LaCie Carte Orange 8GB Review

Inside the Carte Orange
The Seagate drive inside the Carte Orange is an 8GB ST1 series drive specifically designed by Seagate for use in mobile electronics. One of the most common mobile electronics areas where storage is in demand is for MP3 players. Seagate integrated into the drive several technologies that are designed to make the drive robust and ideal for music playback.

RunOn technology is one of the technologies integrated into the ST1 disk drive the Carte Orange uses. RunOn is a way to allow the drive to be used in full motion meaning you could run and still have data transfer from the drive for playback with no problems. The Carte Orange drive also has a 2MB buffer that allows enhanced streaming digital video content from the drive to your PC or laptop. The Carte Orange connects via a USB 2.0 connection.

Package Content
- Carte Orange 8GB drive
- Two foot USB extension cable
- Carte Orange software CD
- Quick setup guide

Installation of the Carte Orange
Installing the Carte Orange is very simple and only requires you to plug the drive in if using Windows 2000, XP or Mac OS X, no drivers are required. The Carte Orange is compatible with Windows 98 and Windows ME, but a driver is required for use with those operating systems.

Curiously when you place the included disk in the CD drive and allow it to auto run, you only get links to the users manual and a link to exit the disk. No links are shown to either install the included software or the driver if using Windows ME or 98. While it is a simple enough task to explore the CD and find the install files for the drivers and software, I question if inexperienced users who purchase the Carte Orange will figure it out. I think this was a big mistake on LaCie's part to not make simple links to install the software and it is rather inexcusable if you ask me to neglect something this small that would have cost nothing to do and made for a much better user experience during the install of the drive.

A couple different applications are included on the disk that comes with the Carte Orange in addition to the drivers required for the older operating systems. The applications include: Silverlining drive management utility for Windows 98 and ME; SilverKeeper backup software for Mac OS 9.x/10.x.

You will notice that there is not an included backup application for Windows 2000 and XP users. I can only assume that LaCie expects that XP users will use the built in back up function inside XP and 2000. Since Windows 98 SE and ME don't have built in back up applications, users on these operating systems may want to give Silverlining a shot.

Carte Orange in Use
By far the most appealing feature of the Carte Orange is the fact that it gives you a large 8GB storage capacity, but does so in a very small and portable form factor. The Orange is the same physical dimensions as your credit card and about the thickness of four stacked quarters. The drive weighs in at a mere 56 grams making it so light that you hardly notice you are carrying it.

Thanks to the svelte dimensions and the credit card sized housing, you can actually carry the Carte Orange in a men's wallet. However, even though Lacie Carte Orange is shock resistant, I would recommend not sitting on the wallet with the card-sized hard drive inside.

I both liked and disliked the attached USB cable that the Orange uses to connect to your PC. I liked that it was designed to store within the housing of the Carte Orange so that when not in use, nothing protrudes outside of the drive housing. What I did not like about the USB cable was that it is very short and I fear for the durability of the cable. The USB cord is very thin and just did not feel robust enough for long term use, though with care it would likely be fine for most users. Just don't go jerking the Carte Orange out of the USB port without actually grasping the USB connector.

The casing of the drive is made of both plastic and metal. The outer orange colored part is a bit thin and considering that the drive is destined for a hard life of portable use, it may not hold up well. Thankfully, the actual drive enclosure is made of what appears to be aluminum so the drive housing should stand up to extreme use.

Like I mentioned before, the built in USB cable the Carte Orange uses is very short at approximately one inch in length. LaCie included in the package a orange USB extension cord to give you a bit more room. I say a bit more because even the USB extension is short at only two feet. Using the extension for my PC still had me reaching under the desk to connect the drive. It would have been nice to see LaCie include a real six foot USB extension cable with the Carte Orange that would allow me to keep the drive on my desktop. The drive has a one year warranty in the US, and in Europe the drive is warranted for two years.

Data transfer speeds with the Carte Orange are good. I transferred several folders of images totaling almost 100MB to the drive, and it took about ten seconds for the transfer to the LaCie drive. Transferring files from the Carte Orange to the computer internal drives took slightly less time to accomplish.

The Bottom Line
The one feature that we have not yet covered for the Carte Orange is price. I am happy to say that all this storage space crammed into the diminutive size won't cost you big bucks, you can get the 8GB Carte Orange for $149.99, the 6GB version launches this spring and pricing is not yet set, the 4GB version sells for a mere $99.99. Considering the capacity of the Carte Orange, the reasonable cost and the small dimensions that make it ultra portable, I guess I can overlook the haphazard way LaCie put together the included application disk and say that the Carte Orange is an excellent product.

By Shane McGlaun