LaCie's Hard Disk Max is a 2TB USB 2 hard drive designed to be used as a secure repository for backed-up data. You could use it as a Time Machine drive or with the supplied copy of Intego's Backup Assistant. The drive also comes with a one-year subscription to LaCie's online backup service, giving you braces to go with the Hard Disk Max's belt.
It can be configured as a 2TB Raid 0 array, but given that Raid 0's key benefit is speed and that the Max connects to your Mac via USB 2, there's little point in employing it. Flicking a switch on the back of the drive, labelled Big and Safe, changes the Raid configuration from Raid 0 to Raid 1. This gives you a 1TB volume where the data on one disk is mirrored on the other, so if one disk dies, you have a perfect copy of your data on the other.
The drive's case is a glossy piano-black box, and is as aesthetically attractive as a hard drive can be. The front fascia is only broken by a USB port, designed to be used to attach another drive to provide additional storage.
The first time you plug the drive into your Mac, it launches the LaCie Setup Assistant. Running through that allows you to install the Intego Backup Assistant. The drive is configured as a Raid 0 array by default, and to change it, you'll need to back up its contents to another drive, unmount it, turn it off and use a flat-head screwdriver to move the switch to the Safe position. Then you switch it back on and reformat it in Disk Utility.
In use, the Hard Disk Max proved perfectly competent. It will never win points for speed, but as a backup drive or a repository for an iTunes, movie, or photo library, it's more than adequate, if a little expensive for a USB 2 drive.
Its USB interface means this drive isn't the fastest kid on the block, but its a good solution nonetheless.Author: Kenny Hemphill
LaCie Hard Disk Max