Four LaCie Thunderbolt Storage Devices Now Compatible With Windows

By Rexly Peñaflorida
published

Thunderbolt is making its way from Apple products to the PC with more hardware manufacturers adopting the new I/O, which has blazing fast data transfer speeds that are especially ideal for working with video and audio. One of the latest manufacturers to provide Thunderbolt capabilities for PC users is LaCie, which now has four storage products that work across Mac and PC platforms.

The storage capacity ranges from 3 TB to 48 TB across four devices. It's compatible with Windows 7 and 8, so all you need to do is install the drivers on your Thunderbolt-enabled PC, and you should be ready to work.

At the bottom of the range is the d2, which offers 3 TB, 4 TB, and 6 TB capacities at $299, $399 and $499, respectively. Additionally, LaCie claims the d2's speeds can reach up to 220 Mbps. The d2 features two Thunderbolt 2 ports along with a single USB 3.0 port.

Next up is the 2big, which features RAID capabilities across two disks and speeds up to 420 Mbps. The 2big comes in 6 TB, 8 TB, and 12 TB capacities that will cost $599, $799 and $999, respectively, and it features the same two Thunderbolt 2 ports and USB 3.0 port as the d2.

The 5big features RAID across five disks and removes the USB 3.0 port, rolling exclusively with the two Thunderbolt 2 ports. It comes in 10 TB, 20 TB, and 30 TB configurations and will cost you $1,299, $1,999 and $2,999, respectively. In regards to 4K video editing, the company claims the 5big can reach speeds of 1050 Mbps.

At the top of the list is the 8big Rack, which features 8 bays in a 1U rack along with RAID features. Once again, only the Thunderbolt 2 ports are included. It comes in 12 TB, 24 TB and 48 TB capacities and will cost $1,599, $2,599, and $4,599, respectively. For 4K video editing, it can reach speeds up to 1330 Mbps.

All of these devices work with both Mac and Windows, so it won't be difficult to move data between platforms. These devices might not be for the average user, but those who need the space and performance for a workstation could benefit from LaCie's latest external storage family members.

Update, 2/5/15, 8:05am - Fixed typo.

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Rexly Peñaflorida
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • claec
    "10 GB, 20 GB, and 30 GB" = TB, perhaps?

    Also, the transfer rates are listed at Mb/s, whereas LaCie lists them at MB/s.
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    Good catch... though I'm so used to seeing b and B misapplied that I automatically apply a "what makes sense" filter when I see them referenced.

    I've got the Lacie SSD little big disk and I can attest that when Lacie says "1.2 GB/s throughput) they're not exaggerating... my unit runs almost exactly that fast for large file transfers. Only problem with the SSD LBD is that it's not 'strictly speaking' windows compatible. I can see it in the Thunderbolt device list in windows but I have to use MacDrive Pro to properly mount the array... I'm guessing the 'windows compatible' arrays in the article don't rely on the OS for array functionality.
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    Just in time for the technology to be discontinued....
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    Until 10gbe goes mainstream (which is not happening very fast), or maybe a new USB standard comes out that can compete (will have to get 4x faster than USB3)... Thunderbolt isn't going anywhere.
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    Until 10gbe goes mainstream (which is not happening very fast), or maybe a new USB standard comes out that can compete (will have to get 4x faster than USB3)... Thunderbolt isn't going anywhere.
    USB doesn't have to improve anything to beat TB, because TB is killing itself with $50 cable prices. I mean, they're selling used TB cables at amazon for over £20! Would you even contemplate buying a used USB cable?
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    They are stupid expensive... I'll give you that, but overall TB2 is a lot cheaper than 10gbe to use for removable storage (and it's twice as fast). I don't know if we'll ever see it used for low cost PC gear... but on the high end of the market it's gaining traction.
    Reply
  • Calvin Huang
    Do you require MacDrive in Windows even when the SSD is formatted as exFAT?
    Reply
  • FireWire2
    DATOptic.com has a whole range of Thunderbolt can run both Windows and MAC for years. From 4x drives to 24x drives - SAS technology included... This is not new
    http://www.datoptic.com/ec/jbod-raid-data-storage-solutions/thunderbolt.html
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    15227025 said:
    Do you require MacDrive in Windows even when the SSD is formatted as exFAT?

    I'm no Mac guru, but while I can mount windows formatted usb devices in OSX I can't write to them (read only)... The SSD LBD is a bit odd because it's actually a 2 drive array, and that's why it takes MacDrive Pro to access from windows, the default formatting is for OSX and while it looks like I could configure it as 2 x 512GB windows drives... that would sort of defeat the purpose (I use the 1.3GB/s write speed to offload video from camera storage)
    Reply