LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 external drive, swift but expensive: Review & Specs

With speeds of 205 MB / s read and 122 MB / s write for large files, the LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 disk reinforced bat speed records. Its software is excellent.

LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3

The disc features a LaCie SSD and exceeds 200 MB / s for reading large files in USB 3.0. It also has a Thunderbolt interface.

The promise

LaCie launches a new version of its enhanced external drive. Now has the Rugged USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. LaCie offers a version with a 1TB drive, but also versions with SSD (120 or 256 GB). What is the SSD model performance? Here we brought you the result for LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3, sold about 200 euros.

Reality

The design of the LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 does not change with the enclosure surrounded by a “sheath” orange soft plastic. This protection, it is possible to remove, is very effective against bumps and drops. However, the disc is heavier (about 300 g) and bulkier than average, with a thickness of 2.5 cm. At the rear are two connectors and orange activity LED whose visibility is correct. LaCie delivers a mini-USB cable 3.0 length, but also a Thunderbolt cable.

A well-designed installer

LaCie disk is not directly running on PC and contains only a 660 MB partition of Windows, you must run the setup program that allows you to choose between a Fat32 partition (Mac OS and Windows) NTFS (Windows only) or a mixture of both. The operation is simple and fast. During this phase, you can also install programs Genie Timeline backup and encryption LaCie Private Public. This easily creates a secure area on the disk (AES 256 bits) to store your sensitive data. LaCie also offers a 1-year subscription for 10 GB of online storage.

The fastest 2.5-inch

Thanks to its SSD, the LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 is a true sports car. For the transfer of large files, it was measured rates of 205 MB / s read and 122 MB / s write. In comparison, an excellent drive offers a maximum throughput of about 110 MB / s. Takes less than 6 seconds to copy a 700 MB Divx on Rugged USB 3 and about 3 s for the reverse operation. Rates remain high for reading small files and writing scores are very satisfactory: 73 MB / s for MP3 files and 59 MB / s for photos JPeg (about 40 MB / s for a hard disk). Finally, it was also tested the LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 on Mac OS with the Thunderbolt interface. With the AJA test program, which measures the flows of drives, we get scores of about 385 MB / s read and 195 MB / s write. In comparison, the rates in USB 3.0 in Windows 7 to reach this test 226 MB / s read and 124 MB / s write. The combination of SSD and Thunderbolt therefore sparks Mac OS!
The verdict

If you are looking for an external hard drive of 2.5 inch which is not only super fast but not afraid of everyday accidents such as falls and shocks, the LaCie Rugged 120GB USB3 is a very good choice.

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