Definitely on the pricier end of things but this external performs. Unlike other "backup" drives which run on SMR HDDs that have abysmal write performance ~40MB/sec that drops after sustained writes to as low as 3MB/sec, This has sustained write speeds of ~440MB/sec throughout in its default config(striped RAID) out of the box.Management software was slightly confusing to install on the newer Macs with their higher level of security but this was just out of curiosity instead of a real need to do any management to the drive config. It works right out of the box, just feed it power and plug it in.Have had it running for a couple months 24/7 with about 50TB written and it's still humming along. Based on my experience with vanilla Ironwolf drives, these Ironwolf Pro ... MoreDefinitely on the pricier end of things but this external performs. Unlike other "backup" drives which run on SMR HDDs that have abysmal write performance ~40MB/sec that drops after sustained writes to as low as 3MB/sec, This has sustained write speeds of ~440MB/sec throughout in its default config(striped RAID) out of the box.Management software was slightly confusing to install on the newer Macs with their higher level of security but this was just out of curiosity instead of a real need to do any management to the drive config. It works right out of the box, just feed it power and plug it in.Have had it running for a couple months 24/7 with about 50TB written and it's still humming along. Based on my experience with vanilla Ironwolf drives, these Ironwolf Pro drives should not just match but also exceed them in reliability.

Buyer's Remorse in Full Effect...

While I was happy with the performance, capacity, and looks of this drive when I first bought it, that shine has all but completely worn off. The first issue I had was a complete failure of the drive. I was tasked with shipping it in for data recovery and replacement which took about a month to complete. Well, they managed to recover my data (great) but it took an incredibly long time (not great) and the refurbished replacement I received had physical damage in the way of some visible scrapes showing silver metal on an otherwise all black box (argh - are you kidding me!). Anyway, fast forward to the release of macOS Monterey and guess what - the drive will no longer go to sleep, randomly warns of improper ejection, won't sync mirrored files properly, and support ... MoreWhile I was happy with the performance, capacity, and looks of this drive when I first bought it, that shine has all but completely worn off. The first issue I had was a complete failure of the drive. I was tasked with shipping it in for data recovery and replacement which took about a month to complete. Well, they managed to recover my data (great) but it took an incredibly long time (not great) and the refurbished replacement I received had physical damage in the way of some visible scrapes showing silver metal on an otherwise all black box (argh - are you kidding me!). Anyway, fast forward to the release of macOS Monterey and guess what - the drive will no longer go to sleep, randomly warns of improper ejection, won't sync mirrored files properly, and support takes a painfully long time to respond. Beyond that, after jumping through all of tech support's hoops, they have the nerve to say its probably Apple's fault and direct me to them?! No. They need to update their firmware/software and work more closely with the biggest computer company that exists to make darn sure their $800 hard drive works - and works well. I do not recommend this, or any other of LaCie's products, after this miserable experience. Thanks for the headache, LaCie...

Can't set up RAID 1

I tried to set up the array for RAID 1 on Windows 11 using the supplied software but the setup failed. After spending some time with LaCie tech support, they advised me to send it back saying one of the disks was faulty. B&H quickly replaced it, but the replacement unit is having the same problem. The drive is visible to Computer Management but is unallocated thus not visible to Explorer. I opened a case with tech support and have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

Feature Film Drive

My partner and I shot a feature and have used these drives (3 for redundancies) to store our precious footage. Wonderful drives. The only knock is that sometimes duplicate clips were lost during the upload. Easy fix but figured I’d mention it. Overall will absolutely use again.

Good Backup Storage with a Few Cons

I bought this storage to have a Raid 1 backup for all my video project files and footage. I've also been able to edit off it in Premiere using proxies and haven't had a problem yet.Pros:Writes fast in Raid 1, particularly with a thunderbolt cable instead of USB.Easy to set up. Installed the Lacie app to configure it for RAID 1 quickly.Nice looking and Compact. Sits behind my external monitor and doesn't have a huge footprint, saving precious desk space.Cons:Somewhat noisy, but I kinda expected that.When the drive is plugged in on my Macbook Pro, If I don't access it for a while the computer will say it's there, but then when I go to click on the drive the computer will say the disk was ejected improperly. It can be kind of annoying. Not sure if it's a ... MoreI bought this storage to have a Raid 1 backup for all my video project files and footage. I've also been able to edit off it in Premiere using proxies and haven't had a problem yet.Pros:Writes fast in Raid 1, particularly with a thunderbolt cable instead of USB.Easy to set up. Installed the Lacie app to configure it for RAID 1 quickly.Nice looking and Compact. Sits behind my external monitor and doesn't have a huge footprint, saving precious desk space.Cons:Somewhat noisy, but I kinda expected that.When the drive is plugged in on my Macbook Pro, If I don't access it for a while the computer will say it's there, but then when I go to click on the drive the computer will say the disk was ejected improperly. It can be kind of annoying. Not sure if it's a setting I need to change or what, but I have to unplug it and plug it back into the computer.The thunderbolt cable the unit came with it looks solid, but I noticed if I move the computer at all or just barely touch it, the drive will disconnect. I think it was loose in the port so I ended up buying an Apple cable and it worked fine.

Great RAID storage solution

I got this HDD to replace my 5 year old WD Mybook pro. I replace HDD every 5 years and after doing my research this was the winner, I got the 16TB (two 8TB) and I use it on RAID 1 redundancy to protect my wedding photography work.

I've only had issues with this drive.

The drive randomly ejects from my Macbook Pro without any warning and gives the error message that says “Disk Not Ejected Properly”There is no rhyme or reason to when the drive will mount. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't show up in the finder at all. It will be visible in Disk Utility but doesn't allow you to do any function like repair disk etc.When the drive works is quite slow and very noisy!

Lacie 2Big Raid 16TB doesn't work with Catalina 10.15.5.

Learned the hard way that by upgrading my IMac to the latest firmware 10.15.5 my hard drive disconnect all the time.Not easy to set computer back to earlier version. Lacie (Seagate) claims to be working on a fix but 2 weeks later it still not been fixed.

Large backup drive - gets it done.

Large, fast, easy to set-up. No problems in getting the drive to work. Does not use too much space and is relatively quiet.

What a relief

It is nice to have a, 1. reliable system, 2. sufficient space on the drives to hold my rapidly expanding collection, 3. automatic backup and duplication of my backups in case one of the drives fail. I like the option for changing the drives out with larger ones should I ever have the need.