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LaCie and Porsche Designs reveal USB 3.0 thumb drive, flash storage never looked faster
LaCie and Porsche Designs are at it again, but this time their storage collaboration has a slightly smaller footprint. The companies' latest effort is a brushed steel USB 3.0 thumb drive that's available in 16GB and 32GB varieties, starting at $30. For the security minded, files onboard are password-locked and protected with AES 256-bit encryption -- there's a free year of Wuala cloud-storage included too. You won't have to worry about a speeding ticket with this Porsche's transfers either -- the're rated at so-so 95MBs.
LaCie's updated NAS OS 3 software boosts RAID write speeds, expands hybrid cloud capabilities
Rely heavily on a LaCie 5big NAS Pro or 2big NAS? If so, you'll want to carve out a few minutes to inject a bit of new software (tap "Support" in the product's Dashboard). The aforementioned outfit has updated its NAS OS 3 software today, increasing RAID 5 write speeds by 25 percent, expanding hybrid cloud capabilities and adding more professional features. With this update, the LaCie 5big NAS Pro now features RAID 5 write speeds up to 100MB/s on a single LAN, a 25 percent increase from the previous NAS OS version. In addition to letting users sync data between a computer and the cloud, NAS OS 3.1 now lets users sync data between a computer and the NAS. For the pros in attendance, you'll be pleased to know that the software now features hardware monitoring that alerts the admin in real time of potential issues with the fan, CPU and RAM. The new build (v3.1) is available today for the 5big NAS Pro and will be available in August for the 2big NAS; for more, peek the full presser after the break.
LaCie's sexy Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223
In the five years that I've been blogging for TUAW, I've watched as the industry has shifted from USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 drive interfaces to USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. Drives have also made a migration from spinning platters to solid-state drives (SSDs), providing more power efficiency, speed, and ruggedness. LaCie has recently released the Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223 (US$149.99), an impossibly thin and lightweight 120 GB SSD portable drive using a USB 3.0 connection for power and data transfer. Design LaCie has partnered with design firms around the world on a number of drives designs, and first worked with Porsche Design in 2003. With the Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223, LaCie has created a masterpiece of engineering and art. The drive is a brushed aluminum slab only 11 mm (0.4 inches) thick -- that's 6 mm less than the thickest part of a MacBook Air. The other dimensions are also pretty small, just 5 inches x 3.1 inches (128 x 79 mm). Total weight of the drive is just 6.4 ounces (182 grams). %Gallery-192196% Gracing the top of the drive is the Porsche Design logo in stark black lettering, and there's an activity LED that peeks out of a thin vertical slit in the drive. The sides are covered with a black polycarbonate material for good looks and a better grip. The only opening on the drive is a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port that the included cable plugs into. There's no need for external power with this drive. Laptop users who need a bit more capacity can opt for a traditional spinning platter hard disk in the same form factor. The capacity of that drive is 500 GB, and the cost is a bit lower at just $89.99. Functionality Like many hard drive manufacturers, LaCie insists on loading some utilities onto the disk. Those utilities include a way to encrypt the P'9223, a backup app (most Mac users will probably prefer to use OS X's built-in Time Machine capability), and a subscription to Wuala for sharing and backing up in the cloud. Fortunately, LaCie gives users a choice in whether or not they want to use any or all of the utilities. LaCie now has a setup utility that is run before the first use of the drive. It gives users a chance to create a partition that can be used on both Windows and OS X machines, or partition the drive for OS X only. Formatting the drive is extremely fast, and then the user has an opportunity to load whatever software they've decided could be useful. The setup utility also adds a nice external drive icon that mimics the shiny aluminum case of the P'9223. The real selling point of an SSD is speed, so let's get to the benchmarks. I usually use AJA System Test to get a handle on the speed of a drive as well as make comparisons to other tested drives. But during the testing speeds were either too slow for an SSD (when file system caching was disabled) or faster than the theoretical limit for USB 3.0 (when file system caching was enabled). Since I could not verify the results, I chose instead to do a simple comparison with a USB 2.0 portable HD drive with a folder of known size. Here's the comparison, in each case