LaCie 2big USB 3.0 Announced – World’s First USB 3.0 RAID Storage Solution!
Written by Rob Nichols on October 1, 2010 · Filed under Tech
I have said so before, and I will say again, LaCie are a particular favourite of mine when it comes to storage, and I have long been an admirer of their products. In fact, I have just today received my LaCie Minimus 2TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, which I am very pleased with and it leads me on nicely to the latest news emerging from the LaCie camp: the world’s first USB 3.0 RAID solution.
The LaCie 2big USB 3.0 can provide theoretical speeds of up to 205mb/s and allows for, according the LaCie, a max capacity of 4TB, which I must say seems a little disappointing for a device at the forefront of new technology. However, to put it into perspective, the speeds allow you to, in theory, transfer a full 50GB Blu-Ray movie in less than five minutes, a full six times faster than USB 2.0. Of course, the USB 3.0 interface is backward compatible too.
Included in the 2big USB 3.0 setup is a pair of 7200rpm hot-swappable hard disks and allows for three RAID modes: Raid 0, Raid 1 or JBOD, so you can alter the functionality and performance of the setup in different areas, as per usual with this sort of storage device.
“We are proud to announce the first RAID storage solution to fully leverage the performance of the USB 3.0 interface,” said Clement Barberis, Product Manager for LaCie’s Professional Desktop Solutions department.
“Developed for users that require sizeable data flow, such as print professionals, recording engineers, and video producers, the 2big USB 3.0 allows them to take advantage of high capacities while delivering industry-leading transfer speeds.”
The LaCie 2big devices also features the companies award-winning fanless and ultra-quiet heat sink design, and whilst we’re on the topic of design it may be important to note that this model is again designed by Neil Poulton, a favoured Scottish graduate in Industrial Design.
The LaCie 2big USB 3.0 edition comes with a 3-year warranty and various other LaCie frills, and is available now starting at £289 for the 2TB model, with the bump to 4TB elevating that to £449.
Do you need to store a lot of data and to store it in an easily manageable external manner? Would this USB 3.0 RAID storage solution be the one for you? Would you rather use network attached storage, or would you rather have something more along the lines of a Drobo?
