Hard drives and solid state drives are fragile pieces of hardware; a single drop from your desk, onto the floor, will cut its life short. You need something rugged, something that can take a beating. You’re a traveling artist, after all. The best external hard drives to consider is the LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive.
Why We Like It – LaCie Rugged Review
Ideal for traveling creatives like photographers and artists thanks to its shock, dust and rain-resistant casing and 4TB (with other options) of storage capacity.
- Large storage capacity of 4TB
- Compact and slim; built for travel
- LaCie Toolkit software is easy to use
- Thunderbolt + USB C model is $100 more
- Average read write speed
Performance
The LaCie Rugged Portable drive really the “rugged” in “rugged portable” to the test, impressing us with its ability to withstand water, dust and drops. Even when having a 1-ton vehicle pressing against its chassis, the data inside didn’t notice whatsoever. If we placed a Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive against that kind of pressure, it’d be crushed, losing all the data inside. A more fragile hard drive that is susceptible to damage is featured in our G technology G drive review.
However, its transfer rate is pretty average. It has a read write speed of 130MB/s. That’s but a fraction of what Toshiba Canvio Basics provides (480MB/s-5Gbit/s). On the flipside, its LaCie Toolkit software makes backing up, schedule, and syncing devices easy for newcomers.
Design
As strong as the LaCie Rugged External Drives are, what’s it like against a drop test? Just as good! It has bright orange rubber covering around the entire perimeter of the LaCie Drive. If you drop it off your desk, it’ll be fit as a fiddle thanks to its rubber protection.
The LaCie Rugged Drive is fitted with USB 3.0 and comes in a variety of storage capacities. You have 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8TB options. There’s also options for Thunderbolt USB + USB Type C, RAID Pro and RAID Shuttle. Also browse to our Maxone ultra slim review for another hard drive with USB 3.0 technology.
Value
Is it worth $145? Absolutely! For a comparison, the Seagate STGY80000 is $145 for 8TB, but lacks the hardy exterior that the LaCie Rugged Hard Drive offers. Given its admittedly average transfer rate and superb design, we can certainly agree that the LaCie Rugged Hard Drive makes up for it.
However, its SSD models ask for a bit too much. Every storage capacity option, like the rugged USB C port model, is almost always $100 more. That’s a tad steep for our recommendation. The mechanical drives will still serve you well.
LaCie Rugged Review Wrap Up
The LaCie Rugged Drive is a slim, compact, large storage hard drive that stands strong against various elements from dropping to water. When you’re traveling often, that makes a huge difference. Sure, its transfer speeds are average, and the SSD/USB-C models are expensive, but the mechanical models will do just fine for your initial needs.
