Product Description

LaCie's 120GB Rugged Hard Disk provides the all-terrain protection you need for the real world. With a shock resistant rubber sleeve, protective scratch resistant aluminum shell and internal anti-shock rubber bumpers, LaCie provides the best protection of your data. The Rugged Hard Disk has triple-interface universal connectivity. FireWire 800 is exceptionally fast with a transfer rate of up to 800Mbits per second. FireWire 400 and USB2.0 provide universal connectivity options for sharing and exchanging files. The compact, pocket-sized form factor and convenient plug and play design is perfect for users on the go. Box ships with: LaCie Rugged Hard Disk designed by Neil Poulton, FireWire 800 (9-to-9 pin) cable, FireWire 400 (6-to-9 pin) cable, Hi-speed USB2.0 cable (USB 1.1 compatible), USB power sharing cable, Quick Install Guide, User Manual, LaCie '1-click' Backup Software (Windows/Mac), LaCie Silverkeeper Backup Software (Mac), LaCie Silverlining Software (Windows/Mac). System Requirements: Computer with a USB or FireWire port, Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista/ Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Intel Pentium II 350MHz compatible processor or greater/G3 processor or greater, minimum 128MB RAM.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25261 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Orange
• Brand: LaCie
• Model: 301015
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
• Memory: 32MB
• Hard Disk: 120GB

Features

• Ultra durable 120 GB USB/FireWire portable storage for people on the go
• USB or FireWire powered; no bulky power adapter required
• Drop-resistant aluminum alloy shell with bumpers can withstand vertical drops of up to 35 inches
• Includes USB cable and USB power sharing cable
• Measures 3.5 x 1 x 5.7 inches (WxHxD); weighs less than 9 ounces; 2-year limited warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
The LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 301015 120 GB USB 2.0/FireWire400/FireWire800 Portable Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton, is built to survive the harsh elements of the real world. This durable, portable storage drive offers 120 GB of storage along with a universal high-speed USB 2.0 connection and FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 interfaces. This high-performance drive is built with a rugged, drop-resistant aluminum alloy shell and a shock-resistant rubber bumper, making it the ultimate solution for your on-the-go data needs.

LaCie's Rugged All-Terrain 120 GB USB 2.0/FireWire400/FireWire800 Portable Hard Drive offers: Rugged drop-resistant and shock-resistant enclosure. FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces. 120 GB of disc space with super-fast transfer rates of up to 800 Mbits/s. Driver-less operation for simple set up.

With FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB, the Rugged All-Terrain has near-universal compatibility. View larger.

The Rugged All-Terrain's stunning look was designed by world-renown designer Neil Poulton. View larger.

The Rugged All-Terrain withstands bumps and shocks to keep your data safe and secure.

Ultra-Portable Data Shuttle
If you travel a lot with your data, the Rugged All-Terrain is the drive is for you. Perfect for users who need backup, storage and large-volume exchange for office files, photos, music and even video clips, the Rugged All-Terrain is powered by the FireWire or USB connection, which means that it uses the power of the connected computer to operate and doesn't require an additional AC adapter or power cord.

The Rugged All-Terrain offers the triple-interface convenience of high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity (which is USB 1.1 backward compatible) along with both FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 interfaces. With this triple-interface functionality, along with the drive's driver-free and plug-and-play features, exchanging data between Macs and PCs is as easy as it gets. The Rugged All-Terrain even comes with a USB power-sharing cable for low powered USB hubs/computers. (The Rugged All-Terrain requires no extra drivers for Windows XP/2000/Vista and Mac OS X operating systems.)

This high-performance drive features a spin speed of 5400 rpm, an 8 MB cache, and a transfer rate of up to 800 Mbits per second via the FireWire 800 connection. Measuring a mere 3.5 x 1 x 5.7 inches (WxHxD) and weighing less than nine ounces, the Rugged All-Terrain is designed to travel and will fit easily in your briefcase or backpack. Take it with you on business trips and vacations, or use it for transferring files from one desktop computer to another.

Included with the drive are LaCie software bundles to enhance its performance and functionality, including LaCie's 1-Click Backup Software (for Mac and PC) and SilverKeeper Backup Software (Mac).

Mobile, All-Terrain Protection
Designed exclusively for LaCie by world-renowned designer Neil Poulton, the Rugged All-Terrain is built like an off-road vehicle, ready to withstand the bumps and bruises of your travels. Its unique, scratch-protected aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper make it especially resistant to harsh elements. In fact, the drive is designed to withstand vertical drops of up to 35 inches while in non-operating mode. (Dropping the drive while it's in operation, however, could cause damage, so be careful!)

For additional styling points, the Rugged All-Terrain can be outfitted with additional colorful bumpers that will keep your drive protected. Easy-to-change and durable once on, they are made of the same quality rubber as the original bright orange Rugged sleeve. The optional set, which is sold separately, includes green-grey, blue-grey, and black bumpers.

The LaCie Rugged All-Terrain Portable Hard Drive is backed by a 2-year limited warranty.