writing a 912.4 MB file from a MacBook Pro with Retina display to an external drive: LaCie P'9223: 3.79 seconds Western Digital MyPassport USB 2.0: 26.24 seconds To paraphrase the late Steve Jobs, "Boom!" Read speeds were equally impressive. In this next test, a 1.18 GB Applications folder on the external drive was copied back to the MacBook Pro: LaCie P'9223: 3.59 seconds Western DIgital MyPassport USB 2.0: 31.86 seconds The P'9223 was anywhere from about 7 to almost 9 times faster in operations than a USB 2.0 hard disk drive. Regrettably, we were unable to test the P'9223 against a USB 3.0 hard disk drive. Conclusion What's not to like about the Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223? It's fast, rugged, and looks great, and at a price tag of just $150, it's an affordable portable for your MacBook. Pros Reasonably priced Sleek and incredibly slender design Case made from solid aluminum for durability Bus-powered Cons None to speak of Who is it for? The MacBook owner who wants the speed and ruggedness of an SSD in a beautifully designed case Giveaway One incredibly lucky TUAW reader is going to win a LaCie Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before June 25, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a LaCie Porsche Design Slim SSD P'9223 valued at $149.99 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0: the flash drive you want for the zombie apocalypse
USB flash drives are usually a yawner, something that is more of a giveaway item (at least to the press) at trade shows than something that deserves a blogger's attention. However, LaCie has introduced the XtremKey USB 3.0 flash drive in 32 GB (US$84.99) and 64 GB ($139.99) versions, and it's definitely worth your time to read about this ruggedized flash drive. Design and Functionality The XtremKey can handle just about anything you throw at it. In the video embedded at the bottom of this post, LaCie puts one to the test in a deep-fat fryer (along with some tasty sweet potato fries!), dipped in a bottle of liquid nitrogen, immersed in burning alcohol, placed under a steamroller on asphalt, and hacked with a machete. If it can put up with this and still keep your data safe with AES 256-bit encryption, it's definitely going to survive a ride in your pocket with your keys. You can take the XtremKey scuba diving down to 200 meters (656 feet), and it's designed to take a 10 meter (32.8 feet) drop without a problem. The XtremKey gets its stark good looks from French designer Constance Guisset, who placed the brains of the flash drive inside a steel truncated cone with a threaded and o-ring sealed opening on one end. At the top of the cone is a hole for a key ring, and the rest of the device is unadorned except for some markings on the slightly rounded bottom end. Note: if you don't like things to move on your desk, you're probably going to dislike what Guisset did here -- when you place the XtremKey in an upright position, it wobbles a bit and finally settles down. To quote LaCie, "While it's standing on its end, its equilibrium is fragile and awkward. It dances on the tables and always finds a non-straight position." %Gallery-190348% Of course, a flash drive is only as good as the speed and storage that it provides. Upon connecting it to my MacBook Pro, the XtremKey initially didn't show up, so I popped into Disk Utility and formatted it. At that point it mounted properly, and I was able to test the read/write speeds using AJA System Test. The average write speed over a number of tests was 83.3 MB/s, while the read speed was a blindingly fast 194.1 MB/s. That's the fastest USB 3.0 drive read speed we've benchmarked, although the write speeds are about half of those of a Seagate USB 3.0 drive we tested last year. LaCie provides some free software downloads with the purchase of an XtremKey. First, you get a free 32 or 64 GB of storage over at LaCie's Wuala cloud service, enough to back up your XtremKey online. Next, there's the LaCie Keys Software; a version written especially for the XtremKey. It contains Intego Backup Assistant, LaCie Private Public (encryption software), an XtremKey icon for the Finder, and the Wuala Link software for connecting your computer to the Wuala service. If you already use Time Machine for backups, decide to use Apple's encryption, and have a Dropbox account, just can forget about downloading this software. As for testing, I did verify that the XtremKey had no problems sitting in the bottom of my sink for two hours. A trip to the bottom of a swimming pool should be no problem either. I don't own a machete, so whacking it with one was out of the question. If I have one complaint about the XtremKey USB 3.0, it's that the bottom (removable) part should have some knurling on it so that your fingers can actually get a grip to tighten or loosen the key. As it is, it's sometimes almost impossible to get the XtremKey open, especially if your fingers are moist. My wife suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and it was impossible for her to get enough