LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle
Designed with professionals in mind—from filmmakers to photographers to musicians—the $529.99 LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle is aimed at anyone who works in the field and produces large amounts of data they can't afford to lose. And it does that job well enough to be our new Editors' Choice for rugged external hard drives. The crush-resistant gray brushed-aluminum case actually houses two physical drives, with RAID settings allowing either an 8TB capacity and fast performance, or a safer 4TB with a copy of each file on each drive. The unit also meets the IP54 spec for dust and water resistance, and it is rated to survive a 4-foot fall. As a final touch, it fits easily in a gear bag or in a padded overnight express envelope to let pros send files to the office or studio when data connections are slow or non-existent.
It's All in the Name: RAID, Plus Rugged
The Rugged RAID Shuttle fits right in with LaCie's line of Rugged drives, which has a well-earned reputation for reliability. Available in an 8TB capacity only, the unit looks like a single hard drive to your OS. But the combination of form factor, gray case, and silicone protective bumper around the edge—the same orange color as a weatherproof outdoor extension cord—makes it look like nothing so much as a small tablet for children, waiting to be powered on. Roughly the size and shape of a 5.25-inch internal drive, at 1.1 by 6.8 by 6 inches, it weighs 2.1 pounds. Inside the case are two platter-based 5,400rpm Seagate Barracuda drives, a matched set of 2.5-inch 4TB drives side by side.
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