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LaCie Setup Assistant - Windows


The LaCie Setup Assistant will automatically prepare your LaCie hard drive for use on your system.

Before using the drive, the LaCie Setup Assistant software must be launched to format your drive. It will:

  • Optimize your drive according to your needs.
  • Copy the Manual and utilities onto your LaCie hard disk.

    • Note: LaCie recommends that you copy the user manual and utilities onto your computer’s internal hard drive or other medium when setup is complete.

    To launch LaCie Setup Assistant:

  • Double click on the LaCie icon in “My Computer (or in “Computer” for Windows Vista users).
  • The start window will open. Double-click on the LaCie icon to launch the LaCie Setup Assistant

  • Select Continue in the Welcome screen. The License Agreement screen will come up. Click on “Accept” to proceed to the Optimize your Hard Drive window.

    • What do you want to do with your drive?

    1) Windows computers (recommended)

    Choose this option if you will be using the drive with only Windows computers.

    This option will format your hard drive as an NTFS volume - the optimized file system for Windows 2000, XP and Vista. It is NOT compatible with Windows Me, 98 or older, with Linux computers, or with Mac computers before Mac OS X 10.3. It is accessible in read-only mode with Mac OS X 10.3 or higher (you will not be able to delete or write files).

    The detailed user manual and utilities will be available on the "LaCie" volume. Please read the user manual carefully! It is highly advised to copy them onto your computer’s internal hard drive or other medium. Precautions of use are also to be found in the user manual.

    2) Exchange data also with Mac & Linux (with some limitations)

    Choose this option if you plan to share the drive across Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems.

    This option will split your hard drive into two sections, called partitions: "LaCie" and "Exchange".

  • The "LaCie" partition will be optimized for Windows

  • The "Exchange" partition will be formatted in FAT32.

    • The detailed user manual and utilities will be available on the "Exchange" volume. Please read the user manual carefully! It is highly advised to copy them onto your computer’s internal hard drive or other medium. Precautions of use are also to be found in the user manual.

    The FAT32 file system is compatible with almost all computers but has some limitations:

  • File size is limited to 4GB

  • Partition size over 32GB is not properly supported

    • User manual and utilities

    The user manual and utilities are not bundled on a separate CD. Instead, you will find them on the hard drive after using the LaCie Setup Assistant.

    The user manual and utilities will occupy a small amount of your total hard drive space. You may choose to maximize hard drive capacity by copying these files onto your computer's internal hard drive or other medium and then removing the files from your LaCie drive.

    Should you need them again, you can download LaCie user manual and utilities at www.lacie.com/support.

    Manual Formatting

    The LaCie Setup Assistant does not prevent you from using your computer's native disk utility program to format or partition your LaCie hard drive. Simply follow the Setup Assistant through completion, then use your computer's native disk utility (Disk Management for Windows or Disk Utility for Mac) to reformat your drive.

    You can also choose to quit the Setup Assistant and use Windows' Disk Management or Apple Disk Utility to format your drive. If you choose to quit the Setup Assistant, you will need to download the user manual and utilities from www.lacie.com/support.

    Please note that the Setup Assistant cannot be used after the drive is formatted.

    1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Once formatted, actual capacity varies depending on operating environment (typically 5-10% less).

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