of a grip on the XtremKey's bottom to get it open. Note to LaCie: sometimes it's more important to make a product functional than it is to give it a unique design. Conclusion Now that USB 3.0 is the mainstream for new Macs, portable high-capacity storage devices like the LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0 are perfect for transferring files or creating encrypted backups. The XtremKey provides fast, portable, and durable storage that can take a hell of a beating and still keep your files safe, at a cost. Pros One of the fastest read times we've seen on any USB 3.0 drive Waterproof, heat proof, cold proof, and able to take shocks and pressure that would destroy other flash drives Very unique design for a flash drive Cons Bottom needs some knurling or ridges to make it easier to unscrew Quite expensive; many other USB 3.0 flash drives are available at less than a quarter of the price of the XtremKey Who is it for? Anyone who needs the portable storage of a flash drive in a virtually indestructible casing
LaCie Blade Runner drive now available, offers stand-out storage for $300
LaCie teased us at CES with the prospect of a rare high-concept hard drive design in the Blade Runner, but it left out the rather important matter of when we could buy the Philippe Starck-designed storage. As we've discovered, we didn't have to wait long -- the Blade Runner has just become available. Plunk down $300 and you'll get a 4TB, USB 3.0-based external drive that melds a blob-like disk shell with aluminum blades that both cool the main body and create a (minor) conversation piece. Just be sure to hurry if you're looking for a dash of art with your extra drive space, as it's doubtful that the Blade Runner's 9,999-unit production run will last.
LaCie announces the 5big Thunderbolt series: up to 20TB capacity starting at $1,199
If LaCie's 2big Thunderbolt isn't quite large enough to handle your storage needs, a solution is on the way. At CES, the outfit has revealed the robust 5big Thunderbolt series that can handle five hot-swappable drives (as the moniker suggests) while offering up to 20TB capacity with advertised speeds capable of notching 785MB/sec (we witnessed 750MB/sec with our own peepers) -- when appropriately configured. Wielding a handful of said drives affords the device custom RAID configurations allowing RAID 0 on three units while the remaining two reside in RAID 1. Dual Thunderbolt ports make daisy chaining an option -- if your wallet can handle it, of course. If you're concerned about the heat output, the 5big sports a heat-dissipating enclosure alongside a Noctua cooling fan and exhausts to keep things at a manageable temperature. Both 10TB and 20TB configurations will be available with a beginning price tag of $1,199 from LaCie and other retailers at a yet-to-be-announced date. Small businesses may want to take a gander at the 5big NAS Pro which also sorts five bays with up to 200MB/sec speeds, a dual-core 2.13GHz Intel Atom processor, 4GB RAM and a single Wuala interface for both local and cloud storage. For now, the full PR rests past the break and a closer look awaits in the galleries.
LaCie teams up with Philippe Starck on the Blade Runner limited edition hard drive
Philippe Starck, the design mind behind various Parrot wares, has teamed up with LaCie once more for a quite dapper external storage device. The duo has just announced the Blade Runner here at CES: a 4TB USB 3.0 hard drive wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum and sporting a LED power button in the shape of Mr. Starck's logo. That's not all. Only 9,999 of these bad boys will be produced so you'll need to have your affairs in order ahead of time if the gadget strikes your design sensibilities. The drive will also include 10GB of Wuala secure cloud storage to lend a hand with the archival process. No word on when the Blade Runner will arrive, but when it does, you can expect to nab it online from LaCie and other retailers after parting with the requisite $299. For a closer look at the goods, hit the galleries below to take a gander at the press shots and our brief hands-on. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
LaCie d2 upgrade melds Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 in one external desktop drive
We have Thunderbolt drives, and we have USB 3.0 drives. They've usually had to remain separate on full-size drives, however, which could make a refresh of LaCie's d2 something of a milestone -- it's purportedly the first desktop external drive with both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces (as well as the matching cables) in the same box. The upgrade should give Mac and Windows users alike the full 180MB/s average transfer rate without having to sweat over port choices. The new dual-interface d2s are available today, but be prepared to pay for absolute flexibility: the aluminum, fanless drives start at a hefty $300 for a 3TB version and scale up to $400 for a 4TB model, roughly $100 or more beyond some of their single-interface brethren.
