LaCie Rugged RAID: 2 Drives In One Small Rugged Unit

CES 2015 is here and LaCie just introduced a new and interesting product – the small and robust LaCie Rugged RAID. This portable hard drive enclosure comes with not one but 2 physical drives connected (yes you guessed it) with a RAID array which allows you to either mirror the drives (RAID 1) or increase speed (RAID 0).

Professional photographers on the go are the target market for the LaCie Rugged RAID drive if the video above is to be believed. The unit is super rugged (it can stand drops of up to 5 feet and to withstand 1 ton of pressure and is even IP 54-rated for water resistance to even during operation – although we would not sink it in water).

The new LaCie Rugged RAID

Here are some of the main features of the LaCie Rugged RAID:

4TB (with 2 physical drives).
Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 support for speeds of up to 240 MB/s (Thunderbolt: 10 Gb/s and USB 3.0: 5 Gb/s official speeds are set at: RAID 0: 240 reads | 240 writes and RAID 1: 115 reads | 120 writes).
Bus powered via Thunderbolt for mobile workflow without external power (as for USB – LaCie explains that some computers may not provide enough power through the USB bus. In this case, it is necessary to use the included power supply).
Hardware RAID 0/1 flexibility for speed or security.
Shock, dust, and water resistance (IP 54 rated).
Price: $450 (release date – first quarter 2015).

What we are still trying to check with LaCie is the amount of available space on both RAID 0 and RAID 1. More info can be found on LaCie’s website.

Update: We had a chance to talk to the good people of LaCie and we have a few quick updates:

In terms of capacity – RAID 0 – 4TB, RAID 1 – 2TB (mirrored).
When you change between RAID 0/1 you will have to reformat. There is a hardware switch on the device for changing RAID configuration. Its via a safety pin push and confirmation process.
The external power supply is required for USB 3.0 100% of the time.

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Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.