G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500GB Quad-Interface External Hard Drive Reviews

• best external storage

  
  By A2V43PP8DVY7GA on 2007-07-19
  A great small external storage very fast and best of all very quite . you may find a lesser priced storage but 500 Quad- interface is worth every cent.
  
  

• Excellent external firewire drive

  
  By AT0Y68Y1FJJ9P on 2007-11-08
  The product design fits very well with the iMAC which it is connected to. The drive operates as expected and has a fairly low noise level (no fan cooling). After power safe mode it takes a bit to get back up to speed - this can be managed using the power management settings and adjusted such that it doesn't interfere with normal operations. All in all I'm very pleased with the device. I have only used the firewire 800 connection, which works well. By the way - the drive comes with cables for all 4 of it's connection options!.
  Excellent product - would buy again and recommend.
  
  

• 500GB G DRIVE Q and Leopard

  
  By A2GBT5CCO72OU3 on 2007-11-24
  Bought this drive to work with Apple 10.5 Time Machine. It has worked flawlessly. If you read the Apple discussions on other drives and their problems with time machine, you will see that this drive is what you want if you are going to run Leopard. It also has a good reputation for reliability.
  
  

• Excellent Mac Choice/Value for Time Machine

  
  By A13C2FT5NHNBJE on 2008-01-31
  As a back-up drive for an iMac this product is very user-friendly.
  It is VERY painless to set-up with Time Machine via Firewire.
  It comes Mac formatted. Plug and Play as advertised. The initial backup could take hours. Be prepared.
  It is very quiet.
  Aesthetically it well designed.
  It does use some CPU when it does it's periodic backups. If you have an older iMac (I have a G5), there is a slight slowing in some functions.
  Don't buy any cables! It comes with everything you need.
  I have't had any quality issues. -On a rare occasion (3 times in 7 weeks) I get a "back-up failure" message from Time Machine. I have just flipped 'power-off' switch on the drive for 10 seconds, then back on. (So, far it has just happened while I have been performing resource-intense work. I wonder if it is a computer issue.)
  
  Too bad Apple hasn't enabled Airport/Wireless backup for Time Machine (without buying Time Capsule). That is another story.
  
  

• Excellent

  
  By A12RANR1CS3BVB on 2007-10-18
  Looks great and it's easy to use. I backed up my Macbook with ease.
  
  
  
• Satisfied
  By A2L17D5LIO2MOT on 2007-11-09
  I read the reviews before I purchased this. I was satisfied that most were happy with their purchase. And I am now happy too. If you have a mac, it's a breeze. Plug it in and do it!
  
  
• Fragile drive, poor customer service
  By A5INN4YGN3BJY on 2008-04-23
  I bought the 250 GB version of this drive six months ago. It worked great, until I foolishly disconnected it without performing whatever mumbo-jumbo is necessary. I shut down my Mac, shut off the drive, shut off the surge protector/power strip. Ate lunch. A couple of hours later, I disconnected both external drives (other one is a LaCie), printer, etc., to rearrange my computer desk. When through, I hooked everything up, switched on power to drives, started computer -- and the G-Tech drive was nowhere to be found. All I got was a flashing light. The LaCie worked fine, as it always has.
  
  I contacted G-Tech customer service, was told to ship the drive to them, given a P.O. number, etc. The website directed me to a page showing how to pack the drive, since they were adamant it had to be done just so. Picture showed the drive and all cables included, so that's what I did. Two weeks later I got the drive back, nothing wrong with it but some corrupted data -- but no cables with it, no power supply.
  
  I called the company, got a guy who said there was no record of cables or power supply in the box I shipped, and whose tone suggested he thought I was lying (why? to score a power supply and FW 800 cable?). Nevertheless, he agreed to replace cables, etc. The package arrived today, a week later -- but the 9-pin to 9-pin FW 800 cable I needed, and that I had sent, and that was listed on the packing slip, turned out to be in fact a 9-pin to 4-pin cable -- great for connecting my Sony camcorder to FW800, but no good for the G-Drive.
  
