G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I've been working with these drives for a few years - no problems.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

It's always easy for a product to get good reviews just after it is purchased. That is no more true than HDs. Here it is over one year later and my G-Technology 500GB drive is still working like a champ. 14 months later, lots of video editing projects and the drives just keep on working.

The only issue I've ever had with the drives (I own 6 of them) is that they need to be turned off every so often so the interface can recycle. When I run the drives for several months without doing this, I notice they tend to run slower. I think this is true for almost all computing technology.

Even though these particular drives are no longer available here on bhphotovideo, I want to offer my experiences 14 months later because I think my experience is fairly common with G-Technology drives and the company has much to be proud of. Thanks for making a great drive, G-Technology.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I typically use these drives for editing or mass storage in studio (but prefer the smaller g-tech drives for field storage).

I've personally managed probably around a thousand hard drives in my ten years in video production, editing, and post production management at dozens of freelance jobs at production and post houses, ad agencies and hundreds digital video shoots. I have used almost every manufacturer of drive and the following is always true:

- I've never had a single g-tech drive die
- All the top-end pros use g-tech drives as their first choice (even above LaCie)
- The housing and the internal drive are both made by Hitachi, reducing inconsistencies
- The solid construction and cooling of these drives inspires confidence

The following is also always true:
- ALWAYS DUPLICATE YOUR DATA on two spinning drives
- TREAT THESE BABIES LIKE GOLD. nice cases, no big bumps, etc.
- LET THEM BREATHE. cooling is important.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

We are using the drive as back up for our Macs. We run a small business from our home.
Great drive, easy to install, love all the cable choices and that the cables came with the drive.
So far no drawbacks.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

This it is my second hard disk, is the best company for my pro tools system. It has chipset Oxford, recommended by Digidesign. I'm very satisfied with its performance.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I've been a fan of G-drives for years and I recently added a 500gb to my collection. This was the first time I'd purchased a G-tech product from BH and it was great. The product is very quiet and sleek and it gets the job done. Great buy!

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

The G-Drive family is my current "go-to" series of drives. I bought this drive as a traveling unit to store video files. I travel a lot with these drives so I store them in a Pelican 1400 Case with Foam padding.

I fill up these drives regularly (on my 10th drive since September2010) and haven't had any issues with crashes yet. The only problem I had was with a FireWire 800 port not having been soldered correctly and coming loose not long after I starting using the drive. It was an easy fix for a local computer tech (and trusted friend!).

These drives are always backup drives and are never used as primary storage. All my primary storage solutions are RAID based.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I've used this drive for a year, and use it primarily for streaming sample instruments in Logic when at that time purchased, i used an iMac. I have a LACIE big disk Extreme with raid 0, but it is quite noisy as i think it is because of the fan noise and also causing the vibration of the whole case. So i would avoid getting another raid external drive again since most of them have case fan build in. But ever since beginning using this G-tech, the noise of this drive always bugging me.

Having the features stated "Fan-less cooling system for near-silent operation" with good speed via FW, yet i can still perceive the vibration from the aluminum case. So my option is to place the drive far away from my listening sweet spot.

Right now i just got my Mac Pro, so I swap out the Hitachi drive to be placed in Mac Pro to compare the result. It is better.

First of all, after void the warranty to open the case, I found that the Hitachi drive is screwed to a heat sink, and the heat sink is then attached to the case. It is really nicely design.

But the problem is, unlike the sled in Mac Pro, which the screw has rubber attached in between the sled and the drive, the G-drive has none, where all the screws are firmly attached to the aluminum plate and the drive. Also the Hitachi drive is firmly touch on the heat sink without any dampening. This is where the noise of the case come from. I think.

So, "Fan-less cooling system for near-silent operation"? Although without the fan, it still produce quite some amount of noise.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I purchased 6 of these drives because they ROCK

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

Setting up this hard drive out of the box is a piece of cake. Provides reliable external storage.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

A friend told me that her colleagues at the School of the Visual Arts had tried many drives that did not hold up over time and that no one had a failed g-drive so I decided to buy one for school. I also bought one for my husband. They are very quiet, run cool and are fast. I am very please with this purchase and found the best price at B&H.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I got a new imac last year and needed an external hard drive to set up for Time Machine (i.e. mac's automatic back up program ) I researched many web sites ( including those of demanding hard drive users --folks doing a lot of video / photography / movies--- , mac user forums, you tube, etc. The result --I kept seeing references to G-Technology's products-said to be very reliable and the most pricey.Personally, I believe you get what you pay for. I now have 3 ---500 G drives I connect two using the firewire connections and one using the usb 2 -- they all are very fast and quietI use one for time machine , one for a large music library , and one for imovie - a big memory hog ( p.s. --g tech provides you with all the necessary cables in the box ) easy to use ( plug & play ) quiet ( thanks to the use of a bottom heat sink )reliable [...]---- with a 3 year warranty( other hard drive companies had no live support or wanted to charge you for it after a month or 2 or were pushing you to a web site to get help and some only had a 1 or 2 year warranty -- if the company doesn't believe in their product--why should I go and buy one ? )

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

Use for archiving/backup.
Fast. Seems trustworthy. Like the power switch and firewire 800.
Trusted by other people I know.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

As a producer of independent music videos this hard drive is the one and only choice for me.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

If you want a drive that keeps working with no fuss, rugged sleek look and fast fire wire and usb response this is it.

Perfect for backing up media--i tunes, photos etc.

Also is perfect for filmmakers/documentarians who like to put a single project on a single drive. Great as the backup hard drive too.

Easy set up with Mac.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I purchased the G-drive HD after a failure on a drive enclosure from another company. The G-Raid drives came as a recommendation from other videographers and editors that I know.

The real test of any HD is time: will it last for many months or even years? I have been using these drives for editing with FCP for two weeks now so its a bit early to tell how they will do in the long run.

What I do like about them is that they seem responsive, fast and don't cycle down fairly often, like other drives I've used. I owe the response time to the 7200rpm rating of these drives. That is more than sufficient for my needs.

If there is anything I would do differently it would be to by the larger sized disks. I have lots of video on my HDs and have already consumed 2 of the 3 drives I purchased. Next time, I'll buy the 1TB size or above.

I'm hoping these drives will last a while. People that have recommended them have been using them for years without fault. I can only hope for the same experience. If the drives last 18 months or longer, I'll give it 5 stars. Until I see how long it lasts, it only gets 4.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I've had no problems with this hard drive. All I did was to plug it in and start using it for daily backup. Works like a charm.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I've owned two of these for several years now. I've used them with USB, FW 400 & 800, and eSATA. On eSATA, they blaze -- averaging about 100MB/sec on benchmarks. The fact that they are fanless in design makes them super quiet as well as one less moving part to fail. I use these to hold my portfolios as well as my travel files for a recently published book. Probably one of the most dependable drives out there.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

I use these as client drives for live audio recording with a ProTools HD system. They come from G-Tech needing reformatting for PT use. Use Disk Utility and change the partitioning scheme using the Options button to Apple Partition Map or they will not record.

Excellent performance, silent, cool-running, reliable. They also fit in BH's Glyph shipper case ($15) like they were made for them. The cases are a must-buy.

Comments about G-Technology 500GB G-Drive External Hard Drive:

Easy set up for Mac users. Functions as promised.