The LaCie Network Space

My thoughts on the 1TB LaCie Network Space external hard drive

I recently purchased this device from B&H Photo hoping to solve my messy media dilemma. Before this, I had 4 or 5 separate external hard drives holding all of my media, applications & backups which I quickly realized needed to change after accidentally deleting a whole photo shoot because “I was sure” it was backed up on another disk.

The LaCie Network space proved to be a great purchase. It’s packed full of useful features combined with lots of storage and a slick design that I’m not afraid to have out on display for all to see.

The Pros:

• UPnP AV Certification (This means just plug it in and it works)
• Remote FTP Access (This is especially cool, I can access files from anywhere in the world with FTP. I can also give a login to my friends and share large files with them.)
• 5 Simultaneous Users Supported (I’m calling this a “Pro” for home use because I only need 3 to 4 max. But this could easily be a “Con” if the device were used on a large network in a place of business where multiple users need to access files simultaneously.)
• Streams media files through devices such as Xbox 360™ and Sony Playstation® 3, or acts as an iTunes music server. (This feature is very nice to have. I share an iTunes music library with my spouse and never have to worry about duplicates or consolidating on our laptops or desktops. Also, when I’m in the bedroom, on the laptop or at the TV, I never have to worry about where that movie is saved.)
• Wireless Time Machine Backups (With a bit of fiddling you can use this to wirelessly backup your Mac in Time Machine anytime you are on the network. No more excuses for why you didn’t do a backup) *You can find the instructions for this at the bottom of the post. ** For you Windows users, LaCie offers the Genie Backup Assistant for free available on their website.
  
• A two year manufacture warranty (That’s always nice. You never know with hard drives.)
• It looks sweet (Has a blue LED ground light that flickers with data access, also you have the option of turning this light off.)
• USB 2.0 port on the front of the device (This is used to connect an external USB hard drive or USB key. Using admin page, you can to back
  up files on your LaCie Network Space to the external disk or import data to the LaCie Network Space.)

And the Cons:

• Expensive (It is priced a bit higher than most network hard drives, but if you find a sale like I did, you won’t be wallowing over your empty wallet.)
• Slow data transfers (Even though it’s 10/100/1000 it only transfers files at a painful 6.6 megabytes per second which is crippled even further when accessing VIA wireless network so transferring large files is restricted to LAN only.)
• Non removable storage (This can be considered a major flaw. You’re limited to the 1tb disk that’s and if you want more you’ll have to either use up the front USB port, or buy another network drive which can be bad for the wallet.
• Web administration interface (The aesthetics of the device certainly don’t carry over to the web administration. The control panel’s user interface is a joke, and it’s user management and security section needs a serious rethinking. This of course can be fixed with a simple firmware update, so hope is not entirely lost.)

Overall the LaCie Network Space is a simple and attractive solution to your home media needs. If you’re looking for something to permanently hold all of your movies, photos & music, this is the drive for you. If you’re looking for a high performance drive to use for lots of transferring and portability, you’ll want to keep looking.

*Setting up the network drive as a wireless Time Machine backup drive on a Mac will require you to jump through a few flaming hoops. Thankfully there is a thoroughly detailed tutorial over at Expanding Horizons on how to set it up properly.