It isn’t the first external drive from LaCie with a USB-C connection, but the company’s much-loved rugged line just got a hefty speed boost for those who are too impatient to wait for their data to backup, and who refuse to take care of their hardware.
The new LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C drives feature that same highly-recognisable cartoon-like bumper that’s been protecting this hardware for years now. But in addition to 2TB, 4TB and 5TB options featuring a Seagate BarraCuda hard drive inside, LaCie is also releasing a version with a 1TB SSD inside which not only improves the safety of your data by eliminating moving parts, it also boosts the speed of file copies with transfer speeds of up to 510MB/s. For comparison, the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB 3.0 drive, which is currently available with a 1TB SSD inside, tops out at transfer speeds of just 387MB/s.
Available some time in the first quarter of 2017, the hard drive versions of the new LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C drives will start at $US250 ($346) for the 2TB option, but you can expect the 1TB SSD option to be priced well north of half a grand. Australian pricing and availability has yet to be announced.
[LaCie]
We’re on the ground at CES 2017 in Las Vegas! Follow all of our coverage of the latest and greatest in tech here.