G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

When I first opened the package, I was surprised by the fine Corinthian leather carry case that my spare hard drive came in. I suppose that does do something to allay some of the cost of replacing my failed drive, it does nothing for me, functionally. Though, I do have a SWEET hard drive carrying case now.

So far (almost 2 weeks) the drive has performed excellently. The array in my G-Safe rebuilt with no problems, and I again have a safe haven for my precious photography.

While I can't speak as to the drive's LONG term durability yet, if it works anything like the first one, it'll be about 3 years before I need another one again... hopefully longer.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

The drive serves as a off-site copy of my files as well as an on hand blank drive in case of a drive failure. (I keep a number of them on hand just in case)

I've found the drive runs quite hot during heavy file transfers as well as the backup (archiving to a 3rd drive) process. I keep a small desktop fan turned on the unit during these procedures.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

Want to use spare drive for off site data backup, with G-Safe having 2 partitions: one for Bootable Duplicate, and the other for Time Machine.

Rotating drive modules simple, directions in on-line manual clear, rebuild easily initiated.

However, process took 2 1/2 times as long as it should with FireWire 800 connection. Advertised average speed is 1 minute per 2.5 GB; my total of 327 GB should therefore have taken 2hr. 20min. In actual fact, it took 5h. 15min.!

The G-Safe system for off site data backup works, but is much slower than claimed. It also suffers from one major deficiency for my purposes: it will not boot from the Bootable Duplicate (unlike my old 500 GB G-Drive Q, which never had a problem). G-Technology support has had me reinstall the firmware, but that has not solved the problem.

Very disappointing not to be able to store a Bootable Duplicate off site.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

I now have 6 of these 1TB drives. Half of them failed right out of the box.

Of the last two I purchased, one was in a sealed plastic bag when it arrived, the other wasn't. Strange. I wasn't surprised when one of them failed as soon as I put it into the G-Safe drive. (quick background: I dont travel with these -- they stay in my clean office and I treat them carefully just like I do with all my expensive camera equipment).

I have no idea what is going on with Hitachi/G-Tech. Why is the QC so poor?

More importantly: why am I still buying these drives?!

Honestly, its because I already invested in the G-safe, and I'm not sure what else to do at this price point to obtain 3TB+ of RAID storage for my photography!

The tech support has always been good -- and they have replaced drives for me quickly (I'm in southern Cal, near their HQ). But quick replacements isnt really what you want when you're looking for RAID storage.... you're probably hoping for a 99.999% success rate with your RAID system.

I can almost guarantee that you will have problems with these drives. I wish I was writing a positive review, but I simply can not.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

I use my spare drive as a hotswappable drive. I use my G-Safe to back up my working files. The G-Safe is easy to use, quiet, and cool.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB Spare Drive for G-SAFE:

We use the 1TB drives in our G-Safe, mirrored enclosures for recording long form interviews ( 6 to 8 hrs.) in the field. We record ProRes 422 using the AJA IO HD box and a MacBook Pro Laptop. We have yet to have a failure in the field and embrace the redundancy. We also use the G-Safe and 1TB drives for archiving finished projects and donated material. We have had a few intermittent problems with the G-Safe booting one of two recorded drives and have restored once from the sister drive. The eSata express card driver needs to be kept current to assure proper recognition and partitioning. We have about 20 of these so far. The leather cases are nice. Although the G-Tech product comparison table does not list the G-Safe as a video capable system, the 7200 rpm and eSatainterface performs fine for the ProRes production.