LaCie now makes several versions of the
Little Big Disk with Thunderbolt ports. Most have a couple of capacious hard
drives inside, but this model sets itself apart by pairing SSDs in a RAID
array.
LaCie little big thunderbolt series SSD 240GB
The SSDs are packed into LaCie’s metal heat
sink enclosure (as seen on p46), and generated little warmth that we could
feel. Cooling isn’t entirely passive, though: there’s also a fan inside, and we
heard a high-pitched sound from it during extended, continuous use, but not
loud enough to be a real nuisance.
By default, the SSDs are configured in a
striped (RAID 0) array for the best performance. They can be switched to a
mirrored arrangement at the price of halving the usable capacity and reducing
transfer rates, but with the reassurance that if one SSD fails, the other
stands a chance of being in working order so your files can be rescued. The
enclosure isn’t designed to allow easy access to the drives for maintenance,
as LaCie’s 2big drive is. Opening up the enclosure will invalidate the
three-year warranty.
Thunderbolt drives with two ports have to
provide the maximum of 10 watts to their downstream port, even if no device
further along the chain needs it. So the Little Big Disk has to be connected to
the mains using the included power brick, making it less convenient to carry.
The drive itself is pleasingly small, though, and a metal plate is included
which attaches to the drive to stand it upright, giving it a small footprint.
Thunderbolt
drives with two ports have to provide the maximum of 10 watts to their
downstream port, even if no device further along the chain needs it
In the striped mode, our tests gave an
average write speed of 258.6MB/second, not far off the Elgato. But when it came
to reading files, the speed soared to an average of 488.3MB/second. With this
sort of speed, you could load up with proxy files for editing on the road and
comfortably play back multiple streams. That’s backed up by steady enough
speeds with large file sizes to give you dependable performance.
Details
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Price
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$753 inc VAT;
240GB $691
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From
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store.apple.com/uk
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Info
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lacie.com/uk
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Needs
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Thunderbolt Mac * Mac OS X 10.6 or higher
* Thunderbolt cable (not supplied)
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Pro
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Fast read speeds * compact portable RAID
array * pass-through
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Con
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requires external power supply * drives
not user-serviceable
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Rating
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4/5
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