  I connected it with a FW 400 cable, and yes, it worked fine. But now I have a FW 400 drive when a few weeks ago I had a faster FW 800 one. Plus I've had a boatload of aggravation with G-Tech.
  
  My advice? Stay away from them unless you feel lucky. Next time I'm buying another LaCie.
  
  UPDATE: After I posted this review, and sent a copy to G-Tech, they sent me the proper FW 800 cable. After I reconnected the drive, it works fine, and is faster than FW 400. I wish this hadn't taken so many steps and caused so much aggravation, but at least in the end the company got it right. I guess that's worth a second star.
  
  
• The Little Drive That Could
  By A3NMMEA7S0USFM on 2008-02-09
  G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500 GB Quad-interface External Hard Drive Fast, Quiet, and works right out of the box. All four cables included. I am really impressed with this little wonder. Great for Mac OS X and Time Machine, for video (using FireWire), as well as for recovery in Target Mode which requires that the external destination drive be USB.
  
  
• Dont think its the best out there... !!
  By A2R0LIAWW2EGZQ on 2008-08-04
  OK.. Ill keep this short..
  I bought two Q drives for this two year project I'm on right now...
  Im working in Bangladesh and have been here now for almost a year...
  The G-Tech was fine until about 2 weeks ago when it just would not mount to my Macbook Pro.
  I tried everything... Not a peep..
  
  So I emailed G-tech support.. Got an answer from MIKE.. telling me that my drive must be OLD as it does not show up in there Data Base...? WHAT..? So you are saying I do not have a G-Tech drive sitting here in my desk acting as a flipping Paperweight..?-
  I re-sent him the serial number and a photo of the underside of the drive and they will not entertain me..
  
  What do you think of that..? this was an expensive drive with great reviews and YES i know things break down.. Customer service... ???? What customer service... these people are just BS ing you all the way to the bank..
  
  I have 3 Lacie drives here and they are 3 years old and still going strong... !!
  
  You know what you can do with your Drives G-Tech.... !!!
  
  Who got you where you are now.. ? Mac Users...!! The higher you climb the further the fall the harder you hit..
  
  Take my advice..
  Don't BYE G-Tech....!
  
  
• Good right out of box
  By A1H0TU9805K6W on 2008-05-22
  Pulled this drive out of the box, set it on desktop, plugged it in and it worked for my iMac (Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)) without doing anything more. With Firewire 800 connection, it did first full backup quickly. Transitioned to Leopard and it was very easy to use with Time Machine in Mac OS X 10.5. So far, performs as advertised. Pleased with purchase.
  
  
• take it for granted
  By A3HM913EOY7S5B on 2008-07-13
  Works seemlessly with Mac, stacks nicely (I own 3), and in the last 2 or so years I've never had any problems with this or the 250 GB version.
  
  I bought it on a recommendation from a colleague who, working at a photography school, has seen other drives just die. They stressed the importance of the internal fan as heat can = death to hard drives.
  
  
• Great Drive, Solid performance, one of the best out there.
  By A2FDH8ZZMGF6ST on 2008-05-23
  I have been using G-Tech drives for many years and it's probably the only drive maufacture I trust.
  (and I've tried many many other drives), I just read a 1 star review that someone gave and after using them so many years with hundreds of 'improper' disconnections, power failures and 'Hard' shut down, I didn't experience any problems whatsoever, I also had great experience with customer service after I formated one of the drive and couldn't reformat again, after 2.5 years I sent it back to them and they fixed the problem in no time.
  
