LaCie snags Hitachi's 500GB 5K500, stuffs it into Rugged Hard Disk

LaCie's bright orange Rugged Hard Disk hasn't changed much externally since it surfaced over two years ago, but what used to buy you 160GB will now land you a full half-terabyte with dough left over for several In-N-Out runs. The latest Rugged drive packs Hitachi's 500GB Travelstar 5K500 and still maintains the scratch-resistant aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper. As for ports, you'll find a USB 2.0-only edition or a more versatile iteration that includes USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 sockets. Either flavor comes bundled with the company's Setup Assistant and backup software, and if you're tired of waiting for 1TB in your pocket, you can make do with this one for just $299.99 / $399.99 depending on your choice of interface(s).

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:04PM]

Why's it gotta be ORANGE?

Orange is evil.

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:07PM]

Case(s) in point:

http://www.ufl.edu

http://www.utk.edu

http://www.auburn.edu

http://www.clemson.edu

I want a good, rugged 500GB travel HD, but this hunka junk's frickin' ORANGE! What's a Dawg to do?

[schmitty338 @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:09PM]

$100 just to add FireWire connectivity? Psshtttt....

[Pochi @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:18PM]

Your mom goes to college.

[phanbouy @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:07PM]

not surprised at the $100 premium. firewire enclosures for SATA drivers are expensive and difficult to come by

[schmitty338 @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:32PM]

@Phanbouy

Really? I bought my girlfriend a 3.5" SATA enclosure with USB 2.0, FireWire 800/400 AND eSATA for $30CDN...

[Jeff @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:57PM]

@schmitty338:

That's great, but call us back when your 3.5" enclosure magically loses an inch.

[phanbouy @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:55PM]

schmitty... AFAIK you need an enclosure with an oxford controller chip in it for SATA with firewire. wanna put up a linky?

[BuddyBoy @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:29PM]

I'd love this but Lacie items seem to suffer seriously from the UK pricing that plagues us over here.

[josha @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:07PM]

Love the In-N-Out reference, it's my favorite place on earth!!!

Gotta love CA!

[phanbouy @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:09PM]

a little bit o' the ole in-out in-out?

[schmitty338 @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:37PM]

....no time for the ol' in-out in-out, luv...

[zephead @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:38PM]

That's what a hamburger's all about!

And for most of you who don't live in CA and some parts of NV and AZ, you've never had a burger and fries until you've had In-N-Out.

I swear, it's like having an orgasm in your mouth (no not THAT kind). ;)

[Steve Jones @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:42PM]

Just how your momma like it phanbuoy.

[Peter @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:18PM]

I have a 120Gb version of this drive with the Firewall bits and its an excellent product. It gets thrown in my backpack and keeps going. The aluminium shell is reasonably robust but its certainly not scratch resistent. Rolling around in a backpack in a pocket on its own it has a lot of scratches and even a dent but it works well and I love it. If Lacie wants to send me one of the new version i'd love to test it for them to see if its more scratch resistant.

I agree with BuddyBoy on the UK pricing too.... the crap USD$ doesn't seem to help it either!

[Twist @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:19PM]

It is a bit ironic (to me at least) that they are selling this as a "Rugged Hard Disk" but they are sticking a 2.5 inch HDD inside of it which in my personal experience are highly prone to failure (especially the Hitachi ones).

[Chris @ Apr 23rd 2008 5:51PM]

Needs rubber plugs for the ports! Not to make it waterproof or anything, just to keep pocket lint out...

[trev @ Apr 24th 2008 6:05AM]

I own the previous version of this - the Pocket Drive - that I bought 4 years ago and still use it, though I have replaced the interal drive twice ( probably only once if I had treated the drive with more care to begin with) . There is nothing special about the disks since they are standard 2.5" laptop drives. However, I did find the build quality to be very good and the enclosure is robust and still in good shape, it won't shatter if you drop it and is easy to peel off/on if you need need to replace the drive.

I happen to like the colour orange...but if it repulses you so much then lacie do sell different sleeves.

[Foley @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:10PM]

So, this orange is pretty cool. I mean, it's alright. But, at the same time, it sucks so bad. So, so, so bad.

[Foley @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:11PM]

test

[Foley @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:14PM]

I'm just testing my new picture

[MeatyPi @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:44PM]

you probably shouldn't

[Alex @ Apr 24th 2008 10:44AM]

Mmmm In-n-Out...
Oh, um, and 500 GB