If you're looking for the most economical external storage solution on the market, there's a strong chance that it isn't going to be a LaCie unit.

While not known for exorbitant prices, LaCie is a brand that tries to give you a little extra, and in this case it's a distinctive and robust chassis. It's designed by Neil Poulton, if these things matter to you. With a circular, sizeable blue activity light on the front, and connections for USB, FireWire (both 400 and 800 are supported) and eSATA on the back, it's also a suitably complete product.

This means that no matter what computer you're looking to connect it to, it's likely to work without fuss (and both PCs and Macs are welcomed). The connectivity options extend still further, for the power button also has an auto setting. While this demands that your machine must be connected via FireWire or USB if you want to utilise it, the Auto option then means that the drive will power itself up with your computer and switch itself off when the host machine is shut down. A handy little feature.

The chassis lends itself to some flexibility with regard to its positioning. Its rectangular shape means it's as happy resting vertically as horizontally, and so well protected does the drive inside appear to be that it'd take some wallop for any damage to be incurred.

We tried the drive on three separate test machines, running either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and on each it installed itself and made itself available in Windows Explorer in a short space of time. Thus, should you choose, you can leave the bundled software in the box and just crack on with using the Quadra as an ordinary drive. You'll have few complaints about the performance, either. It compared well to other drives of similar ilk we've tested, shifting large quantities of files swiftly, even on the slower connectivity options.

The software package that LaCie includes with the drive features the popular and widely bundled EMC Retrospect Express, while LaCie also includes its single-click backup solution. Both of these prove to be fine choices, especially so if you want to make the Quadra part of a regular backup routine.

Which leaves just the main stumbling block to talk about. The D2 Quadra, while an effective, professional and well-performing piece of hardware, does come with a price tag to match. £130 is a lot to pay for 500GB of external storage, even accepting the bevy of connectivity options, and we easily found this price beaten by half if you're willing to accept, for instance, slower USB 2.0 data transfers. It's your call, since while the drive is very capable, you do pay a premium for it.

A good, robust, external storage solution, but you can find 500GB of external storage a lot cheaper if you can do without the multiple interfaces and 'designer' styling.