fair, but don't expect it to perform as fast as cutting edge computer 2GHz+ CPU. It has a 400 MHz CPU and does the job it can do, for the price you're paying. It is what it is. Want more? Then buy a full-PC. Hundreds of small-file transfers can take long, but see again you're using network communication protocols that may be chatty.
- File system: It uses XFS, which is a robust journaling file system that helps maintaining integrity in case of power failure.
- I had some trouble navigating in the beginning, but that was because Windows XP automatically used my PC user/password, which differed from the ones I had created in the LACIE drive. If you face this you'll need to re-map the drive using the correct user/password you've created.
- Some have complained that drive runs uninterruptedly and don't know how to stop it. That happened when I enabled the Media Server and it kept scanning my thousands of pictures, videos and mp3. I just disabled it and the "auto-access" stopped.

All in all, I consider this to be a good buy, specially if you consider some other piece of junk NAS that are for sale out there.

The LaCie Ethernet Disk Mini is great for having a networked iTunes folder, sharing files wirelessly, etc. I've had it for several months & it's worked well.

Other good things:
1) Looks cool -- REALLY cool. Have you seen some external/NAS drives? Shiny injec-molded gooey forms? Not this one...
2) Quiet enough, if you have a dedicated room for this type of stuff (might be too noisy for living room, etc.)
3) Daisy-chainable via USB. You can increase the capacity and mount additional disks. Awesome!
4) Seems to always mount, just by launching apps which have a recent document there (this has been true of Quicktime videos, iTunes libraries, maybe an OS X-only feature). In fact, I just have to plug in my iPod & my Powerbook finds the drive & mounts it (having remembered the password in my keychain). Pretty cool.

The bad:
While I dislike its lack of any sleep functionality, that's not a big deal as long as I turn it on & off when appropriate. Along those lines, however, I STRONGLY dislike the push-button power switch. It's too sketchy in terms of whether or not you've held the button long enough (and sometimes the required duration changes between power-offs). A simple rocker on the rear would've been more appropriate, especially with the lack of "sleep" (because you actually need to turn it off each evening). Also, the power button's bright blue LED can be annoying if you are transferring files, stuck in the room & have to watch this thing "wink" at you.

Looks great, functions well, but only four stars because it clearly could have struck a better balance with regard to the power switch.

-Chris H.

This unit has operated on a network for 16 months as primary backup. The unit requires periodic maintenance to be read by the server. It is loud. The unit has failed. After 4 days of dealing with customer service on a warranty issue, my frustration has lead me to purchase a competing product.

Don't buy from Lacie. My device started randomly locking up. I sent it in for repair. Lacie sent it back and it started having the same issue. I sent in a new comment to their tech support. They replied stating the device was working fine. They never bother to check the error log, which shows it locking up. The product is worthless and their product support is even worse. Now I'm stuck with a product I have to unplug and plug back in everyday just to use.

I bought this initially for a video job to attach to my edit machine using USB 2.0 and then after the job, use it as a NAS on my home network.

Unfortunately the performance of the USB 2.0 interface is too slow at only around 5MB per second where most of my other drives achieve around 20 MB per second using the same USB 2.0. This was so slow that it was unusable for my particular application so I felt the claim "1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0" was a bit misleading. The ethernet performance was slightly higher at 6MB on a 100 Mbit lan.

It is the loudest drive I own. I have many Western Digital and Maxtor drives and they are all quieter.

Having said all of this, I will keep it as a NAS and I am sure it will be fine. Just don't expect to move lots of data quickly.