2big quadra
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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 serves up Enterprise Class versions of Quadra external drives
LaCie dabbled in the CES extravaganza with a few minor offerings, but it decided to wait a few weeks for things to calm down before busting out a new range of wares. Today, the outfit is slinging out a trio of products in the freshly created Enterprise Class: the d2 Quadra Enterprise Class, 2big Quadra Enterprise Class and the 4big Quadra Enterprise Class. Obviously engineered for the more hardcore among us, these units pack enterprise-class SATA drives, a five-year warranty, 128-bit AES hardware encryption and hardware RAID with hot-swappable disks. Each HDD within spins at 7200RPM and boasts 32MB of cache, and 700MB/sec are promised when using a RAID 50 array with four 4big Quadra Enterprise Class units. The whole slate of Neil Poulton-designed drives offer up quad interfaces (FireWire 400 / 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA), and prices get going at just $299.
LaCie breaks off quad-interface 2big Quadra RAID drive
LaCie already delivered two new pieces in its collection yesterday, but apparently the 2big Quadra simply demanded its very own day of promotion. The classically styled (thanks, Neil Poulton) drive arrives with twin bays for up to 3TB of storage and support for four RAID modes including the traditional RAID 0 / 1. Transfer speeds can hit up to 165MB/sec through eSATA (3Gbits/sec in RAID 0), and the quadruple interface -- USB 2.0, eSATA, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 -- means that whatever machine you happen upon will likely be equipped to handle it. Moreover, it's fully compatible with Apple's Time Machine software and comes bundled with Genie Backup Manager Pro / Intego Backup Manager Pro for those in need. It'll be yours for the taking later this month (in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB sizes) starting at $299.99.
