4big 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 debuts 8TB 4big Quadra, new RAID bundles at NAB
Not sure if you've noticed, but NAB is in full swing over in Las Vegas. Not one to let a spotlight pass it by, LaCie has today introduced a new 8TB model of its 4big Quadra alongside a trio of new storage bundles for professionals who need gobs of free space and loads of speed. The 4big Quadra is a 4-bay RAID solution that handles hot-swappable disks and seven RAID modes, and by hitting up one the outfit's new combos (8TB, 16TB and 32TB), you also get a 4-port eSATA II PCI Express Card 3Gb/s card. Check 'em this May starting at $1,999.
