AppleInsider Staff
Consumers looking for Thunderbolt-compatible external storage that can keep up with a rough-and-tumble lifestyle now have a new high capacity option, as Seagate's LaCie subsidiary unveiled an updated version of its Rugged Thunderbolt range that ships with 1 terabyte of solid-state storage.
According to LaCie, the new drive increases storage space — up from 500 gigabytes — without a corresponding bump in size or weight. Transfer speeds can reach 387 megabytes per second, meaning that users could move 100 gigabytes of data in fewer than five minutes.
The drives ship with both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connectivity, and do not require an external power source. LaCie gives the Rugged Thunderbolt an IP 54 dust and water resistance rating, and the device is capable of surviving drops of up to 2 meters.
LaCie's iconic orange-and-silver design is likely familiar even to Apple fans who do not make use of external storage, as they are used in most Apple Store Genius Bars.
"Wherever digital content is created and wherever our customers want to travel to capture and collect it, our LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt drive will go as the ideal companion," LaCie executive Erwan Girard said in a release. "With fast Thunderbolt speeds that save hours in the field and now a 1 TB SSD capacity, our customers can focus on the creative process instead of worrying about transfer times or storage limits."
The new drive will be available later this month for a suggested retail price of $949.99.
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
Charles Martin
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
8 Comments
A shame this does not work on Mac (yet): Mac Owners Should Hold Off on New Samsung T1 Flash SSD http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/mac-owners-should-hold-off-on-new-samsung-t1-flash-ssd But we have this: MyDigitalSSD OTG Mini SSD | SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with UASP | External Solid State Drive http://mydigitalssd.com/mobile-ssd.php And much more to come: You'll soon get 10TB SSDs thanks to new memory tech http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/27/toshiba-intel-3d-nand-chips
Seriously, $950? Bare 1TB SSDs can be had for under $400 on Amazon, and the price seems to be dropping weekly. That means that LaCie is charging nearly $600 for their ugly-ass armored Thunderbolt enclosure, which is hardly necessary unless you have a serious case of the dropsies. There have got to be cheaper (and thinner) Thunderbolt enclosures out there.
"There have got to be cheaper (and thinner) Thunderbolt enclosures out there." - They are few and far between.
"With fast Thunderbolt speeds that save hours in the field" Sorry, but you won't get those speeds on the new Macbook... Yeah, that is a serious premium for the LaCie name and ruggedization. Without the moving parts an SSD shouldn't need quite as much shock protection as a hard drive.
Actually, the competitors have drastically reduced prices NOW, in advance of the 3D NAND revolution announced by the end of 2015: MyDigitalSSD 1TB Pocket Vault SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Portable UASP Compliant External SSD Storage Drive - MDSSD-1TB-PV Previous price of $1299.99, reduced 65% to $459.99. http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-portable-ssd/?&sort=alphaaz&sort_direction=0&xsearch_e11=MyDigitalSSD%20Pocket%20Vault MyDigitalSSD 512GB OTG SuperSpeed USB 3.0 mSSD UASP Compliant Mini Solid State Drive - MDMS-OTG-512 Previous price of $329.99, reduced 31% to $224.99 http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-portable-ssd/?&sort=alphaaz&sort_direction=0&xsearch_e11=MyDigitalSSD%20OTG%20mSSD And even cheaper prices at Amazon. Hopefully, LaCie learns the lesson soon and drops prices to one third of the current ones. LaCie makes great products, but they are too much overpriced now. Just see the price of all this stuff in a year. It will be one fourth of the current one. And with 4x faster, smaller and cooler SSD chips. A new revolution in SSD to take over the HD market. As announced by Intel and Micron - Toshiba - Samsung. So, that above is basically outdated technology and should be sold at low bottom prices.