LaCie Rugged RAID Pro is a portable RAID solution from the French brand, obviously designed for those who work on-the-road with a strong focus on photographers thanks to the presence of an SD card slot.
Robust, reliable and with a characteristic look by now this disc is an important solution for several reasons, let's see which ones.
LaCie Rugged RAID Pro, the review
More orange than ever
Distinguished by the characteristic look of all LaCie Rugged drives, including the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt with USB-C that the writer reviewed some time ago, the LaCie Rugged RAID Pro offers far more complex and very useful solutions for those with a MacBook recent.
Inside the box, nested in perfect synchrony are the disk, an orange USB-C / USB-C cable, a second black USB-C / USB-A cable (interesting the double color) and an external power supply.
The latter is used when we connect the disk to a poorly powered USB-C port, or which must support other devices in addition to the disk: using a 13 ″ MacBook Pro and a Mac mini 2018, the power supply was not necessary, as well as in conjunction with the Belkin Dock Thunderbolt 3 Pro, which handled the disk very well.
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Two for one or one for two?
The power supply is due to the presence of the two internal physical disks, necessary for the hardware RAID, which is the most important feature of the product.
Through the App Toolkit (free, downloadable from the site) it is possible to modulate the internal RAID in two ways: mirroring for redundancy, useful for a duplicate copy of documents, so that if something happens to a disk, however, there is 'other.
Or in striping, increasing the reading and writing speed, useful if we want to use the disk as a copy of the camera memory.
During the RAID configuration phase, the App not only configures the disks, but also helps the user to choose the right format based on the use between Mac and PC.
We have opted for a RAID 0 (striping), mostly to have the maximum capacity, in HFS +, therefore optimized for macOS (the APFS format does not make sense with mechanical disks) obtaining very good values for a mechanical drive.
Optional, standard
The aesthetics, as we have seen, are nothing new: the porous orange rubber crown (which can be removed) surrounds a satin metal case.
All connectors are placed on the back (just below the designer's vain signature): a USB-C connector accompanies an SD card reader. This detail is very important, because the latest MacBook Pros, unlike the previous design, have lost the SD reader and those who take pictures must have an external reader, having it on the disk is an advantage in itself.
Let's clarify one point though: the disk is not equipped with an internal battery and works only when connected via USB to a Mac or PC, it is not possible to use it wirelessly.
Reading SD cards is quick and easy, there are no drivers to install and basically the disk acts as a HUB.
The only flaw, if you want to mention it, is that the reader is placed in the lower part, when in desktop use it would have been better to put it frontally (the disk usually has the cable pointing towards the back with respect to the user, making it uncomfortable inserting the SD drive.
Considerations
LaCie Rugged RAID Pro is not a common Hard Disk, you understand it from the appearance but also from the technical characteristics: it is not common to see an SD reader in a storage device (but it should be) but above all it is not common to see a RAID system in a portable drive (LaCie isn't the first, but it's still a rare solution).
But it is precisely its specificity that makes it interesting: the typical user is someone who travels a lot and probably works outdoors, perhaps in uncomfortable situations and needs an archiving system that is more than secure in various respects.
Considering that it is a 4TB drive, Raid with accessories, the price to the end user of 319 Euro does not seem high or better, it is absolutely high, but proportional to the services offered.
It is clearly a particular choice, because in the same LaCie price list there are cheaper, more discreet and even faster solutions, but which are designed for a use and a user certainly different from qLaCie Rugged RAID Pro, which instead will make (very) happy those who base his professional activity on rough terrain.
Pro:
• Robust and now characteristic design • Integrated SD reader • Raid system
Cons:
• The position of the SD input is a bit inconvenient • The cost is high (but proportionate)
Price:
• 319.00 Euro (4 TB edition)
LaCie Rugged RAID Pro is distributed in Italy by Attiva.com, and readers can find it in all Apple Premium Resellers in the peninsula, as well as in the best home appliance and computer stores and on Amazon: more info on the LaCie website page.
