Lacie GlobeTrotter 2.0 40GB review

In What's New, Shopper May 2006, we reviewed Memorex's Mini TravelDrive U3 USB flash drive, which allows you to run favourite applications on a PC without having to install them.

LaCie's 40GB GlobeTrotter 2.0 portable hard disk goes one step further and allows you to run an entire OS, in this case Mandriva Linux, on almost any PC without installing a thing. You can use all your applications, documents and settings on any PC, or try out Linux without altering your PC.

Booting into Linux is as simple as plugging the GlobeTrotter into a spare USB port and restarting your PC, although you may have to set your BIOS to allow USB booting. For PCs that don't support booting from a USB hard disk, LaCie has included a bootable CD, which can be removed after a successful boot. LaCie provides an additional USB power cable, so you can still use the GlobeTrotter on PCs that don't provide enough power through a single USB port.

Linux has a reputation for being difficult to use, but anyone familiar with Windows will find the KDE interface very similar. A batch of useful applications is preinstalled; we tried out OpenOffice, the GIMP, the Konqueror web browser and a CD/DVD-burning utility similar to Nero, and all worked as expected. Network settings were detected automatically, allowing us to browse the internet without any configuration. After using the straightforward setup wizard, we were able to print to an Ethernet laser printer without fuss. Accessing file servers and installing new applications was more longwinded, but luckily, when you've done the job once, the GlobeTrotter cleverly remembers different settings for different PCs.

The 40GB GlobeTrotter is divided into three 13GB partitions: one for the Mandriva Linux system, one for your Linux documents and settings and a FAT32 partition for sharing files with other computers. Unfortunately, in Linux you can't easily see the FAT32 partition or your PC's hard disk, and in Windows you can't access the Linux partition, so you can't transfer files between the two. There's also no easy way of changing the size of the partitions.

The GlobeTrotter's large file read and write performance is very good for a portable hard disk, although it was slow when writing small files. It is easy to set up and a convenient way to run Linux and access all your applications. But it's expensive, costing the same as Western Digital's 80GB Passport. If you opt for the larger storage space, you can turn it into a Linux device using Puppy Linux and the instructions at http://snipurl.com/qhvd. But Memorex's Mini TravelDrive U3 is even easier to set up if you just want to use your applications.