LaCie d2 Quadra 1TB review

Since we last reviewed a d2 Quadra drive, the case design has been refined to increase the surface area with a corrugated effect to avoid employing noisy fans to get rid of heat.

Otherwise, it retains the same basic format that LaCie has been using for years. Although the drive can be laid flat, a small, metal plate is included to attach to one side, which means the drive can stand steady and tall while imposing a modest footprint on a desk.

As the name suggests, the drive offers four different connections. There are two FireWire 800 ports and one FireWire 400 port through which you can daisychain other hardware, plus one USB 2 and a much faster 3Gbits/sec eSata port, although you'll need to add an eSata card to your Mac Pro or MacBook Pro to use it.

The drive contains a Setup Assistant that re-partitions the disk with the option of setting aside space for Windows, should you need it. It also installs the bundled software onto a freshly created Mac partition, rather than it being included on CD.

The distinctive blue shortcut button on the front of the case can be configured to launch your preferred application, and while LaCie now offers consumer-friendly software from Intego with other drives, here it continues to bundle the intimidating but very capable Retrospect Express for professional users. Still, it's a good choice for running scheduled backups.

The LaCie d2 Quadra turned in solid performance in all but the random write test, where it trailed the leader by more than 12MB/sec, a significant difference, as it fell close to the bottom of the group. However, it did very well in the sequential and random read tests.

The drive is a good choice if your eye is on the whole package rather than outright speed, in which case you'll be able to overlook the one poor test result chalked up by this drive in our tests. It's also well priced, at 15p per gigabyte, which is just 2p more expensive than our winner. And there's no need to purchase additional backup software, even if Retrospect isn't the friendliest choice.