LaCie PetiteKey USB flash drive: slim and discreet, for files of the private variety
What if the key to your home continued to get smaller and smaller? Would that be something you'd cheer or loathe? Thankfully, that's not the question we're posing today -- instead, we're wondering if you'd enjoy a key-like flash drive that's smaller than its predecessor. LaCie's new PetiteKey sort of gives itself away right in the title, being even tinier than the iamaKey that shipped in March of 2009. In fact, it's some 30 percent smaller, and ships with a Wuala Secure Cloud Storage account as well. The unit itself is waterproof up to 100 meters, and LaCie claims that your sultry love letters will be protected "even if dropped in a mud puddle or put through the washing machine." Sadly, the unit only transfers at USB 2.0 speeds, but can be had soon in 8/16/32GB capacities starting at $14.99. Mildly related video can be found after the break.
LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 3.0, helps the speed match the name
Porsche Design may not be directly involved in building German supercars, but there are certain expectations to be met, aren't there? LaCie is rolling out a new version of its Porsche Design hard drive skewed towards Mac owners that should offer more of the performance you'd associate with the automotive brand. The P'9223 Slim SSD is a third thinner than its ancestor but carries the option of a 120GB SSD that makes the most of the USB 3.0 port. If all runs well, nearly any Mac launched in 2012 can shuttle data along at a brisk 400MB per second. Demanding Mac fans will need to pay $150 for the flash-based edition to have the P'9223 feel truly Porsche-like; others only have to spend $100 if they're content with the Volkswagen pace of a 500GB spinning drive.
LaCie's Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt: fast portable storage that can take a beating
LaCie's no stranger to kicking out portable HDDs that are a-okay with getting kicked around, and the Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series is no exception. As the extended title implies, this one is equipped to transfer files via USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, and it'll play nice with Mac and Windows platforms. The LaCie Rugged SSD offers up transfer rates as high as 380MB/sec -- a feat we came darn close to hitting ourselves in testing -- and the HDD variants claim up to 110MB/sec. The bantam drive is entirely bus-powered, and it's engineered to shake off drops of up to four feet. Interesting? Both models should be shipping shortly, with the 1TB HDD edition going for $249.99 and the 120GB SSDer for $199.99.
LaCie 2big, 4big Quadra drives hop the USB 3.0 bandwagon, give Macs 12TB of speedy storage
LaCie has been sprucing up its smaller drives to handle a new crop of Macs that support USB 3.0. It's now turn for the big boys to play. Updated versions of the 2big Quadra and 4big Quadra (not yet shown here) use the faster port to reach the potential of their high-capacity RAID arrays, peaking at either 210MB/s for the dual-drive 2big and 245MB/s for its quad-drive cousin. We're not seeing a fundamental shakeup of the design apart from the higher speeds, although that's not necessarily a problem given the FireWire 800 to catch legacy users and hot-swappable bays for future upgrades. Video editors and other storage mavens should just prepare themselves to pony up. The upgraded Quadra models will start at respective $499 (4TB) and $1,099 (8TB) prices when they ship in October, and they're only poised to get more expensive when LaCie sets the costs for the higher-end 6TB and 12TB models.
