Digital Trends

LaCie Ethernet Disk mini Home Edition 500GB December 26th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Setup and Use

It's pretty easy to set up the LaCie Ethernet Disk mini for basic operation. Pull the drive from the box, remove the aluminum base from the plastic wrap and, after loosening the hex screws a little with the included hex key, slide the base onto the bottom of the drive. Tighten the hex keys and set the drive enclosure upright on a desk.

Wondering which way is up or why the drive enclosure has two base slots (one on top and one on the bottom)? When using the Ethernet Disk mini in an upright manner, the blue light/button should be upright. The reason there are two slots is because LaCie sells a rack-mount system for holding multiple drives stacked 4-high. 

After the base is attached, plug the power cord into a surge-protected wall outlet and into the drive enclosure. The drive should power up. If it doesn't, just press the blue button on the front of the drive and it'll wake up.

Next, connect the included (and very ice quality, by the way) ethernet cable to your router, switch or hub. You'll see the green light on the back of the drive light up. That means it's got a live, successful connection to your network.

The previous steps should take no more than 2-3 minutes. The following steps could take 20-40 minutes. Grab a coffee, a glass of wine or something else to tide you over while you run though the rest of the configuration. 

Insert your Ethernet Disk mini CD into your computer (Mac and PC both supported). Depending on your operating system (Windows or OS X), the software setup steps will vary slightly, but they follow the same theme - 1) install the necessary network drivers for the Ethernet Disk mini, and 2) install the actual software program that you'll use to manage the Ethernet Disk mini on your network.

When installing the "HipServ" software required to connect the drive to your computers, you'll need to enter the Product Key (unique ID number for your drive) from the sticker on the back of the enclosure. You'll also be asked to give the HipServ drive a name, like "LaCie-500GB-mini" or whatever suits your naming protocol. Be sure the name doesn't include spaces or odd characters. Only letters, numbers and hyphens are allowed. Why? Because the Ethernet Disk mini will be connected to your network and needs to have a properly assigned name. Additionally, the mini is accessible by you, worldwide, through LaCie's special website so the naming protocol needs to be right. 

Continuing beyond the naming of your LaCie mini drive for network/Internet use, you'll need to set the time and date. We suggest using the "Set time and date from the Internet" option, which gives the most accurate time. Then select your country and the closest city in your time zone. For folks who are really bad at geography, we suggest hitting up Google for an assist. For west coasters, use the Los Angeles option.

Set up a HipServ account for use on the LaCie site. Enter user name, password and confirm the same password. You will be prompted to set up your router or cable modem to allow outside access to your drive. This is a necessary step if you'll want to access your Ethernet Disk mini from wherever you may travel in the world. Follow the step-by-step instructions.

You may also notice that the HipServ software will automatically update itself whenever there's a new, improved version.

To modify any settings on the Ethernet Disk mini, open a browser and type in the assigned IP address, like 192.168.1.123 or 10.2.2.36. Enter your user name and password and follow the steps for custom settings.

You can even enter your email address into one of the setup screens and the mini drive will inform you of any software updates, activity notices or error messages.

Finally, once all the configurations are done, you'll get the following message: "Congratulations! You have now completed set up of your HipServ™. To access it, go to www.homelacie.com or install the applications available on the CD."

The Ethernet Disk mini can be used for scheduled backups of files and folders on your computer, or it can be used as a random repository of files for numerous users on your LAN. Additionally, the software included with the mini makes it possible to access and view media files directly from the mini in their own Java windows. The list of compatible file formats is huge and includes music and video files, among others.