LaCie SE2100 U&I 24x/10x/40x FireWire/USB

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Chris Robertson
• Reviewed on: 09/16/2001
• Updated on: 12/16/2002

At first glance, the $329 LaCie U&I 24X/10X/40X drive is impressive, with its 24X burn speed (the fastest available) and its USB and FireWire (IEEE 1394) support (hence the U&I in the name). But further investigation reveals flaws in the drive's image as a cross-platform peripheral. Though it works well on a Mac, PC installation and performance problems beset the drive. And its confusing and uninformative user guide doesn't help much, making this a fair choice only for Apple owners--or PC users who don't mind wrangling with drivers.At first glance, the $329 LaCie U&I 24X/10X/40X drive is impressive, with its 24X burn speed (the fastest available) and its USB and FireWire (IEEE 1394) support (hence the U&I in the name). But further investigation reveals flaws in the drive's image as a cross-platform peripheral. Though it works well on a Mac, PC installation and performance problems beset the drive. And its confusing and uninformative user guide doesn't help much, making this a fair choice only for Apple owners--or PC users who don't mind wrangling with drivers.

Blue-screen blues
Installation of the LaCie--which is compatible with Windows 98, Me, and 2000, plus Mac OS 8.6 to 9.2--was a mixture of smooth sailing and choppy waters. Both FireWire and USB cables come with the drive, as well as one blank CD-R and CD-RW. The drive installed without a hitch on a Mac system. While it also installed easily on a PC via USB, FireWire was a different story. On a test machine running Windows 98 SE, blue-screen errors and crashes began as soon as the LaCie was plugged in and turned on. The included user guide offered little assistance. Online troubleshooting didn't help either, but a call to LaCie's tech support (and a Windows FireWire driver update) solved the problem. Although we didn't test it, LaCie claims this shouldn't be a problem in Windows Me or 2000.

The LaCie U&I 24X/10X/40X ships with the software basics, including Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Basic and DirectCD (Toast 5.0.1 for Mac users), as well as the Silverlining utility for removable drives. If you're upgrading your CD-R/RW drive and have an older version of Easy CD Creator, you should uninstall the old version before installing version 5; the older versions won't recognize the LaCie U&I, and installing over the older version created drive-recognition problems (a fault of Roxio, not LaCie).

Almost famous
In CNET Labs' tests, the FireWire-enabled LaCie generally trailed behind other 24X drives, including the TDK VeloCD ReWriter and the QPS Que 24X/10X/40X drive. Digital audio extraction of a 27-minute track took 1.1 minutes--not the best score, but it came close. The LaCie U&I burned a 43-minute audio CD in a little less than 4.5 minutes, or 97 seconds slower than the QPS. And the LaCie installed Office 2000 Small Business Edition in about 4.2 minutes, almost a minute longer than the TDK and QPS drives required. But the LaCie U&I's moment of glory occurred during the 500MB single-session data burn, where the LaCie, completing the task in 189 seconds, was the fastest drive we've seen. This is 4 seconds faster than the TDK's score (although the times for both drives round off to 3.2 minutes in our performance charts). Continue reading

Where to buy

LaCie SE2100 U&I 24x/10x/40x FireWire/USB: $149.99

store	price	in stock?	rating
Amazon.com Marketplace	$149.99	Yes

see prices from 1 store

Compare prices for LaCie SE2100 U&I 24x/10x/40x FireWire/USB

Amazon.com Marketplace

$149.99

Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 18 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 3 of 18 user reviews

• 3.5 stars

  "Works great, right out of box"

  on March 22, 2002

• 4.0 stars

  "No problems on PC or Mac"

  on February 25, 2002

• 1.5 stars

  "Doesn't work for Win NT 4.0"

  on January 23, 2002

• See all 18 user reviews Write review