We've got one, still working, I think.
You can now buy a single drive of the same size that'd be cheaper and more reliable. Just get an eSATA enclosure if you've got a eSATA port and it'll be faster too.
Bob.

I just bought a 500 gig SATA drive and plopped it in an eSata Enclosure. I was not able to get my onboard eSata port to recognize it reliably. Luckily, the enclosure came with a Sata to eSata adapter that plugs into one of your sata ports and attaches to any of the slots in the back of your PC (usually for your graphic or pci cards). This worked fine and I still have several Sata ports left to fill. Great recommendation Bob.

j razz

The 1 Terrabyte LaCie drive is actually four 250 gig drives in an external enclosure striped with RAID for super fast access. My only worry is overheating. I've found that a number of popular external hard disc enclosures aren't adequately cooled for lengthly renders. The reason I'm worried with this drive is that there were several complaints among the user reviews.

Anyway, the one my friend has looks really cool. It is absolutely solid and feels like it could be run over by a truck without being damaged. I don't know, the idea of a terrabyte of fast storage in a single relatively small portable package looks really good to me. The only thing that scares me is LOSING a terrabyte of projects all at once!

I will never again buy any lacie product again.

500GByte drive (failed after 6 months)
1TB drive (failed after 3 months)

When I took the drives back to the store, I was told "We don't give you a new drive, but we give you the money back instead. We don't longer sell lacie. Too many customers having problems."

That's exactly what I was afraid of. Sounds like an overheating problem. Are there any other similar but more reliable 1 terrabyte external drives?

Lacie drives have caused me more grief over the years than other brands of enclosure on the PC side. Paradoxically, my one remaining Lacie 300 gig D2 seems to work well when it's hooked up to my Intel Mac...but I wouldn't trust my life to 'em. Especially the Firewire side of the interface...but I wouldn't use an external Firewire drive for anything...stick to eSATA (which is rock solid and way fast) or usb 2 which is rock solid and slower.
edit..oh yeah...service from Lacie is universally abhorred...it's a wonder there still in business...i guess the apple heads keep' em going

Laurence. Whichever brand you buy, make sure the external hard drive comes with a fan. I bought five without a fan and every time I use one of these, I’m afraid they will stop working because of the heat. After that I’ve purchased ten external drives with a (very silent) fan. Never a problem! (Brand = Targa).

Jøran Toresen

Personally, I think I'd feel more comfortable with drives of 500GB's or less. Having 2-3 TB drives would be sweet, but too much of a risk of losing alot of work.

Yesterday at Costco I saw 1 terabyte Western Digital My Book™ Pro Edition™ II
for $399. It has RAID and 3 year warantee.

Anyone tried this?

I saw the WD 500GB for $169 (FW and USB) at Costco as well. Both would be great buys.

I have about 5 external passively cooled cases with drives in them. The only way I can keep them cool enough is to use a fan blowing across the cases. It's a pain but it works well enough. Anyway, I will not get another external drive case that isn't well cooled.

The LaCie system has a fan in it but it seems kind of quiet to be handling 4 drives. That's why I was so worried in the first place.

The deal at Costco sounds really great. Are the Western Digital MyBook series good cooling wise? The design looks like it allows for good air flow. 1.5 terrabytes for $400 sounds really good.