I’ve had the pleasure of being able to review LaCie’s 4TB Rugged Mini, and I love it!
A Portable external hard drive, the Rugged Mini is everything you saw from the original (and larger) LaCie Rugged Raid, but in a smaller design that maximizes its portability, all while giving you a nice flashy orange bumper that protects the device from being dropped. While the Larger Rugged dons both a Thunderbolt connection option, and a USB 3.0 connection which obviously connects to your computer, the Rugged Mini stuck to having just a single USB 3.0 port which sits at the top of the hard drive.
Here are some more specs about the LaCie Rugged Mini:
Capacity: 4TB (2 x 2TB)
Interface: Thunderbolt (bus powered), USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 and UAS compatible)
RAID modes: RAID0 (preconfigured), Hardware RAID0/RAID1
Resistance: Dust & Water: IP 54 rated
Shock: drops up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) (in non-operating mode)
Pressure: 1 ton (2205 lbs.)
Security: Password protected, AES 256-bit encryption
System requirements: Thunderbolt: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, USB 3.0: Latest version of Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/Mac OS X 10.6 or later
Dimensions: 1.3 x 3.6 x 5.8 in (34 x 91 x 148 mm)
Weight: 1.2 lbs. (0.56kg)
The LaCie Rugged Mini runs in four different sizes: 500gb, 1tb, 2TB, and 4TB. Perfect for frequent travelers, I actually used the LaCie Rugged Mini at CES in January to transfer data that I didn’t want left sitting on my laptop, as well as storing the movies that wouldn’t fit on my 128gb iPhone 6 Plus.
The Rugged Mini’s orange rubber sleeve added a significant amount of size to the already hefty hard drive. As you can see in the picture below the bumper itself is very protective which will make your device hold up over time.
At 1.2 pounds, without the rubber sleeve, you can tell the difference in weight.
Setting up the LaCie Rugged Mini was simple. All you do is plug it into your laptop and it will recognize a few seconds later. As most Lacie products do, they give you the option to use the Hard Drive for backup memory, which is ideal in the event your Laptop’s hard drive crashes, you have them all of your precious data stashed away.
Personally I feel like the Rugged Mini is made for those students that want a hard drive that isn’t the same old boring black brick you see in department stores. Then again, even that photographer who will be on the go most of the day, the Lacie Rugged Mini is perfect and durable to just toss in the camera bag.
While I wish that it were a wireless drive, you can’t deny how fast the transfer rates are on the Lacie Rugged Mini as a result of it needing to be plugged in to use. Running on a 7,200rpm spinning disk, coupled with the USB 3.0 cable, it’s leaps and bounds faster than the hard drive I purchased a year ago. Downloading a few albums to my MacBook, as well as the latest episode of Arrow(which was about a gigabyte itself) took less than thirty seconds to transfer from my laptop to the Rugged Mini itself, which is pretty fast.
With the Rugged Mini, LaCie offers you file encryption, and power management options such as Genie Backup Assistant and Memeo Backup Premium, you can easily backup your device on a schedule which is perfect, especially if you tend to plug it in to your computer often.
Overall the past month and a half I’ve been using the LaCie Rugged Mini, I’ve actually sold my 1TB hard drive from Best Buy (after transferring everything to the LaCie). I think my documents, and yours as well would be a whole lot better stored somewhere only you could access when you want to. LaCie is that place, specifically with the Rugged Mini.
For more details, head over to LaCie today!
Source: Manufacturer Supplied Review Unit
What I like: Fast transfer rates, overall appearance, super durable
What Needs Improvement: Would love to see a wireless version