  
• Bad product...worse cusstomer support
  By A2N3DPMEBNP4PK on 2008-10-19
  I purchased one of these drives in April 2008 for storage of a vast photo library. In mid-August it crashed. I contacted G-Tech (a whole adventure in itself with no 800 number and 15-20 minutes wait time for a representative). I returned the original device with instructions to retrieve the files. Three weeks later a new drive arrives but no files. Then the real odyssey begins. Three unanswered emails led to two phone calls only to find out that they did not retrieve the files but would try to locate the bad device so that they could get the files. Five days later I am informed that the device has been found and they have the files. This from their rep, one Miguel Huerta. Two more weeks of waiting, no files. After four unanswered emails to Mr. Huerta I call again to speak to a manager. Three days later I am informed that they were unable to retrieve the original files. They could, however, send the original drive to an outside recovery company (of course, for a hefty fee). By now it is the second week of October. The fact is that I am out over 10,000 images and I needed some long breathing sessions to release my frustration at such irresponsible customer service.
  
  
• G-Tech 913003-01 G-Drive 500 GB Quad-interface
  By AJPRISY2PSEUW on 2008-05-15
  This is a great drive. To get its full potential use the firewire 800 if possible. My only complaint is that it uses 35gb of space formatted ( mac osx extended ). Quit pondering on which brand to buy. Once you have it your questions will be answered...Also you wont find this drive anywhere cheaper than amazon. Free shipping no taxes...and a high quality drive...what more could you want. Right now this drive is selling for $226.00...I paid $276.00 for mine at amazon. tempted to buy another and daisy chain them.
  
  
• No Looking Back
  By A26GUQAA9G4YZE on 2008-08-19
  This product is simple awesome. I have owned several different external drives. LaCie, Maxtor to name a few and had problems with all of them. Worn out buses, fans, and flat out poor design. G-Tech got it right. This product rocks!
  Seamlessly integrated with my G5 Mac right out of the box. Thanks to MacWorld for their great consumer reviews. They got it right in big way.
  
  
• Great hard drive once you get it formatted and configured
  By AB1OZRERIC3KN on 2008-05-29
  This took a while to format and determine how to get it configured with my Windows Vista. However, after getting it set up it has performed flawlessly and does not get warm.
  
  
  
  
• Easy and fast
  By A1VA2DBQL1ITEE on 2008-06-11
  This drive was too simple to set up (but I am on a Mac....). It's fast using the 800 Firewire and is a perfect partner for Time Machine.
  
  
• Excellent Quality worth a few dollars more...
  By A378734LUJFS8Q on 2008-07-12
  The G-Tech 500 gb drive is an excellent choice for an external multi-connector hard drive. I use mine only for backup on my iMac 24" 3 ghz desktop computer. The drive is very well constructed and runs very quiet. Connection and startup was as easy as plugging in the drive to ac current and then connecting the firewire (this one connects with usb as well). The G-Tech company was purchased by another company so you may see other hard drives with similar specs. that have a different company name on them. These drives are very similar with small packaging differences. You will not be disappointed with this product.
  
  
• No Hassles, Great Drive
  By ASWZYQ71MAN1O on 2008-07-28
  I've had this drive for 3 months. Not any hassles. All 4 cords arrived. Mac G4 hook-up was instant. The drive has no fan and is very quiet. Fast transfer on Firewire 1 even though my G4 is old and slow. 400mhz. This drive cost quite a bit more than others. It is worth it. You do get what you pay for with this drive. Excellent. The Best. I'm going to buy another in about a month. If you are going through the debate about the cost, as I did, remember the hassles you are going through with a malfunctioning drive. Ask yourself if the extra price for good working equipment isn't worth the extra cost in money, compared to lost data, your lost time, your frustration levels. There are some really inexpensive drives out there, and almost all of them are CHEAP.
  
  
• Very Happy with my new G-Tech
  By AWGVGBVQRC1DH on 2008-08-21
  This is a very solid external HD. I purchased this after experiencing some nightmare scenarios of failing external hard drives, including one that started smoking... The G-Tech feels solid, has a spinning sound that is reassuring- you can always tell that it's turning on. I recommend it for all audio-visual professionals using ProTools and Final Cut Pro.
  
  

• Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual
• Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
• VMware Fusion [OLD VERSION]
• Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard [5-User Family Pack]