LaCie STFD5000400 5 TB Porsche Design USB 3.1 (USB-C + USB 3.0) Portable 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive for PC and Mac

Initial tests seem great. Didn't get it for the fancy-schmancy Porsche design, just because it was USB-C and promised super-fast data transfer times. So far it seems to be achieving this perfectly! Getting transfer speeds of 130MB/s on PC and Mac - but as a reminder/warning to anyone else who thinks they may be using this drive on both PC & Mac FORMAT IT AS exFAT AS SOON AS YOU BUY IT! It's still the only format you can both read and write to on both systems. That's not a LaCie thing, that's just all hard drives, but having NOT done that in the past has been a total pain for me, so hopefully this note will spare at least one person my agony :)

This is a great looking drive, designed to be portable. It's certainly small and light enough. I use it as a desktop backup drive and to install data on a new iMac. It comes with two cables that are 42cm long plus the plugs at either end. One is USB C to USB C and one is USB C to USB 3. Connected to a Thunderbolt 2 port, the USB C to USB C copies data at the speed of 1 GB every 7 seconds timed with a stopwatch. I wanted to wipe all the Lacie pre-installed software off the drive as I use it with Time Machine. I found Lacie tech support most helpful in telling me the correct way to do this. Finally the drive itself is completely silent; there is one tiny white light that shows when it is powered up, but this is at the back of the drive so will not disturb you.

Just installed the drive today, took about 2 to 3 minuted on my Mac. It comes with software that when you launch let’s you format to HTFS for Mac, which I did, then deleted all the LaCie software as I don’t need or want it.The box itself is smaller than I thought it would be and is reasonably quiet in operation and I’m happy to keep it next to my iMac. Just be aware that the supplied usb cable is only about 50cm, so if you do want it to be further away, you’ll need an extra cable. It looks nice enough to be on my desk. I’m not sure if it’s stackable with more drives on top, which would be good as I’ll be needing another two at some point.I’ve transferred 1.2 TB to it immediately with around 4,000 files and it took 90 minutes via USB 3 directly plugged into my Mac.So overall I’m happy enough with the drive and will update if it malfunctions.

Anything Porsche Design has an element of style and looks which you cannot questions are quality. The HD is nicely designed what matched any Apple computer range. The surface and bottom have a textured feeling which is nice to hold on to whilst the sides are the same as your MacBook finishing with a nice touch of polish metal. The cables provided are reasonable length but quite stiff but durable. It comes with LaCie software to set up which is easy to do but you can use manual if you like. I've looked around and for the price, Amazon is the best place and use you can get other brands and large storage cheaper. But if you like design with function this is good. I'm using as a clone drive for my MacBook Pro 15 and MacPro by splitting the Porsche HD into two 1TB each :)Will get another one for sure or a third one too :)

Bought this disk on 30 December 2018, I have used for one thing only - a MacBook Pro Time Machine Backup. It is now 12 December 2021, 3 years later and this week it has decided to commit suicide.The disk has just stopped working. First sign of problems was two days ago when my MacBook said it could not repair the disk. Ok, then would not mount it for read/write.However I could also not retrieve the data either using the mac.So today 12-Dec-2021 I have used my Linux machine, it got a little further, but could not read all the data. So a backup drive that is now toast. So it has only lasted 3 yrs bit disappointed in that as the cost was much higher than most other disks at the time.Up until last week it had been a great disk for backup, Only used it last week for the second time to retrieve a file that the system decided that auto-saving on shutting an app down without asking was a good idea ... ahhhh but time machine to the rescue.That was the last time it worked... since then I have not been able to get access.I may just be the unlucky one here, as I also have the LaCie 5tb disks and all have never been a problem.Just this one this week....Real shame as I have never had any issue with LaCie disks. Always preferred them with the Mac as they always seemed better.But like any spinny disk there is always a finite time limit to these devices and I guess that was mine ...So looks like I have to find a better backup solution - yea I bought a 5tb LaCie instead.Hopefully that'll last longer.

I have used this with a Mac mini. It has failed after three years. I get a Mac message coming up saying that it cannot be repaired and cannot longer be used to change files on the disc.Seemingly I can back it up, but I will need to buy another hard disc to back it up to.It came with a two year warranty, so no protection now.My Mac mini is used at home and I only use the hard drive with the Mac mini. So it cannot have been damaged by movement.This was an expensive product and I am disappointed that it has failed after only three years. I have much cheaper storage such as small USB portable devices which I've had for over 10 years and get carried about in bags and pockets and allsorts and still work perfectly well.