Iomega Mac Companion
The Mac Companion follows along the same design lines as the eGo Mac, but I’m not convinced it's so well executed here. At first glance the aluminium finish is quite dull, but it's only when you pick it up that you find it feels as rough as it looks.
The performance of this 2TB model is very similar to the G-Tech G-RAID, so it's no slouch and there are also two extra USB 2.0 ports on the back as well as a Sync & Charge port on the side, which acts as a hub to complement the FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 main interfaces. Even so, I’m not impressed by the enclosure's build quality and am glad this isn’t a portable drive as it feels like carrying a pumice stone with sharp edges. Indeed, it's perfectly useable drive, provided you leave it be. Given that the 2TB G-Drive can be had for £100 less, are those extra few MB/s really worth the additional cost?
Reg Rating 70%
Price £280 (2TB), £350(3TB)
More info Iomega
LaCie D2 Quadra
I’ve got to say the LaCie d2 Quadra looks much better on its website than it does in reality. While its nice to see that LaCie hasn’t tried to create a Mac-styled sibling, the dull finish won't appeal to everyone's taste. Still it's certainly robust and so is the performance of the 1TB model tested. With read speeds hitting nearly 90MB/s and writes of 81MB/s – a good 5MB/s above the G-RAID – the Quadra D2 is the fastest drive in this roundup.
For those who might also use this with another platform it also sports USB 3.0 and eSata for extra performance. I am also impressed by the sturdy feeling of quality the Quadra exudes, as well as the detachable vertical stand that fixes to the base using a rail clamp arrangement. I don’t usually favour vertical standing external drives, but I’d be quite happy to live with this one and it's not a bad price either.
Reg Rating 85%
Price £239 (2TB), £299 (3TB)
More info LaCie
Next page: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Portable
COMMENTS
Alternatives
How about some reviews of disk caddies? 2.5s, 3.5s etc with such connections. I use an OWC with FW800, 400, USB and eSATA on it and it's not exactly difficult for a novice to load in a drive.
So, what conclusion ?
Where's the roundup table? where's the conclusion? This article is lacking in providing a clear view of the 10 contenders.
Realistically anyone thinking of the G-Raid would be better to go for something with a Thunderbolt connection (yes newer Macs only I know) but Firewire tops out at about 80Mb per second - the Lacie RAID (thunderbolt) drive I now use gets 320-330Mb per second.
If you want 'cheaper' storage (i.e. for backups etc.) and are happy with Firewire's limitation then the best value drive is probably the 'Western Digital My Book Studio II' as it costs barely any more than the drives it contains. So worst case you could use it now and may be able to buy a Thunderbolt enclosure in the future and re-home the drives.
No review of Lacie Rugged triple? (FW800, USB3.0/2.0)
http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10553
Iomega Mac companion is rubbish
Have you actually tested that thing ?
Hook it up through firewire and the high power port is just that : a high power charger. you lose ALL USB capability.
Hook it up using USB and you lose the high power charger port. it becomes a dumb usb hub. Firewire disables as well.
You cannot hook it up using both cables. It is or USb, or Firewire ... not BOTH. and you need to sacrifice the usb ports or the high power charger ...
on USB the drive als o has the annoyance that it keeps waking up the MAc from sleep mode.
THe LEd's in the front require installation of a special piece of software form iomega that is also buggy. ...
In other words : FAIL. And, yes , i do have one. Sandpaper exterior. Works fine as a drive .. but that's it. the additional stuff doesn't work right.
