Lacie vs The World. Revisited.

Just thought I would update the score for LaCies in my world. As of yesterday the total number of working LaCie drives that I have known that have failed is EVERY BLOODY ONE of them.

Well, OK. One hasn't completely failed yet, but it is falling offline during editing, making a nasty ticking noise and periodically refusing to mount, claiming to be unreadable. Here's to backing up 700 gig of data in a hurry...

Still, there's hope. A new little big disk and another one terrabyte LaCie are being birthed at some of my jobs over the next few weeks. Looking forward to that.

Oh wait, I do know one drive that hasn't failed yet. Its a dedicated music drive with about 42,000 production tracks referenced in iTunes. So far it seems fine.

Actually, I wonder if there is some relationship between video and LaCie failure? Surely it's working a lot harder serving up video that it is with audio..?

And Derek, I know you hate Gracenotes, but you should see that thing on production music cds. It automatically enters all the 'mood' info, so you can do a search for 'haunting' or 'epic' or 'driving' and get the whole library thinned down to tracks that suit. Brilliant.

(... An epic, driving beat with haunting overtones, in the style of Bananarama's...)

Curious. Were all the LaCies bought at the same time? Or close to same time?

> (... An epic, driving beat with haunting overtones, in the style of
> Bananarama's...)

He WAS really saying somethin'...

ROTFLOL!

tc

>>Were all the LaCies bought at the same time? Or close to same time?<<

Mmm I don't really know. They are all from different clients. I could guess that they were all from similar batches, because I figure we wouldn't get that many shipments here, but I don't know that for sure. They could sell a shipload a week for all I know..

It was very hot when it was clicking. I'm thinking this is a big part of the equation.

> (... An epic, driving beat with haunting overtones, in the style of
> Bananarama's...)
> He WAS really saying somethin'...

tc, our Jude is a lady!

Don't worry, most of us had been making that mistake for a long time.

> And Derek, I know you hate Gracenotes, but you should see that thing on
> production music cds. It automatically enters all the 'mood' info, so you can
> do a search for 'haunting' or 'epic' or 'driving' and get the whole library
> thinned down to tracks that suit. Brilliant.

Yes, that does come in handy. I think my problem with Gracenote CDDB is that the music I use tends to be temp music, so it spans across all generic spectra. And most of the time I've had to encounter bad file-naming conventions such as capitals in the wrong place, extra spaces after track names, the damn "Compilation" box being checked for wrong CDs, typos...

I can see how automatic naming would help with a canned music library, but in those cases, I'd probably spend some time upon first purchasing the library to put in each disc by hand, enter the information with proper formatting, and enter the information as part of the database. That's what I did with my 10,000-song MP3 library. Each of those tracks had been named by me, by hand, from their original CDs with metadata entered by me, proper genres and artist names. Now whenever I use one of them in a project, I have the metadata and know how to locate the original artist and CD.

Back on topic: My experience has been close to Jude's. Every Lacie I've ever had to deal with dies within my lifetime. I still can't say that for Promaxes -- every one I own is still fully functional.

> Oh wait, I do know one drive that hasn't failed yet. It's a dedicated music
> drive with about 42,000 production tracks referenced in iTunes.

I can believe that. Music files, being so much smaller, are probably less taxing on the drive. And you don't have real-time capture either. But with 42,000 files on the line, you might want to back that up onto a more reputable drive! I got all my MP3s in an internal drive (I listen to them all the time, and I routinely put 120 tracks into active FCP accessibility when editing, to cast a wide web) and backed up on an external Promax as well.

derekmok:

I'm well aware. That's a reference to the name of a Bananarama tune
Being "right" is not always a good thing.

tc

Wasn't it Steven Tyler that said "Jude Look Like a Lady?"



travis ballstadt
www.thrillcateditorial.com

G5DP2.5ghz, 4.5gbRAM, 2TB external SATA, Panasonic AJ-D455, G4PB1ghz, 15", 1gbRAM

Hey Jude (no music pun intended)

If you can - try cooling the drives - get a couple of fans on then whilst you transfer the data to backup or if a drive really goes to the wall you can try a last ditch and put it in the refridgerator for an hour then try and get the data off onto a new set of drives (non lacie and well cooled) asap.

Is it starting to get warm over there weather wise?

Ben





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It's not warm here, but the machine I was working on that day was in an office with lots of people coming in and out and the heating was on pretty high.

I think I am going to try a fan next time I get this to see if it helps at all. Not sure about the fridge thing, some people have mentioned the possibility of condensation, which worries me.

Thrillcat - well done - I've actually never had that pun before! Nice one.

As for me being female - it really doesn't worry me if people assume one way or the other, and it's too much hassle to correct people all the time, but thanks Derek.

Ok well if the fridge worries you, go to the supermarket, and get the following

1 box of 2 gallon (or very large type) zip-lock or airtight bags
1 set shot glasses
1 bottle of cheap vodka

proceed home, start transferring till drives are hot, take them out place in bags, than into the crisper, poor shots of vodka, and drink to the hope that this allows you to get your media onto a superior drive

drink until adequately satisfied your lacie problem no longer worries you.

-Aaron

p.s. if you try and forget too much, those big bags can come in handy for holding the aftermath



Amateur Teacher

LOL Aaron - I will remember the 2nd two parts! I would be careful about the zip bags though as they would probably cause more condensation inside them!

Jude the fridge or freezer really is a last ditch thing.

Making sure you have air conditioning unit or lots of fans and a dehumidifier for places like South East Asia where the humidity can play havoc with electricals is essential for smooth running.

People often forget how sensitive even their computers are in high/low temperature or humidity. You can check the operational temperatures and humidity on the specifications for Macs on the Apple site and in the documentation with most electrical appliances.

The drive(s) would be ok in the fridge for an hour - wrap it in tissue paper or newspaper to absorb any condensation that may be in the air around it. Just don't put your wine or beers on top!

The other thing to do is make sure when running the HDDs that the drives are all separate and not stack them too close together as the heat will dissipate into the other enclosures adding to the problems.

Good luck

Ben


PS. I Know a Male Jude and a Female Jude... But I only know male Bens although I did have a dream about a girl called "Benn" the other night, but thats a bit OT and will require extensive psychoanalysis!





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the Lacies -

I have 2 that are fine, but don't work them that hard. and only know of one personally that has failed. i usually work from internal drives (Hitachi and Seagate, but there's the odd WD in there - the slowest, btw) and use externals for storage and transfer.

still, i'd be curious to know what drives are in the problem lacies. time was, they used Hitachi, but that time has passed. for all we know now, they use Uncle Squid's Computer Barrel House Brand. and I'd be curious to know definitively.

a solution could be that you transfer the data, replace the lacie's internal drive with a Hitachi, and then you have a decent external drive.



HarryD

Mostly I have seen cheaper Maxtor mechanisms in Lacies recently.

It is partly cheaper mechs but also the enclosures for lacie are partly to blame as they run very hot and don't dissapate heat that well. Although they are very robust and solid they really need to be in a cool environment.

Funnily enough the ATA bridgeboard to firewire is very good and I have never had a lacie mess up connection wise - only the HDD inside... unlike the g-techs which are very good heat dissapating enclosures but have rather more fragile connectivity.

Ben





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