Anyone has a problème with LaCie hard drive?

[Activert]

I have been using LaCie external drives since 15 years ago. I own around 15 hard drives from the old version to the new one, from 2Tb to 16 TB. Some of them connected correctly to my Mac Pro and works well and sometimes they disconnected with no reason. But it was ok for me and all what I cared about was to have safe copies of my photos until…last Summer. I have actually more than 700 000 photos ( I am keeper and I don’t like to delete any photos except when they are really bad ) plus videos which occupy around 45 TB. I wanted to keep everything on the same drive for easy and quick access.

Last august I bought a LaCie 40 TB 2Big Doc, Thunderbolt 3, which according to the retailer, it works with my old desktop Mac Pro and my new MacBook Pro M2. I tried to transfer all my Lightroom catalogue to it and put most of my important photos files in it. It worked ok with my desktop Mac Pro.

I wanted this hard drive to become the main drive for my Lightroom catalogue that I can use it mainly with my laptop and I can work with it in any place in my home or in the garden. In the beginning it worked ok with my laptop. And suddenly it stopped working completely. When I connect it to the laptop, most of the time I don’t see it neither in the finder nor on the screen. If it is not connected. And if it appears on my screen, I can open it and see all my files in it, but I can’t open any one of them and I can’t transfer anything from or to it. I always get the same message erreur 50.
i contacted the shop from where I bought it, I told them about the problème. They said they can’t help and I have to contact LaCie. I contacted LaCie. The agent, after sharing my screen, and even without being able to make this piece of S…..t working, he said there is no problem with the drive at all. All what he coule do is for me to send the disk to compagny where they will check it, but I will loose all my data and if they don’t find any problem with the drive, I will be charge for the work.
Here I am with a horrible service, a drive that cost me 2700.00 Canadian dollars and it is still on the guarantee and I can’t access my documents, I can’t make it work with my computer and the compagny does not care.
So I need and appreciate all your help and advice that you can give me:
What is the best and safe way to have everything on one external drive to access all the files and Lightroom catalogue ( needed at least 40tb, more will be better). I don’t like to use the cloud, I found it complicated and long to copie 40 tb to the cloud. Do you have a good and reliable compagny that make good quality external hard drive? ( Not LaCie please)
Thank you for your help

 

[DavidT]

I currently have a LaCie One Big Doc connected to this computer and have never had an issue with it. Last year I upgraded the drive for capacity but the original drive still works well.

 

[Activert]

I currently have a LaCie One Big Doc connected to this computer and have never had an issue with it. Last year I upgraded the drive for capacity but the original drive still works well.

Thanks for your reply. Do you use it with Mac and what system? My system is Sonoma 14.2.1
i was thinking, Maybe my LaCie is not compatible with Sonoma, but how do I know? The error 50 does not mean much

 

[Whiskeyman]

I have no Lacie hard drives, so I'm not going to be of help to you in sorting out the issue with any tricks for Lacie drives. Were I you, I would have asked the service rep how he determined that there was nothing wrong with the hard drive.

I'll suggest that you restart the Mac, if you've not already done so; while doing so,completely remove power to the computer and hard drives. If that doesn't reslove the issue, try to get another Mac to try to connect the drives to. If you haven't upgraded to the latest Mac OS, you might do so and try to connect again.

Hopefully, you have all of the files on this drive backed up on other drives. The is the reason many choose to use multiple, smaller drives instead of a single large one like you've got. I happen to use four G-Technology TB3 drives daisy-chained together as my main external storage setup.

Good luck with resolving this. I know it has to be a gut wrenching situation for you.

 

[Activert]

I have no Lacie hard drives, so I'm not going to be of help to you in sorting out the issue with any tricks for Lacie drives. Were I you, I would have asked the service rep how he determined that there was nothing wrong with the hard drive.

I'll suggest that you restart the Mac, if you've not already done so; while doing so,completely remove power to the computer and hard drives. If that doesn't reslove the issue, try to get another Mac to try to connect the drives to. If you haven't upgraded to the latest Mac OS, you might do so and try to connect again.

Hopefully, you have all of the files on this drive backed up on other drives. The is the reason many choose to use multiple, smaller drives instead of a single large onelike you've got.

Good luck with resolving this. I know it has to be a gut wrenching situation for you.

Thanks Wayne! I did all what you suggest. My system is the Sonoma 14.2.1, the latest of Apple. I keep have the same message when it is connected and it rarely happen. When I checked on Lacie web, the erreur 50 is so vague.
what system to you use for backup? I really got fed up with LaCie and its service and I want to go with something else. Any suggestion?

