LaCie Brings Design, Durability to Storage With Mirror, Rugged Drives

By Nathan Eddy

The Rugged Raid, a Neil Poulton-designed drive, features LaCie’s signature orange and brushed steel color combination. The vibrant bumper also helps protect the device against the bumps and bruises of working in the field, be it buried under stacks of suitcases in the airplane cargo hold or being splashed during a tropical downpour.

The Rugged RAID features RAID 1, also known as mirrored mode, which is where the data is duplicated across the two drives. This means that even if a single drive fails in the field, the data remains accessible from the other drive, a feature that can be especially helpful to on-the-go professionals with limited laptop capacity.

The Rugged RAID features Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 along with two internal hard drives that are preconfigured in hardware RAID 0, and also features RAID 1 (mirrored mode), where the data is duplicated across the two drives. This means even if a single drive fails in the field, the data remains accessible from the other drive.

With its cap in place, the Rugged RAID is IP 54-rated for additional resistance to dust and water splashing—even during operation. The drive is specifically aimed at video and photo professionals working in the field—the hard drive space is equal to sixty 64GB memory cards.

The drive is tested to withstand a fall of up to 5 feet and 1 ton of pressure, and LaCie has also included a variety of backup and security features professionals need for work in the field, including a backup software suite and compatibility with Time Machine and Windows Backup. Plus, it includes LaCie Private-Public software, which lets users password-protect the entire drive or only certain volumes with AES 256-bit encryption.

If our data is truly a reflection of who we are, the Mirror hard drive is symbolic of this. Sporting a hard drive wholly encased in scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, this 1-terabyte drive combines form and function in one lustrous package. French designer Pauline Deltour and LaCie product development teams worked closely to develop the Mirror hard drive.

“LaCie’s objective with products such as the LaCie Mirror is to reach audiences who believe design is an important feature of the products they use,” Kathy Wang, product manager of extreme design for Seagate and LaCie, told eWEEK. “These consumers want the best technology devices in their home and offices, and they also need these devices to reflect their premium decor and design sensibilities.”

Underneath that reflective, polished surface lie the guts of the hard drive, which are powered through the USB cable, so no power cord is needed. Other features include the company’s Backup Assistant software, which allows users to set up automatic computer backups, and Private-Public password protection with AES 256-bit software encryption, as well as an Eco Mode, which offers up to 92 percent energy savings thanks to an automatic standby mode.

The drive sits in a base hewn from Makassar ebony wood, a richly colored, extremely dense wood, which means every display stand is unique, and there are no two pieces that are exactly alike. The glass used to envelop the hard drive improves damage resistance and toughness by helping to prevent the deep chips and scratches that cause glass to break.

Available in late January for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $279.99 through the company’s Website with wider availability later this year, the drive also comes with an extendable two-year limited warranty that includes complimentary Web-based resources, in-house technical support, and worldwide repair or replacement coverage.