Andrew O'Hara
Prolific computer storage maker LaCie has released its latest portable drive during CES 2025, debuting the Rugged SSD Pro5 with support for Thunderbolt 5.
The new drive, arriving in a stunning new blue, has a familiar design by Neil Poulton. It has a rugged silicone exterior with the LaCie logo right in the center.
The new LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 works on iPad Pro and the latest MacsIt has incredibly fast read and write speed, buoyed by Thunderbolt 5. The company says that it will hit 6700 Megabytes per second read and 5300 Megabytes per second write.
The drive is also extremely durable. There is three meters of drop protection as well as IP68 water and dust resistance which means it will withstand any dust ingress and can be submerged in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and be fine.
Over 45% of the materials used in the Rugged SSD Pro5 are recycled, improving its environmental footprint.
The new drive comes in black, blue, and orangeThe device is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and USB devices, including 10/20/40Gbps USB-C hosts on Windows, Mac, and iPad Pro. LaCie provides a 5 year warranty and includes data recovery services in the event of accidental data loss.
The new drive is now available to order for $399 for the 2TB and the 4TB will run you $599.
Wesley Hilliard
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
3 Comments
No specs given at the "now available to order" link, sadly, so I and the rest of the TB4 using world would like to know the transfer rates for those editions of TB too. Thanks.
There are specs and a datasheet on the seagate/lacie website.
A bit strange that it is not compatible with Thunderbolt 3 (it should still work at lower speeds thanks to USB) - update it is compatible with TB3 on Mac according to the detailed compatibility page, which also says it requires Sequoia. And for iPads requires an iPad Pro with a Thunderbolt port (strange: my iPad Pro M1's TB port is only TB3 but is said to work)
Not a fan of "portable SSDs' particularly after the SanDisk Extreme/Extreme Pro performance and debacle. They may not be as compact but I prefer to use a separate SSD and enclosure. If one of the components die the other is still salvageable. I don't know if that can be said for a portable drive.
Was this a Mac test? The SanDisk line Extreme Line quoted fast speeds they never materialized on Macs. In fact a lot of bare SSDs test extremely fast on Windows rigs but never seem to perform as well on qualifying Macs. I've seen this on my T4 MacBook where the speeds never came close to advertised specs. That's even allowing for "theoretical" and "up to" qualifying.
I look forward to AI doing a review and verifying actual speeds of this portable. If it's actually as fast as claimed there could be one in great jar of drives.