Digital Trends

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

Performance

In our tests, we saw transfer speeds - both read and write - of no less than 6MB/s (about 48mbps) on a local 10/100 network and around 8-10MB/s average (64-80mbps) on a gigabit network. These speeds are average for our test network. Your speeds may vary.

If you need to make a first-run sync of a large amount of data and you find that your router or switch is causing a slow-down, you can connect the Ethernet Disk mini directly to your computer using the LAN card. On Macs, it's as easy as using an Ethernet cable and configuring your computer's IP address. On PCs, you'll need a crossover cable. The connection is much more direct and can really increase transfer speeds (though it's not guaranteed to).

Over the Internet, upload and download speeds varied greatly - completely at the mercy of ISP upload speeds. No matter where the mini is based, if you've got a proper T1 connection, Comcast's business level service (typically 768kbps or 96KB/s upload) or Verizon's FIOS service (2mbps or higher upload), you should see pretty decent access speeds. Of course, if you're in Marseilles trying to pull a 1GB file from Modesto, you may need to go out for a cafe au lait and a long walk while the transfer occurs. But the coolest thing is that the transfer will occur and you'll have access to your data anywhere and everywhere.

When on your LAN, some admin features of the Ethernet Disk mini are zippy and quick, whereas other admin functions and browsing of files slowed down. For example, changing from dynamic to static IP in the setup/admin menus took about 90 seconds, with roughly 60-70 of those seconds spent waiting for pages to refresh. Again, your experiences may vary depending on your network setup.

Ease of Use

Without a doubt, the Ethernet Disk mini is easy to set up and use, especially when accessing the drive within Windows Explorer or Finder. The drag and drop action is just the same on this drive as it is on any other hard drive. Once you switch to browser mode, the experience changes dramatically and first-time users should be forewarned of this. It's a culture shock, like moving to a new country. The basic philosophy is the same, but the rules and step-by-step actions are a little different. For high-level computer users, the adjustment period will be on the order of minutes. For less familiar users, it could take a few hours or days to adjust to the new way of accessing, uploading and managing files and folders. Despite the wee learning curve, once you get the hang of it, you'll have the skill permanently.

The backup button is not hard to find

Airport Extreme Users

For those who have Airport Extreme base stations, you've already got a USB port for sharing a drive on your wired & wireless network. If that's all you're looking for, you could use a plain-jane USB drive connected to the Airport Extreme. If you must have outside access, the LaCie Ethernet Disk mini is awesome and fills the need.

Downsides

There are only a couple mild downsides to the Ethernet Disk mini. First, there is limited access to the physical drive (no USB or FireWire ports for extra-speedy primary sync). This can be solved by connecting the drive directly to your computer's LAN port (Mac users can connect with any LAN cable and PC users should connect with a cross-over cable. Second, access speeds are limited by LAN or Internet connection speeds. But when you get into NAS storage like this, it's full understood that speeds are limited by LAN/Internet; the mini's outer-world access more than makes up for any shortcomings.


Conclusion

LaCie's new Ethernet Disk mini "Home Edition" is a great way of storing data on a wired or wireless network. Data can be shared between multiple users on a LAN, it's easy to set up, easy to access and most functions are identical (or very similar) to standard USB or FireWire hard drives. The major benefit to the Ethernet Disk mini is that it can be accessed via LaCie's special website from anywhere in the world. You can literally be kicking back in Moscow and access your files in Modesto. It's beautiful in simplicity and accessibility; we just wish the data rates were faster.


Pros:

• Access data from anywhere in the world!
• Convenient LAN use for home & office
• Easy to use & manage
• File manager or browser based access

Cons:

• Somewhat lengthy setup process
• Data rates slower than USB 2.0 & FireWire