G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Not only is the construction rock solid but the speed using FW800 is fantastic! I have been using this unit with a spare 1 TB drive for off-site backup for over two months now with no problems whatsoever. I did plenty of research before buying and even though you'll spend a few extra dollars with G-SAFE you get what you pay for. The fan noise was a little more than I expected but it's easy enough to switch the power off when you don't need the drive running (like when you're sleeping). The only reasons I don't give it 5 stars is because, well nothing is perfect and upgrading the HDD in the future with your own HDD seems kind of hazy. Some say you can, some say you can't.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

It's great looking and compact.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

used as back-up for digital images...it was easy to set up..but after a few days the indicator light turned yellow (I had purchased two units,,it happened to both. I called tech support, easily reached, but the first person I talked to Anthony checked it out using the manager..no problems showed ..but he was so angry and rude..I have never had this experience with a tech..and he put me off by telling me to wait a few hours that it may be "loading up..I had to ask him for an incident #...when the problem didn't resolve on its own I called again and spoke to Matt who was clearly new , and checked with a superior before advising me to return the item to g-tech..at my expense..I am still waiting for it..

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

While I have only used the G-Safe for about a month and cannot attest to long-term performance, the drive array has been working smoothly. The G-Safe was easy to set up, is easy to use, and I plan to make use of the swappable hard drives to keep a copy of my files offsite. I am using it for general business documents, but more importantly - to warehouse large files for my business - graphic design files, slideshows, photographs. I like the size of the array - does not take up much room on my desktop - and I love the simplicity of the design. I would have liked to see some backup software with the drive, but it is compatible with Time Machine.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I have a bunch of these that I use to download video in the field. Just copy to it and it makes an automatic backup to the 2nd drive. When they're full I just pop them out and put two new modules in. Good stuff.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Formatted well for mac. I just plugged in and works great. Shows 1TB capacity but mirrors another TB. LCD display clearly shows if drives are working. Looks really cool. Small and sweet. I have yet to need it for actually restoring a crash...and hopefully never will.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

This drive is the ultimate way to keep your files safe. I use it to back up all of digital projects. Important for a journalist.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Seamless integration, plug-and-play usability.
A great first step into the realm of RAID arrays. The price is right on, and
G-Tech is the new LaCie in terms of reliability.
After 8 months of continued use, I've only had one small hiccup; the fan seemed to stop working, so I called G-Tech and they issued an RMA.
When I stripped the hard drives out to send the enclosure back, I noticed the entire inside of the unit was caked with dust. After a quick blow-out, I reinstalled the drives and the unit is working flawlessly again.
I'm about to buy another 1TB unit to separate out my personal work from the commercial work.
Highly recommended.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Happy with my G-Drive Q500GB (partitioned 2 volumes: Bootable Duplicate/Time Machine), but now need more memory.Bought 1 TB G-Safe + 1 TB spare drive (memory + offsite backup). Mounted right out of box on iMac, repartitioned, created Bootable Duplicate & Time Machine. BUT can not boot from Bootable Duplicate!G-Tech Support "promptly" replied in 12 days: may need a firmware update; will know when they read my reply containing present firmware version. If it can be updated, they will e-mail firmware update utility ,but I would need access to a Windows PC! (Thank God such an animal also lives here).Only time will tell how all this works out. In the meantime my Bootable duplicate is on G-Drive Q and Time Machine on G-Safe. Very disappointing not to be able to include Bootable Duplicate on offsite backup.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

What a great product. Hooked it up to my Macbook Pro to use time machine back up with it. Works exactly as advertised. Very simple to operate and just a few steps right out the box to get it going. Now my data gets backed up on two drives at once and the best feature is that it tells you if a drive has failed on the display. Highly recommend this product.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

The G-Safe will be used for my working files back up. It is plug and play for Apple computers. I also bought an extra 1TB drive to have a hot swappable drive. The unit is quite and stays cool. I have a two G-drives underneath my G-Safe. All of them stay cool. They are all daisy chained together with firewire 800.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I have experienced nearly identical problems as DC in the earlier review. One might logically say that a backup solution will truly define itself and the manufacturer in the event of a failure. I had a drive rebuild fail about 4 months ago and am still not up and running. Two separate drives failed the rebuild, but G-Tech wanted me to return one of the drives for evaluation even though they agreed on the phone that it was the enclosure that was likely at fault. Three weeks later, get the drive back with no troubleshooting comments. Upon putting the drive in for rebuild, guess what, it fails again. Now they finally have accepted a RMA to return the enclosure for evaluation. No thanks, I have had it with this company - deplorable customer service. Drobo here I come!

