LaCie Big Disk Extreme back in action

I got the LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB backup drive back today. LaCie is suggesting it was just a firmware issue, so they thoughtfully updated the drive, nuked the data that was on it, and returned it. Over a month after it died. Going a month without any kind of backups is a little scary. Here’s hoping it was just a firmware issue – the drive checks out OK now, and already has over 100GB of backed up data on it (and growing – likely will be close to 200GB by the end of the day) – and that’s only 2 servers backed up…

Update: A few hours of unattended backing up later, and I’ve already burned through 214.79GB of space on the drive – including a full Carbon Copy Cloner image of my laptop’s drive, and all critical files from the two servers that I care about (and can still access). Whew!

I got the LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB backup drive back today. LaCie is suggesting it was just a firmware issue, so they thoughtfully updated the drive, nuked the data that was on it, and returned it. Over a month after it died. Going a month without any kind of backups is a little scary. Here’s hoping it was just a firmware issue – the drive checks out OK now, and already has over 100GB of backed up data on it (and growing – likely will be close to 200GB by the end of the day) – and that’s only 2 servers backed up…

Update: A few hours of unattended backing up later, and I’ve already burned through 214.79GB of space on the drive – including a full Carbon Copy Cloner image of my laptop’s drive, and all critical files from the two servers that I care about (and can still access). Whew!

11 thoughts on “LaCie Big Disk Extreme back in action”

  1. Hi, can you confirm what version of the firmware they sent you? Do you know if there is a way for users to upgrade?
    I just got a Big Disk Ext. 500GB to back up my whole iMac. I used disk utility (restore image) to make a complete copy but this is not bootable, any ideas? The funniest (sarcasm) part of the story is the reason I need to back up machine. All of a sudden .dmg files won’t open. Tried trashing the cache files that are documented around on the web for this issue but doesn’t work. Called Apple and the first guy didn’t even tell me about safe mode, went straight to the archive install tip. Second guy told me about safe mode, got past one kernel panic. Third guy came back around to archive install. Anyway all of this and what else stopped working? Backup. I’m quickly becoming disenchanted with Apple and now I’m reading these posts about the LaCie products. Ugghhhh!!!

  3. I got New Lacie 250 GB to back up all my research papers in latex that I need to present at the conference in D.C. As it turnout, the drive decide to crash down on me and I lost everything, including me face and reputation. After shameful humiliation, I try to fix it but with no luck. I read about it that I should try to use other power supply but since I only have one drive, I was out of luck. I also try the drive on my collegue computer at the university but it isn't working either. It does making clicking sound and I am planning to return it but I don't want them to see my research papers. If you guys have other alternative, please e-mail me at pus118@psu.edu. Thank a lot.

    p.s. please use the head, "Fix Lacie" or the e-mail might get filter by my university

  4. My LaCie Big Disk 500GB shortened two days ago, with a smell of burned circuitery emanating from its rear side…
    What a trauma with over 250GB used!
    Best of all, BestBuy doesn’t care about good customer service!
    Don’t even count on BestBuy for any kind of assistance!
    It’s just useless!
    If your LaCie Big Disk fries, you are on your own!

  5. I realize this blog post is a bit stale – a year has gone by since the last post, but I figured I had some relevance and this post came up on the first page of my Google search results for “upgrade lacie big disk extreme”:

    First, if either of the two disks in the LaCie dies, it’s a brick. The controller won’t recognize the remaining disk if the first disk does not come up as “ready.” If the disk itself is working, but the file system is damaged, you may be able to recover data with a tool such as Alsoft Disk Warrior. I successfully used this tool when my Big Disk first had issues. However, my problems were fairly bad. A head crash was in the offing for the primary disk of the two. I was likely able to recover the data I needed because I had so little of it to retrieve and most of it was on the second disk.

    For backups, I recommend using Chronosync by econ technologies (for Mac Users.) I use Chronosync to keep the files on my Big Disk and my Mac internal disks in sync with a pair of LaCie Etherdisks. The software is scheduled to run nightly and automatically ships any new or changed files to the Etherdisks. It’s great for bulk file copying – if you’re interrupted, it can determine which files are left to copy and move only those missing files. It’s my swiss army knife for bulk file migration and costs just $30.

    Drive cooling is key. The Big Disk doesn’t sport a fan, but has a fairly robust heat sink. Still, if the bearings on the drive overhead because the aluminum enclosure can’t bleed heat off effectively, you’re more likely to see drives dying much more quickly than drives that are not running as hot.

    Lastly, I have a post on my blog which details how to replace the drives in the Big Disk Extreme – which I performed tonight after the head crash. I grabbed a 250GB Hitachi PATA drive I had lying around from another upgrade and installed it in place of the failed Western Digital unit. Some special configuration is required to get the LaCie to recognize the drives as a single 500GB volume – but it is possible – and perhaps one can even upgrade the drive capacity.

  6. Hi William,

    One of the Western Digitals in my Lacie Big Disk Extreme has had it’s days as well. Have you got anymore further detail on what you needed to do to your newly installed PATA drive to get the unit back in action again.

    I’m thinking of buying a couple of 250GB’s to install and was contemplating buying some more Western Digital PATA drive’s to install.

    Cheers

    Timi

  7. My Lacie Big Disk today wouldn’t dock on my mac. I have had it about 10 months. There is a burning smell coming from it now and I guess this isn’t a good thing! tried docking it on 3 different macs now to no avail. Any recommendations for getting my work off it or am I in a proper pickle? Also can anyone recommend a good external hard drive 500-750gb?!

  8. Sarah, I can’t say for sure, but a burning smell is likely more than a minor software issue. Take the drive in for a checkup – they drives inside may be OK…

  9. I had a 300gb Big Disk, which failed a long time ago. Lacie sent me a new power supply, which to my surprise, fixed the issue.
    …Only for the drive to die just out of warranty.

    Last year, _almost_ 12 months ago(!) I bought a 2tb Bigger Disk Extreme. I couldn’t format it without my Windows XP losing connection to the drive. Eventually it formatted, but then when I was copying large files to it (my photo archive), it would choke and lose connection again with delayed write failure. This was either by USB or FireWire.

    I had to send the drive back, with fear of losing my data. Fortunately they repaired it without losing anything, but would not tell me what the problem was. This was a problem that existed straight from the word go, so I was more than annoyed when the supplier wouldn’t actually replace the drive, but insisted on a repair.
    Sadly, less than 10 months later, my drive has died again.
    I can’t hear the drives spinning and there is no sound coming from the unit except for a faint ticking, approximately twice a second.

    I don’t think I’ll buy another Lacie disk, unless they can fix this without losing my data again.. but will I trust the drive? unlikely.

  10. Thought I’d better respond to my last post – Lacie technical support ticket went unanswered for the best part of a week, so I fired off an email to sales (amazing how sales emails always get read!).
    I was eventually sent an advance replacement PSU to test, which solved the problem, so now I just have to send the faulty one back.. thankfully, no data loss… but 1/10 for support from support.. 10/10 for support from sales team.

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