 

[DavidT]

Thanks for your reply. Do you use it with Mac and what system? My system is Sonoma 14.2.1
i was thinking, Maybe my LaCie is not compatible with Sonoma, but how do I know? The error 50 does not mean much

Yup I use it with my iMac 2017. Ventura 13.6.3

 

[Activert]

Yup I use it with my iMac 2017. Ventura 13.6.3

My desktop Mac Pro is also Ventura and work on it. But it is old computer. I wants tu use the LaCie with the new Laptop with Sonoma system. I bought this laptop with 96 GIg to be able to procee my video 8 K. i start to think that my LaCie is not compatible with Sonoma. I hope I am wrong.
Thanks . David for your reply
Lina

 

[Viathelens]

Did u try a new cable? Sometimes they go bad.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Thanks Wayne! I did all what you suggest. My system is the Sonoma 14.2.1, the latest of Apple. I keep have the same message when it is connected and it rarely happen. When I checked on Lacie web, the erreur 50 is so vague.
what system to you use for backup? I really got fed up with LaCie and its service and I want to go with something else. Any suggestion?

Lina,

I use a set of four G-Technology Thunderbolt 3 drives. These are the older G-Technology before it was bought out by Sandisc drives. They are a total of 48 TB and are daisy-chained together to my 2017 3.4 GHz i5 Quad-Core 27-inch iMac. (I am thinking about getting a newer iMac or iMac Pro, after I get a few bills paid, for improved performance.)

I would explore getting your current setup back to operating for a bit more before I totally gave up on the Lacie drive. Hopefully, you can find someone here or on another forum to help you get it all sorted out.

Here is a thread from this site that covers a lot about hard drives. OWC is one brand that is well regarded, and if I needed to get new drives, I'd strongly consider them to replace my current drives.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Did u try a new cable? Sometimes they go bad.

A very good point, VTL!

 

[Activert]

Did u try a new cable? Sometimes they go bad.

Yes it is a good point! I tried different cable and it is still not working

 

[Activert]

Lina,

I use a set of four G-Technology Thunderbolt 3 drives. These are the older G-Technology before it was bought out by Sandisc drives. They are a total of 48 TB and are daisy-chained together to my 2017 3.4 GHz i5 Quad-Core 27-inch iMac. (I am thinking about getting a newer iMac or iMac Pro, after I get a few bills paid, for improved performance.)

I would explore getting your current setup back to operating for a bit more before I totally gave up on the Lacie drive. Hopefully, you can find someone here or on another forum to help you get it all sorted out.

Here is a thread from this site that covers a lot about hard drives. OWC is one brand that is well regarded, and if I needed to get new drives, I'd strongly consider them to replace my current drives.

Thanis Wayne. I am looking at OWC if they have dealers in Montreal so I can buy from them and I can get support in place and not online. I bought few Sandisk extrême pro for transferring data while I am travelling. I have 5 each 4 tb and they work perfectly on my laptop. I think, I won’t anymore buy anything from LaCie.
thanks for the site I am going to look at it .
Lina

 

[Ralph]

Thanis Wayne. I am looking at OWC if they have dealers in Montreal so I can buy from them and I can get support in place and not online. I bought few Sandisk extrême pro for transferring data while I am travelling. I have 5 each 4 tb and they work perfectly on my laptop. I think, I won’t anymore buy anything from LaCie.
thanks for the site I am going to look at it .
Lina

How did you format the drive? What settings were used? I get all my Mac HD drive products from OWC online. I’ve never had an issue.

 

[Activert]

How did you format the drive? What settings were used? I get all my Mac HD drive products from OWC online. I’ve never had an issue.

When I got it it was formatted already for both Mac and Pc. I think I will go with OWC. I checked their web and they have a lot of choice. No more LaCie. Thanks Ralph
Lina

 

[MMoretti]

A couple of thoughts:

1. Make sure your drive is formatted as APFS for your MBP; it may be formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS+) for your older Mac
2. As others have suggested, your USB cable should be spec’d for Thunderbolt 3 data transfers (not just power delivery)
3. Check for latest drivers for your drive; to update, you may have to temporarily disable your Mac’s security, kind of a PÍA…

 

[Activert]

A couple of thoughts:

1. Make sure your drive is formatted as APFS
2. As others have suggested, your USB cable should be spec’d for Thunderbolt 3 data transfers (not just power delivery)
3. Check for latest drivers for your drive; to update, you may have to temporarily disable your Mac’s security, kind of a PÍA…

Thank you Michael!
Lina

 

[PKW]

When I got it it was formatted already for both Mac and Pc. I think I will go with OWC. I checked their web and they have a lot of choice. No more LaCie. Thanks Ralph
Lina

If the drive was formatted to work out-of-the-box for both Mac OS and Windows PC, it must be formatted in either FAT32 or exFAT (probably exFAT because of the file limitation size of FAT32) for it to be read by both operating systems. There have been reports of external drives formatted in exFAT having problems in Sonoma OS—Google “sonoma and exFAT” to see what is being reported. Not saying this is what causing your problems but something to be aware of.