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I got this RAID in December and had the upper drive failure after 2 weeks of very light use (access 4 times to store photo). Long story short, I have spent the last 4 months to send back 3 drives and a chassis and still have nothing working. [...] This is a DESIGN problem, not a mfg defect. So don't waste your money.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I give this drive "only" 3 stars because I find it to be a bit slow. Other than that, I've had it almost a year now and it has not skipped a beat. It's always interesting to read the different reviews. Some have had failures, which can happen with any piece of equipment, and I would agree that is annoying to say the least. [...] I DO find the fan to be loud. But, it's a powerful fan and does the job of keeping the innards cool which is vital to the life of hard drives.I've yet to fill it up and so haven't had to buy replacement drives. I do think, however, that the ability to do so is an elegant solution to hard drives piling up on one's desk.I would prefer the power switch to be on front panel.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I bought this 1TB G-Safe in July, and one of the drives failed right away.

When I received the replacement, I successfully back-up my computer.

The third time I have tried to use it one of the bays is not reading my drives.

That is a 2 out of 3 failure rate. Simply awful.

In between uses, I kept it packed in its original box, in a cabinet in my clean office. It never traveled or got knocked around. This is just a fickle piece of electronics. DEFINITELY not something you want your digital files backed-up on!

I am a professional photographer, and I take very good care of my expensive digital equipment. I have many, many hard drives and this has absolutely been the biggest problem-child.

When you buy a RAID you want to most reliable piece of equipment you can find, right? Well keep searching...

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Bought 1TB G-Safe array in March of '09 for usage as storage repository for music, videos, and photos. Within 6 months the fan failed to work and the unit had a temperature alarm. It took almost 2 months to repair the unit. [...] Needless to say I would not recommend this unit to anyone seeking a reliable RAID disk array.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

I wanted a Time Capsule, but read the numerous reviews about how they fail anywhere between 8 to 14 months. I spent hours researching a better solution to backup my data from my Mac and I couldn't be happier with the G-Safe. I hooked it up to my AirPort Extreme and followed the AirPort's onscreen walkthrough to set it up as a wireless server. It was incredibly easy and I was up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Drive is VERY sturdy and quite compact for what it is. I've read reviews that mention the fan noise. It is not loud at all, (it makes less noise than my old G4 tower) Runs very cool as the combination aluminum housing and fan do a great job of dissipating heat.

It has the space so I can keep a Time Machine folder on it, as well as my iTunes library and RAW photo files from my Canon 5D. BTW, it reads super fast—I'm using it as a wireless iTunes server and there is NO lag, even when I skip around songs intentionally trying to make it hiccup. (no music junking up my laptop, sweet!)

I plan on buying an extra drive so I can keep one offsite. All you have to do is remove one drive, put a new one in, and it automatically copies the data to the new drive. Seriously, This is the most easy to use, logical, and convenient backup storage device for those of us who don't want to "build" a backup method or just want the simplicity of the "Apple Experience" of plugging it in and it just working (which is what I wanted).

It's a little costlier than other backup/RAID drives, but it is completely justified. Quality, build, ease of use and reliability. Stop trying to figure this out on your own. I was looking for a review like this so I could stop agonizing about the best method to backup my data. Stop searching, buy it.

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

it's my workhorse for RAW photo files. filled it up and ordering another one soon. I bought a spare drive which you can swap out in order to back it up which is very nice. basically pop out a drive and that becomes your backup. insert the spare it it will automatically rebuild onto the new drive. very useful unit. recommend!

Comments about G-Technology 1TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array:

Need to download specific instructions for Windows formatting - not included in documentation accompanying drive. Discovered on FAQ section of website.
Drive 1 failed after only nine days. Absolutely no response to repeated emails to customer support.
There must be better similar units from other manufacturers.