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Ten... FireWire 800 hard drives

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Iomega Mac Companion

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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?

Iomega Mac Companion FireWire 800 external hard drive

Reg Rating 70%
Price £280 (2TB), £350(3TB)
More info Iomega

LaCie D2 Quadra

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RH Editor's Choice

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.

LaCie d2 Companion FireWire 800 external hard drive

Reg Rating 85%
Price £239 (2TB), £299 (3TB)
More info LaCie

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