LaCie's eSATA Thunderbolt Hub pushes data transfer to the max
The move from traditional I/O options toward Thunderbolt across the Mac line (with the notable exception of the Mac Pro) has meant some headscratching moments for users of high-end storage. Buying all-new Thunderbolt-ready RAIDs isn't an option for those on a budget, especially when there may be big investments already in eSATA-connected equipment. As more Thunderbolt peripherals and accessories have made it to market, this conundrum is beginning to clear. LaCie's eSATA hub Thunderbolt Series, at $199, delivers eSATA performance and convenience for high-end video and graphics users at a price that's not out of balance. Design The eSATA hub is clearly a product of LaCie's industrial design DNA, strongly resembling the company's Little Big Disk SSD unit. The aluminum ridged case provides maximum surface area for heat dissipation, and the removable base is heavy enough to help keep the hub upright when it's plugged into multiple cables. The hub can also be deployed without the base and laid flat. The hub has two Thunderbolt ports for passthrough support, plus two eSATA ports. Power and a Kensington-style security port round out the back panel. The unit gets warm in normal operation, but not painfully so -- just don't use it on your lap. It ships without a Thunderbolt cable, so you'll need one of Apple's or the Elgato short jumper cable. Performance Expectations for eSATA always come down to speed, and with the bandwidth of Thunderbolt behind it the LaCie hub delivers. I tested the hub on a MacBook Pro with a G-RAID dual drive external RAID 0 unit, first using Firewire 800 as a baseline; I measured about 40-60 MB/s transfer speeds with Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test utility. Reconnecting the drive to the eSATA hub transformed it from a middling performer to a speed demon. I saw transfer rates in excess of 200 MB/s both for writes and reads. Obviously the speed of your storage device will be a limiting factor in the performance you get from the eSATA hub, but I didn't see anything to belie LaCie's assertion that the hub is delivering full eSATA speed. In fact, compared to the ExpressCard solutions of the past, you're gaining back some of the missing eSATA bandwidth (3 Gbps) that overshot the card slot's specification (2.5 Gbps). The passthrough Thunderbolt port also worked as advertised, allowing me to drive a Cinema Display or connect an Ethernet adapter off the back of the unit. Display performance seemed unaffected as I copied multi-gigabyte files to and fro via the hub. Wrap-up At $199, the eSATA Thunderbolt hub might be a little expensive for the casual user. For anyone who has a stack of eSATA drives in constant use, however, it's a bargain. Adding this unit to your interface arsenal will upgrade your connectivity choices and enable you to consider modern Mac models without sacrificing your legacy drives. [As commenters have noted, the LaCie hub does not support port multiplexing, which would allow attaching multiple drives on each of the eSATA ports; the Sonnet product combo of the Thunderbolt-ExpressCard adapter & a Tempo eSATA card would do that, but would not allow Thunderbolt pass-through.] Pros Fast and trouble-free Solidly designed Passthrough Thunderbolt port Cons Priced for prosumers Who is it for? eSATA storage users with a Thunderbolt Mac in mind.
LaCie reveals new Mac-friendly USB 3.0 external drives
Lacie's just announced its next generation USB 3.0 drives meant to take advantage of the new Ivy Bridge internals of the latest MacBooks. The fresh Rugged Triple, Porsche Design P'9223 and P'9233, and RuggedKey models all use USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UAS) for maximum data transfer speeds to and from machines running Lion or Mountain Lion. If you're looking to pick one of these slick storage devices, they'll be available in Apple stores and on LaCie's website this summer.
Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill
The final price may end up being more than the initially proposed $186 million, but Seagate has successfully acquired a controlling share of LaCie stocks. The provisional price of €4.05 per share could increase to €4.17 if Seagate manages to accumulate 95 percent of the company's stocks in the next six months. As of now, however, it hold just shy of 65 percent, enough to take control of the French manufacturer. With LaCie and its valuable consumer business under its belt and Samsung's SSD expertise, the move to reject a Western Digital take over is looking better and better. After all, consumer choice is the engine of capitalism and now Seagate has more than enough ammunition to take on WD and its Hitachi properties. Check out the PR after the break.
