PPC > Reviews> Peripherals

LaCie PocketDrive CD-RW

Don Bradbury looks at a fast CD Writer for the mobile user

Notebooks generally come with a CD reader these days, but few affordable ones come with a CD writer. To redress the omission, LaCie have produced a range of portable devices. The one we got for review was the PocketDrive, a well-padded 24 x 10 x 24 job, complete with Easy CD Creator 5.1, as well as a USB 2.0 driver and sundry other items of software.

Dual connectivity

The PocketDrive will work via USB or Firewire - useful connectivity options for the mobile - and although the version 2.0 driver for the former was provided on the software CD, we opted to download the latest driver from the LaCie web site and install that. Looking for web site driver offerings is a general recommendation as updates can address known problems with earlier drivers, and, with an early standard like USB 2.0, often offer better speed through optimisation of the software as well.

Installation of both driver and software went smoothly, except for the frequently-encountered folder error in the manual when searching for the burning program, in this case Roxio’s Easy CD Creator 5.1. The Setup.exe file was not to be found in the root folder, as stated, but a sub-directory. This is really an unforgivable error, and one frustrating for the novice who is immediately involved with service calls to sort it out. When confronted by this sort of thing, just load Explorer and find Setup.exe that way. You should finally see the TEAC CD-W224EA device in Device Manager under CD Drives.

The PocketDrive came with USB 2.0 and Firewire leads, a power supply unit, software CD bearing directions in PDF format - Adobe Acrobat is also on the CD for those who don’t already have it installed - and a pair of writable CDs, one 32x CD-R and one 10x CD-RW.

Software problems

Trying a straight CD copy with the latter produced an error, ECDC claiming it could not see the PocketDrive. Windows Device Manager reported no problem with either drive, the PocketDrive USB 2.0 driver seemed OK similarly. Trying a track file copy with ECDC gave the same response, so a call the LaCie technical support was the order of the day. All they could blame was the Windows’ Installer and suggest an upgrade to Easy CD Creator; version 5.3 duly arrived in the post. This was installed after uninstalling version 5.1.

That seemed to work better, recognising both drives, although the software claimed that the LaCie PocketDrive was attached via a USB 1.0 port. It did not recognise my Belkin PC Card USB 2.0 port, claiming it would have to run at only 4x speed (on the 10x CD-RW disk, during a disk copy process). That it duly did, with some dips during processing.

In conclusion

The LaCie PocketDrive is a nice device, though you may find it is let down by the provided software. It certainly was on our test PC. Upgrading to the later version of Easy CD Creator helped, but port speed recognition was still disappointingly unreliable. Buyers might want to install alternative burning software, and perhaps await a more appropriate USB 2.0 driver, too.

On the face of it, capable of respectable speeds if your hardware suits it, and well padded by the foam cushion surround, the device might be considered by mobile users. It is not cheap, it is not perfect, but it is capable of doing the job with appropriate software support.

Don Bradbury

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