G-Technology G-RAID mini 1TB Dual External Hard Drive w/ eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 Interfaces and RAID 0/1 0G01652

This is a great device for people who needs on the go data protections when used in RAID1 mode. Best to connect via FireWire 800 which uses the bus power to power the drive. If used in USB or eSATA, external power supply is required.This is the 2nd drive I purchased, so far can't seem to find any other similar product on the market. The only complain I have is you are required to use the software to switch from the orignal RAID0 mode to RAID1 mode, no hardware switch, and the software seems not really up to date. I have to call the technical support line to find out where to download the 64bit version which is not provided on the website.Another complain is if you want to upgrade the HD inside yourself, you will void the warranty. Which is quite inconvenient.Overall its a great product none the less.

After being sold on G-Raid by an associate at the Apple Store (and them not having any in stock), I came onto Amazon to purchase the G-Raid Mini. I was very excited when it showed up. The design was cool, it was small in size, and it backed up my hard drive very quickly. Overall I was pleased.Fast forward three weeks.I noticed that after about a week, there were times when I would connect the G-Raid to my laptop and it would take awhile for the laptop to recognize and connect with the G-Raid. Not a huge problem (more of a slight inconvenience than anything) so I didn't worry about it. Except I also started to notice that the speed of my laptop slowed WAY down when I had the G-Raid connected; I found that to be odd and very frustrating. Not what I expected.Last night, I once again connected the G-Raid to my laptop so that I could work on a photo project that was saved to my G-Raid, but this time my Mac was unable to recognize that the G-Raid was plugged in. I re-booted both devices several times; I disconnected and re-connected the devices several times. After about an hour, I was FINALLY able to get the G-Raid to mount, but it dropped connection again after about 2 minutes.Today, I went into the Apple store to determine whether the problem was with my computer or with the G-Raid. Turns out it's the G-Raid. The connection on the back of the unit is a bit loose... meaning that once there is an actual connection between my laptop and the G-Raid, any little movement will cause the G-Raid to drop connection (turn the laptop to a different angle, my hand happens to bump the G-Raid, the wind blows, etc).If this had been a refurbished unit, or if I had owned it for a few years and then this had happened, I wouldn't have thought anything of it... but that is not the case. This is a new model and it's only been three weeks. Because of my personal experience and the reviews that I have read from other people who are having just as many problems with this same unit (and with G-Raid brand in general), I have opted to return it and have started researching other brands.Don't waste your money on this!!

This baby blows all other backup drives out of the cyber pond.Fast, automatic, reliable.I am backing up all of my smaller backups to this G-Drive weekly. Love it.Now I wish I would have gotten the larger 2TB and/or the Full G-Drive system.

Starting with the positive, the drive works (tested with USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and eSATA), doesn't need AC with FireWire, and eSATA data transfer is fast. The drive's design is compact and esthetically appealing. Can't speak to its reliability not having used it for long.I am afraid I cannot give the drive more than 2 stars. I specifically purchased it for its RAID-1 capability in a light portable body, so the first thing I did was to try to switch it to RAID-1 (it comes pre-configured for Mac with RAID-0). I found G-Tech_Configurator_PC_v1.0.zip on the supplied CD, unzipped it, ran it, and... it croaked: "Error while loading generic library." A Google search (what else?) revealed that the issue had been known for quite a while (still not fixed - the same faulty executable is offered on the G-Tech site), and a solution was to find a Mac or a PC with 32-bit XP. Luckily, I had an old computer with 32-bit XP, but it took me nearly two hours to revive the damn thing so I could press one button to switch the drive to RAID-1. Seems like G-Tech programmers got stuck in the eighties...[...]

I had trouble with two of them trying to use firewire 800, with the second one I wasn't going to wait for another replacement so I used it with USB 2.0. It took more time to set up as a Mirror Raid because I was forced to use their software and their website kept pointing me to the wrong download. It was only after googling the problem that I discovered other users had similar issues and they pointed me to the correct download.Their USB connector and included cable are also junk. a minor twitch in the cable and the drive goes offline. And I don't even move it around, It's located behind my system where nothing gets touched. I finally swapped to a third party USB cable and it seems more stable.The Drive itself seems fine and so far. Hopefully their newer models have better connections

I'm using this drive set up in the 500GB RAID 1 configuration as a time machine back up drive for my iMac. The set up was super easy and it works as advertised. The fan is quite noisy though. Noisy enough that I decided not to leave it connected to my iMac by firewire and connect it to my Airport Extreme's USB port instead. Sure it's a lot slower, but for a backup drive that doesn't really matter to me. If the fan wasn't so stinking loud, I'd gladly give it 5 stars.