 

[Whiskeyman]

When I got it it was formatted already for both Mac and Pc. I think I will go with OWC. I checked their web and they have a lot of choice. No more LaCie. Thanks Ralph
Lina

I always format my drives to work with my specific OS. I "don't cross the streams."

 

[Ralph]

When I got it it was formatted already for both Mac and Pc. I think I will go with OWC. I checked their web and they have a lot of choice. No more LaCie. Thanks Ralph
Lina

Lina, if you only have a Mac, you should format in APFS and Guild partition. When you format the drive, you will use Disk utility. Select the erase option then select Guild partition first then you will see options for APFS. When using a SSD or HD on my Mac I never use FAT. As mentioned above there are limitations with FAT

 

[Activert]

If the drive was formatted to work out-of-the-box for both Mac OS and Windows PC, it must be formatted in either FAT32 or exFAT (probably exFAT because of the file limitation size of FAT32) for it to be read by both operating systems. There have been reports of external drives formatted in exFAT having problems in Sonoma OS—Google “sonoma and exFAT” to see what is being reported. Not saying this is what causing your problems but something to be aware of.

Now I see the problem, my drive is formatted with exFAT. That makes sens. Thanks for the info. Your are more knowledgeable than LaCie agent. I hope they will fix the problem. Maybe I should reformatted again just for Mac .
Lina

 

[Activert]

I always format my drives to work with my specific OS. I "don't cross the streams."

I should have done like you
Lina

 

[Activert]

Lina, if you only have a Mac, you should format in APFS and Guild partition. When you format the drive, you will use Disk utility. Select the erase option then select Guild partition first then you will see options for APFS. When using a SSD or HD on my Mac I never use FAT. As mentioned above there are limitations with FAT

Thanks Ralph. I thought the technology is better than before to have less issues,. It seems the more we advance, the more problem we get. I remember, with my other drive, when they were connected for the first time, I get a message to how I want to formatted and was easy and simple. Now it comes formatted out of the box with their problem.
i think my solution is get an OWC, transfer everything to it and formatted this drive. The only thing that makes me mad, is how the service is bad at this company and the dealer from whom I bought the drive.
Thanks again Ralph.
Lina

 

[Patrick M]

Time to consider changing. The Synology disc stations… some can very easily handle massive amounts of data….j add drives! Plus, you can set it up so that if a drive fails, the data is not lost when you pull out the drive and replace it. I use a DS923+ which had 4 drive bays, but there are bigger if needed, plus one can add.

 

[Activert]

Time to consider changing. The Synology disc stations… some can very easily handle massive amounts of data….j add drives! Plus, you can set it up so that if a drive fails, the data is not lost when you pull out the drive and replace it. I use a DS923+ which had 4 drive bays, but there are bigger if needed, plus one can add.

Thanks Patrick. To install the Synology is it easy? Can anyone install with no anterior knowledge with it? I tried to watch some Youtube Videos about it and it looked to me kind of complicated. Am I wrong about that?
Lina

 

[BarkingBeans Coffee]

I think using the LaCie formatted with HFP and a Silicon Mac could be the issue. Before you give up on LaCie I would find a way to get your files - even see if a Windows computer recognizes it since its exFat and then as @Ralph said reformat them for your MPB. This could be your issue. Why: From BH Photo

While the 2big is compatible with Windows 10 and macOS 10.12, it comes formatted as HFS+ for Mac, and is configured as hardware-controlled RAID 0, which provides performance gains, but no data redundancy. Also supported is RAID 1 and JBOD.

This file system is only used on old Apple computers now. I believe with High Sierra and later you can use the APFS.

Also the LaCie may have some firmware that needs updating.

FYI the Synology suggestion is not a similar set up. It's a Networked Attached Storage.
Look at some of the basic videos on SpaceRex.com re Synology.
I am using one now but if you want it for editing video might have to go with a model that uses 10gb ethernet.


Here is another point if all else fails.
The LaCie drives:

The 2big Thunderbolt 3 Dock delivers a storage capacity of 40TB, which is comprised of two 20TB Seagate IronWolf Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5" enterprise-class hard drives.

These drives are high quality and could be removed and put in another device that could be read directly or into a NAS. You still need to try to get the images off them first before reformatting, although if put into a Drive Dock. You may not get the speeds LaCie would deliver so I recommend first the reformat.

So don't give up.

You have options still