G-Technology 913006-01 1.0TB Quad-Interface Storage

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




READ THIS., August 19, 2009
By Estuardo Ramirez Perez (Guatemala)
First some facts and useful info:
1. Brand: G Technology.
2. Model: G-Drive Q Quad interface Hard Drive.
3. Part: 913006-01.
4. Capacity: specified: 1 TB, available: 931 GB.
5. Rotational speed: 7,200 RPM.
6. Interface ports: 1 USB 2.0, 2 FireWire 800, 1 FireWire 400 & 1 eSATA (thus the "quad interface" part of the name).
7. Ratings (at time of purchase): Amazon: 4/5 stars (based on 14 customer reviews), MacWorld: 5/5 mice & Appletell: 5/5 apples.
8. Warranty: 3 years.

Second, what you need to know:
Let me remark that I researched hard drives (HD's) for almost a month before making my purchase of this item. When I buy something I want it to work and I want it to last. I took a long look at almost every brand out there: Drobo, G Tech, Iomega, LaCie, Maxtor, Seagate, SimpleTech, Toshiba, Verbatim, Western Digital, etc... you name it. And out of all the brands out there, G Tech was the one I liked best, and I'll tell you why if you keep reading (I know, I know, the review came out a little longer than expected).

I'll start off by saying that the biggest problem I had when choosing a HD presented itself when I took a look at the customer ratings, I couldn't find one single HD brand with higher customer ratings than 4 out of 5 stars, that is, 80% customer satisfaction. I wanted a full proof HD (my data is very valuable to me as I am sure yours is to you). Every single HD I researched had at least one customer with a horrifying story about loosing all their data, or the drive making horrible noises or some other unbearable problem. I've had the G Tech HD for a little over a month now (which is not very long, but it's the time I'm given to write this review and still be able to post it) and I have to say I'm 100% satisfied: it looks great (I have a MacBook Pro and looks are important to us Apple owners), it's relatively quiet (because it doesn't have a cooling fan, and it is a HD after all, and all HD's make some noise), the light in front of the unit is not annoyingly bright, with the firewire 800 the HD is SUPER fast, and finally, and most importantly, it does what it's supposed to do: it stores my data.

There are lot's of reason why some people have trouble with external HD's, and in the case of this HD there are three main ones that are the cause of bad reviews: (1) trying to work the HD with a PC, not a Mac (it is possible, just a little bit more complicated. The G Drive Q is primarily intended to work with Mac's, it even comes preformatted to work with Mac's right out of the box), (2) the HD was mishandled (perhaps dropped) during shipping, and (3) remember, some people just don't have a clue of what they're doing! Make sure you read the instructions on how to install and work the HD with your computer and operating system before you try to use it (you can find the installation and technical information online).

So, because (1) I have Mac, (2) there was nothing I could do about the HD being mishandled during shipping and (3) I informed myself about the product, the only thing that was left for me to do was to try and better the odds: first, I picked a HD with an average 4/5 stars customer rating (a lot of HD's are lower), second, I picked the only HD (in it's category of course) with a 5/5 mice rating on MacWorld, and third, I choose the most expensive HD I could afford (there are more expensive ones) so as to assure to some extent better quality in manufacturing. I tell ya, the "gamble" paid off, the HD works flawlessly.

In conclusion, if you care more about quality and performance than you do about a few extra bucks (loosely speaking), get this HD... and ironically, hope for the best.



So far so good., August 10, 2009
By C. Harris
Ordered this about a month ago for backing up videos, pictures, music, etc. Haven't had any problems yet.



Important note about circuit board!, August 7, 2009
By John Paul (Nevada City, CA USA)
I purchased a 1TB drive directly from G-Technology in fall of 2008. In June of 2009, the drive all of a sudden couldn't be mounted. The disk was spinning, but no computer could identify it. I shipped it back to G-Technology for repair, and immediate purchased another one from Amazon. Much to my dismay, a week after it arrived, the same thing happened to the new drive. (Amazon, of course, was amazing and let me return the new "broken" one, but not replace it.) Now, without backup, I panicked and called G-Technology to find out why it was taking them so long (4 weeks) to repair the one I had returned. Turns out there is a problem with the circuit board for a particular series of this model. If you purchased this drive in the past year you will want to call G-Technology and return the drive for repair. I believe they are doing this at no charge, minus your initial shipping to them. I also think they are getting swamped with returns right now. It's probably why my drive has been sitting there for 5 weeks.



Junk, July 22, 2009
By Brett England (Chesapeake, VA USA)
Drive died after 4 months. Used only once a week to back up main hard drive.



POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, July 11, 2009
By Marco Balzano (Phoenix, AZ)
I purchased two G-Drive Combo two years ago.I sent one of them in for repair 3 WEEKS AGO and still haven't been able to get them to tell me what is wrong with my drive. The first two calls they were not able to find my drive, they lost it...After the Third and Fourth call on Friday the customer service guy told me to call back on Monday. He also said to expect to be on hold for about an hour. Each time I call I am on hold for about 20 minutes.
DO NOT PURCHASE ANY PRODUCT FROM THIS COMPANY YOU WILL BE SORRY.