About LaCie
Established in France in 1989, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of computer peripherals for Windows, Apple and Linux users. With offices and plants in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong, LaCie develops and manufactures external storage solutions and color monitors that help professionals and everyday people easily manage their digital lives. LaCie has differentiated its products through original designs and leading-edge technology.

What's in the Box
Rugged All-Terrain drive, FireWire 800 cable, FireWire 400 cable, USB 2.0 cable, USB power-sharing cable, quick start guide, LaCie utilities CD-ROM including user's manual and utilities.

Optional bumpers let you easily change the look of your Rugged All-Terrain.

From the manufacturer
The exclusive creation of world-renown designer Neil Poulton, this portable storage solution offers the supreme speed of FireWire 800 along with FireWire 400 and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interfaces for true universal connectivity. Conveniently bus-powered and plug and play, it’s ideal for backup, video storage and large data volume exchange on the go. Simply plug it into just about any computer anywhere for backup, video storage and large data volume exchange. Its unique scratch-protected aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper make the LaCie Rugged Hard Drive especially resistant to harsh elements for extra protection along the road of your adventures.

Customer Reviews

Amazing Speed and Durability from Abusive College
Ruggedness:

This thing takes a likin and keeps on tickin. I'm a college student and wanted to be able to edit pictures on-the-go instead of confined into my room, but still maintain speed, reliability, and size. I use it almost exclusively for my Aperture photo library, and I must say it its quite fast. I've dropped it a few times and throw it in my computer backpack with my MacBook Pro and its with throughout the day around my campus.

I got it because of the sturdiness and the fact that's its one of the few portable, but powered FW800 drives, allowing fast transfers with large files, as well as daisychaining other devices to it without slowdown in speed; I have confirmed this through my own informal testing with 100gb transfers. I love that there is no AC adapter but its just as fast as most external powered drives, except maybe my Lacie RAID drive at home.

With Photoshop and Aperture:

If you've ever gone into the Photoshop settings, you'll notice it recommends to have a scratch disk separate from the disk Photoshop is on. Also, most pros know to have even the pictures on a separate disk for optimal speed. Aperture and Photoshop go must faster with this disk hooked up, since the built in drive isn't bouncing around between Photoshop, system, and picture files. Also, since Aperture views and manipulates a lot of photos at once, I've notices a serious speed advantage when using FW400, FW800, and USP in my own testing with this drive.

Triple Interface:

The FW800 is fantastic. I hook it to my big external raid drive at home. You can actually daisychain another device to it, either a FW400 or FW800, depending on the port you use. The other device can be powered too. So you don't necessarily need a second FW800 like on bigger hard drives to do daisychaining.

I've hooked my Rugged HD directly to my notebook, with a big hard drive hooked to that, with my scanner and printer hooked to the big hard drive. Meaning, I have 4 devices hooked to my itty bitty HD without loss of speed: yup, while printing, I still got transfer speeds of almost 60mb per second.

This also means I don't need to use a hub.

Speed Testing:

This depends for every HD; 1GB of little files transfers faster than one 1GB file. But I get between 35mb and 60mb per second on 100gb transfers. My old Firelite USG got about 12-15mb per/s, and a more modern cheap Western digital got 20-25. There is a difference between all three interfaces. My Lacie RAID gets up to 80mb/sec.

Overall:

Yes it's a little pricey, but the thing is fast and durable. Plus, the much more fragile G-Techs, the only other big name FW800 portable drives, are even more money. If you need something that goes with you on the go quite frequently and is fast, this is the drive for you. And if your notebook had FW800, don't skip out on spending the extra money on this one. The HD is a little bigger than most portable HD, but it has more airspace inside to protect the disk from impact. To most people, the size difference isn't that noticeable.

Oh yes, and the rubber ring stays on secure, but is pretty easy to take off, and has screws going around so you can probably put a bigger drive into it in the future.

Great little drive
120GB is just the right size to backup the 100GB disk on My MacBook Pro. I used the FW400 interface (it comes with FW400, FW800, and USB2) and the data moves along at almost 1GB/min, which is fine for me.

It does suck down the battery in my laptop, but I like that there is only one wire to wory about (no external wall wart). A 50GB backup just about flattened a full laptop battery.

My drive came formatted as MacOS Extended (111.78GB capacity) and all I had to do was plug it in and start draging files over to it. Super quiet too.

I had to return it
I hope the drive that I received was an anomaly because LaCie usually makes great products. This drive ran great except for one thing, it ran HOT. I measured a surface temperature of 122F/49C in an ambient temperature of 72F after a run time of 30 minutes. My other portable drives run below 100F. I called LaCie and they told me I didn't need to worry until the temperature reached 125F. To me a 3 degree margin is entirely unacceptable. Luckily Amazon was great about giving me a refund. On the positive side the triple interface is great and the price is reasonable. The rugged feature of this drive is also nice and I imagine it works far better than strategically wrapping rubber bands around a portable drive.