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Seagate’s premium brand, LaCie, announced the release of the latest evolution of its popular d2 desktop storage line, which features a new all–aluminum unibody enclosure, dual Thunderbolt 2, and USB 3.0.
LaCie designed the d2 Thunderbolt 2 to be upgradable to the fastest solid state drive (SSD) available on the market, which boosts speeds up to 1150M bps.
The d2 combines the latest interfaces and a Seagate 6 TB 7200 RPM professional hard disk, resulting in speeds of up to 220M bps, which makes it possible to reduce backup and transfer times as well as store and browse a large RAW Adobe Lightroom library with zero lag.
Designed for storing large files and archiving projects, the drive sports dual Thunderbolt 2 ports, which let the user daisy chain up to six devices to a single Thunderbolt port on a computer.
Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0 are also backward-compatible, so the user always gets the best speeds that their computer allows.
“Security is also important to storage devices like the d2 Thunderbolt 2 because drives often contain valuable data such as copyrighted photos or business documents,” Erwan Girard, LaCie business unit manager,” told eWEEK. “Activating data encryption is an important precaution to prevent unauthorized access.”
To multiply speeds by a factor of five, users can install the separately sold LaCie d2 SSD Upgrade.
The upgrade increases speeds up to 1150M bps and adds 128GB of PCIe SSD storage. Users can remove the LaCie d2’s rear panel and install the upgrade.
Two separate drives mount on the computer—one for the SSD and one for the hard disk. LaCie suggests using the SSD for bandwidth–intensive tasks, such as fast file transfers, audio mixing, video editing, or OS booting, and the hard disk for file archiving.
When re-creating the industrial design of the d2, LaCie focused on a seamless all–aluminum unibody enclosure, which is forged from a single sheet of aluminum, providing extra rigidity for longterm durability.
The enclosure also draws heat away from the hard disk, allowing fan–free cooling. The integrated base extends the surface area, providing further space for heat dissipation.
In addition, the drive has a cushioning base and vibration-absorbing hard disk mounts combine to reduce vibration, and an integrated cable lock that prevents accidental disconnection of interface or power cables.
“LaCie’s design philosophy stems from our founding in Paris. With this proximity we are privileged to we work with a handful of elite designers to ensure our products are not only pleasing to the eye, but also perform well from the inside out,” Girard said. “A painstaking amount of detail goes into every product we make.”
The d2 Thunderbolt 2, designed by Neil Poulton, will be available this month through Apple and LaCie in 3TB ($299), 4TB ($399) and 6TB ($499) capacities.
The 128GB LaCie d2 SSD Upgrade ($299) will be available in October. The d2 will also be offered in a USB 3.0–only version in 3TB, 4TB and 5TB capacities, available in October.