Best know for its Mac peripherals, LaCie has joined the handful of companies (Panasonic, Toshiba, and a few others) that are offering drives based on DVD-RAM format.
The LaCie SCSI DVD-RAM is an external drive that works with both PCs and Macs, but as the name implies requires a SCSI interface. Putting aside the current limitations of the DVD-RAM format itself, the LaCie DVD-RAM drive still has some significant weaknesses.
The DVD-RAM format lets you write and rewrite data to double-sided discs that can store up to a whopping 9.4G. Unlike other DVD formats, DVD-RAM uses discs enclosed in a cartridge. While it is technically possible to write discs that can be popped out of the cartridge and played in some DVD drives and players, for practical purposes the DVD-RAM format is much better suited for archival purposes than for distribution of audio and video (DVD-R).
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At one time, the LaCie DVD-RAM drive's SCSI interface was the technology of choice for high-bandwidth applications, but it has been equalled and surpassed by ATAPI, USB 2.0, and IEEE-1394 (FireWire). Besides requiring a special SCSI card (not included with the LaCie DVD-RAM drive), SCSI presents its own set of challenges, including termination hassles and chaining considerations.
The SCSI interface allows the LaCie DVD-RAM drive to be used with machines from the Macintosh platform, although not many Macs ship with SCSI support these days. The drive is also available with an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) interface as well, but that model only works with the Macintosh platform.
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