The Little Big Disk is simply the fastest way to back up your data, but it’s also, finally, a delivery on Apple’s promise that Thunderbolt would do crazy things to our tech lives. That promise came true.
What Is It?
An extremely fast solid state external hard drive that uses Thunderbolt.
Who’s it For?
Anyone with data to backup, data to share and a lot of money.
Design
It’s a big, heavy, industrial grey brick that you shouldn’t look at frequently anyway. Put it somewhere safe! An extra Thunderbolt port is a nice touch.
Using It
The Little Big Disk works just like every other external hard drive you’ve ever used in your life.
The Best Part
It’s really, really, really, really fast: 240MB/sec read speeds, 461MB/sec write. In human words, that means I was able to copy all five seasons of The Wire — that’s 27GB of DVD quality — in under two minutes. Yeah.
Tragic Flaw
The Little Big Disk needs a boxy external power supply, which really kicks mobility in the balls.
This Is Weird…
SSD drives are supposed to be silent, but the Little Big Disk makes a faint (though audible!) clicking sound due to a small cooling fan inside.
Test Notes
If you’re considering buying the Little Big Disk, make sure you’re absolutely certain about this: it’s not as fast as LaCie says. The company boasts “shocking speeds up to 10Gb/s”. That’s straight up wrong. Thunderbolt may be capable of that kind of speed, but this SSD sure isn’t. If you can ignore LaCie’s misleading marketing, you’re still getting an extremely fast drive — compare speeds between it and my old USB 2.0 external.
Should You Buy It?
If you have the cash, the Little Big Disk will change the way you back up forever. As in, you might actually start doing it.
LaCie Little Big Disk
• Dimensions: 4cm x 14cm x 8cm
• Weight: 0.6kg
• Input: Thunderbolt
• Capacity: 240GB SSD
• Price: $US900
[LaCie]