Big news in the storage world today. The second major external drive to support Apple / Intel's Thunderbolt port is now shipping, with LaCie to thank. The company's new Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series is now available through Apple Retail and Apple.com, and it's the first portable solution to feature Thunderbolt technology in the palm of your hands. How big of hands do you need? Not Shaq-sized, that's for sure. It has a pair of 2.5" SSDs or HDDs, so not even full desktop-size drives. Featuring a pair of 2.5" drives in a Mac OS RAID configuration, the Little Big Disk delivers stunning read speeds more than 480MB/s in SSD and up to 190MB/s in HDD.
The more Little Big Disks you chain together, the more impressive the performance. Users can daisy chain several Little Big Disks to maximize the interface's capabilities and reach transfer rates around 800MB/s – truly rackmount storage speeds in a portable solution. As of now, a 1TB and 2TB solution will sell for $399 and $499, with a 240GB SSD edition shipping for an unannounced price in the middle of October. We're hoping that this is just the beginning of the Thunderbolt flood, particularly since we saw Thunderbolt working on a Windows-based machine last week at IDF. Good times ahead, speed freaks!
LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt™ Series Now Available
PARIS, FRANCE – Today LaCie announced that the Little Big Disk
Thunderbolt Series is now available for purchase. It is the first
portable solution to feature the shocking 10Gb/s speeds of Thunderbolt
technology. This next-generation Little Big Disk is the first product in
LaCie's series of high-end Thunderbolt solutions.
Designed for the most demanding applications, the LaCie Little Big
Disk Thunderbolt Series will bring a new level of performance to
creative workflows and professional storage users. It offers ultra-fast
data transfers, complete system backup in minutes, and faster content
editing than ever before.
"Performance can come in small packages," says Jason Ziller, Intel's
director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "LaCie's Little Big Disk with Intel's
Thunderbolt™ technology delivers blazingly fast transfer speeds in a
truly portable form factor; we think media creators and entertainment
enthusiasts alike are going to love it."
A FEATHERWEIGHT POWERHOUSE
The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series sets the new standard for
the storage industry. Featuring a pair of 2.5" drives in a Mac OS RAID
configuration, the Little Big Disk delivers stunning read speeds more
than 480MB/s in SSDs and up to 190MB/s in HDD.
The more Little Big Disks you chain together, the more impressive the
performance. Users can daisy chain several Little Big Disks to maximize
the interface's capabilities and reach transfer rates around 800MB/s –
truly rackmount storage speeds in a portable solution.
NEXT GENERATION STORAGE
A game changer for content creators and professional users, the Little
Big Disk is the ultimate portable solution for fast access to data or
on-set editing. It supports multiple RAID levels (0,1 and JBOD) and
daisy chaining for storage expansion or connecting other peripherals.
Additionally, it features a heat sink casing and quiet fan for dual
cooling.
"The great thing about the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series is
its versatility," said Erwan Girard, Professional Business Unit
Manager, LaCie. "No matter which Little Big Disk model you choose, it
will serve your most demanding applications with ease and portability.
It's the ultimate in storage technology."
For more than 20 years, LaCie has worked in the Apple™ marketplace,
introducing innovative products and launching new cutting-edge
technologies. LaCie developed the very first Apple branded storage
solution and showcased the first implementations of FireWire technology.
Since then, LaCie has collaborated with Intel™ and Apple to develop a
range of professional storage solutions featuring Thunderbolt
technology.
AVAILABILITY
The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series HDD models are available
through Apple retail stores worldwide and Apple.com. The SSD model will
be shipping this October. All models will be available shortly through
LaCie's reseller channel and LaCie.com. The Thunderbolt cable can be
purchased separately on Apple.com. For full specifications and product
information on the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series visit:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10549.
Dang that's expensive!!! Hopefully there will be a flood of t-bolt drives in the coming months driving the price down a bit. LaCie makes a great drive but $399 for 1tb?? Yikes.