Lacie USB 3.0 RuggedKey now shipping: $40 for 16GB, $70 for 32GB
Encountered much violence lately? Then consider yourself a target for Lacie's new ruggedized USB 3.0 stick, which is now available at the company's online store. Yes, it's as fat as it looks in the SanDisk Extreme comparison photo after the break, but most of that girth comes from the rubbery orange cushion designed to protect your data from water, extreme temperatures and 100-meter drops. Exactly how much of that protection you'd retain even after removing the orange part isn't yet clear, but we can vouch for the fact that an 850MB video file made it across from the RuggedKey to a Retina MacBook Pro at almost exactly the claimed maximum transfer rate of 150MB/s. The write speed wasn't so stunning compared to the SanDisk -- only around 40MB/s when data travelled the other way, or a quarter of the speed of a 64GB Extreme stick -- but then, at $40 for 16GB and $70 for 32GB, the Lacie also comes in a lot cheaper.
LaCie introduces RuggedKey USB 3 flash drive
Paris-based peripherals maker LaCie is known for its compact portable storage and Mac-friendly design, which is probably why drive manufacturer Seagate snapped it up earlier this year. As the Mac portable line transitions toward USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, that's driving interface changes in the peripherals market; hence today's introduction of LaCie's RuggedKey USB 3 keychain drive. The RuggedKey includes a removable orange plastic sleeve that's modeled on the company's ruggedized mobile drives. Inside the sleeve is a steel keychain drive that comes in either 16GB or 32GB capacities, but the upgrade to USB 3 means that file transfers can hit speeds up to 3x as fast as with USB 2 equivalent drives. (The drive is backwards-compatible with USB 2 and USB 1 ports.) As to the "rugged" part of the equation, LaCie claims that the RuggedKey has drop resistance to 100 meters when it's stored in the sleeve (which does make the drive look a little like a baby carrot). To prove it, a company executive thoughtfully took one along on a skydiving trip. You can see the results in the video below. The RuggedKey starts at $39.99 for the 16GB capacity, rising to $69.99 for the 32GB capacity; you can compare it to the rest of LaCie's line of flash storage offerings. It's available now from the LaCie online store.
Seagate to acquire LaCie
Storage giant Seagate has announced intentions to buy controlling interest in LaCie, a boutique hard drive and storage company. Seagate has offered to purchase from Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, all of their shares, representing 64.5% of the outstanding shares of LaCie. Following receipt of governmental approvals and the close of this transaction, Seagate would commence an all-cash simplified tender offer to acquire the remaining outstanding shares in accordance with the General Regulation of the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). Seagate will acquire LaCie for US $186 million. LaCie drives have been known for their physical design. At times, LaCie has contracted out to companies like Porsche Design for enclosures. Seagate products have been a bit more establishment, and it looks like Seagate wants to have some impact in upscale consumer devices. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the United States (antitrust filing), France (approval of foreign investments by the Ministry of Finance) and other jurisdictions (antitrust filing in Germany) and to other customary closing conditions. LaCie has been popular among Mac users, and its drives and accessories are currently sold in Apple Stores worldwide. Late last year, LaCie began selling the first Thunderbolt drives for Macs priced under $1000.
Seagate to buy LaCie for $186 million, expand its storage empire
Seagate and LaCie have gotten friendly before -- the former company's drives are in the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt HDD, for instance -- but the storage makers are about to get even cozier. Today, Seagate announced its plans to buy a 64.5-percent share in the French company, which is currently valued at $186 million. The acquisition will combine the two outlets' product portfolios and, according to the press release, "accelerate Seagate's growth strategy in the expanding consumer storage market, particularly in Europe and Japan." The deal should go through by late 2012, and Seagate will bring over LaCie CEO Philippe Spruch to head the consumer storage products division.
LaCie's new 100MB/s NAS is 2big, resists that second scone (video)
Gallic storage outfit LaCie is nonchalantly unveiling its 2big double-bay NAS that's purportedly capable of pumping data around your network at 100MB/s. Designed for small businesses, it'll remind any passers by of HAL or GLaDOS, depending on their age. Sporting a 2GHz processor and the company's NAS OS2, it'll also happily interact with Windows 7 Backup or Time Machine and you can access your files on the go with the company's iOS app. It's available from today, prices starting from $299 (£187 in the UK) with a three year warranty. If you'd like to know more, then we've got a short film and some PR after the jump.
