LaCie Network Space 500GB

LaCie’s Network Space is about as no-frills as NAS drives come. Its minimalist, glossy black exterior is as featureless as the drive it conceals.

Its rectangular black chassis houses a single 500GB drive, with one USB socket to add to the single network port.

That USB connection can be used to copy the contents of an attached USB storage device, or back up the drive’s contents to another drive. Other backup options come courtesy of the supplied Genie Backup Assistant software. Its simple interface offers full, incremental or mirror backup strategies as well as compression, encryption and scheduling options.

Cast an eye over the Network Space’s stylish and stripped-down web-interface and it’s clear how LaCie has kept the price so low. There’s a UPnP media server, an iTunes server and support for FTP access, but that’s about it.

Performance was the slowest of the drives on test here. Copying 3GB of large files saw the Network Space manage write speeds of just 8MB/sec, and reading them back was only slightly quicker at 10MB/sec. Small files pushed the transfer speeds yet lower, with the LaCie achieving read and write speeds of 8MB/sec and 5MB/sec respectively.

It’s one of the quietest and most power-efficient drives on test. Its petite frame means that there isn’t room for a fan; instead, the drive relies on its perforated underside to keep cool, and power usage never topped 10W.

That’s not enough to save this drive from mediocrity, though. It might be keenly priced, but its frugal assortment of features and poor performance leave it trailing the pack.

• - Labs Winner -
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