Backing up data is getting more and more important, since although much of our critical stuff is in the cloud, we’re all generating so many pictures, videos, documents and so on that it’s wise to keep a local copy. Many people use external drives to back up, which is fine, but if you want any automated stuff, or server capabilities, you have to update to a network-attached storage system, and they aren’t all that user friendly.

LaCie has updated their devices with a pretty new operating system they call NAS OS, which they hope will make backup and serving easier. Let’s just take a quick look.

Here’s your little home screen. A bit cluttered, I’d say, could use a few larger buckets for easier operation by non-enthusiasts. But there’s plenty of at-a-glance info there:

Capacity, share and service management:

The main changes aren’t super major, but worth having. Better RAID support, works on Lion, scheduled up/down time, centralized multi-device backup management, and of course the shiny new interface. Unfortunately only three devices are eligible to upgrade right now, the Network 2 series d2, 2big, and 5big.

More information over at LaCie.

Let’s say you’re LaCie, manufacturer par excellence of mid-to-high-end external hard drives. Are you LaCie now? Good. And let’s say you’ve put out a Rugged hard drive and a Rugged XL hard drive. Where do you go next? XXL? Extra-regular size? No, no, you put on your robe and marketing hat and, because you now know people like small things, you decide to make the Rugged Mini. Genius!

As you can see, it’s small enough to fit in your pocket, though I don’t think it’ll look very natural.

Yes, LaCie’s new drive is rugged-ish and small. These things aren’t waterproof or bulletproof (the aluminum enclosure is thin and perforated), but it’s big rubber bumper protects against jostles, drops, and so on.

The USB 3.0-powered Mini will come in 500GB ($100, $120 for 7200RPM) and 1TB ($160) flavors. Available “soon” but not immediately.

Lacie’s Wuala online storage site offers users a great way to securely save and share encrypted files. Today, they announced an iPhone app to take advantage of the service on-the-go. The app allows users to access and share files with others right on the iDevice. Wuala encrypts and decrypts on the client side so none of the private data can ever be accessed by Wuala. They won’t ask, as long as you don’t tell, what it is that you’re hiding.

Press Release

It’s actually not a traditional HDD, since those would have trouble keeping up with the 10Gb/s (up to 700MB/s in LaCie’s tests) throughput provided by the interface. Instead, inside it are two 250GB Intel SSDs in RAID 0, with a combined bandwidth of… well, a lot.

The whole thing weighs about 1.5 pounds, and is encased in the ripply-aluminum material of which LaCie is so fond.

One handy feature that will likely be common to most TB devices: you can daisy chain drives, and even attach a monitor on the end. Handy! But not really the most likely setup.

Of course, having two discrete SSD units of such large capacity is going to make the Little Big Drive ridiculously expensive. A single 250GB Intel 510 drive will run you over $500, so this little LaCie guy is going to break the bank for sure. It should be available in the summer.

The trouble comes when you have to plug it in. There are two issues.

First, on the fashion front, if you have anything to do with a computer while you are being fashion conscious, there’s something amiss. Most people using a laptop don’t have to look good doing it. And of course, the laptop itself is likely to be vulgar plastic, and union of such base design with this sleek silver semicircle seems unnatural.

Second, look at that chubby little thing. It’s going to block like three ports! As nice as the scalloping and silver are, it’s clear the designers weren’t thinking of usability. I mean, it’s not really about usability, but still.

The 4GB Galet costs $130. Stop, I don’t want to hear it! This is a luxury item, people.

I mean, look at it. They’ve obviously designed it after tank treads, and it looks like it could take a beating and keep your 2.5″ external drive (like the Rikiki Go), Nintendo DS, camera, or Pokeball intact. I don’t think it can be submerged, but it could certainly take a splash.

£20 (probably $30 US) is a lot to pay for a box, but if you travel a lot, it might be a good idea. Think of it like the hard cases photographers and other professionals use to keep their gear safe.

Fast and Tiny: LaCie FastKey Goes from 0 to 260MB/s in 26cm3

· Lightning-fast speed up to 260MB/s*
· World’s smallest SSD USB 3.0 drive
· Ultra-secure AES 256-bit encryption
· Stylish and sturdy metal casing

PARIS, FRANCE, November 18, 2010 – Today LaCie announces the smallest SSD USB 3.0 drive, delivering speeds up to 260MB/s – LaCie FastKey. Small enough to hide in the palm of your hand, LaCie’s FastKey can transfer 1000 mp3 or five DIVX files in less than 30 seconds.

100 Times Faster than USB 2.0
While the FastKey can perform up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0, its peak performance goes far beyond that. Combining the performance of SSD, USB 3.0 and DRAM cache technology, the FastKey can write small files up to 100 times faster than your average USB 2.0 hard drive.

“With most flash drives, transferring a large number of photos and mp3 files can take a few minutes,” said Luc Pierart, Business Unit Manager, Personal Storage, LaCie. “With the Fastkey, transferring small files is immediate. You can back up or share your music and photos libraries as you head out the door.”

Compact Metal Design
Combining the highly robust solid-state flash technology, with sturdy aluminum casing, the FastKey ensures your data is as safe as it is mobile. But don’t mistake its high capacity for a 2.5” mobile SSD. The LaCie FastKey packs 120GB into a sleek flash drive (measuring just 26cm3) with no wasted space. And with the included strap, users can secure the FastKey to a keychain or bag for additional on-the-go convenience.

Full Data Protection
The LaCie FastKey not only protects data from the outside, it includes software AES 256-bit encryption – so your data is secure no matter how it’s used. Simply choose the amount of capacity you want to encrypt, and access it with a custom password. Now you can pass the FastKey to colleagues and friends and know your personal files are secure. If privacy is a priority, you can encrypt the full capacity.

For even more storage and sharing options, the LaCie FastKey also comes with 4GB of secure online storage from Wuala.

Availability

The LaCie FastKey is available in 30GB, 60GB and 120GB capacities through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Corner, and LaCie Reseller+ starting at $149.99. For more product information, visit www.lacie.com.

Inside the 2mm aluminum casing is a 500GB hard drive and USB 3.0 connectivity. The good looks will cost you though. The drive will hit retailers shortly at $109.

The high-end monitor scene just got a whole more interesting with the addition of the LaCie 324i. This 1920 x 1200 10-bit IPS bad boy offers a huge color gamut of 102 percent NTSC, 98 percent Adobe RGB along with a 178-degree viewing angle and an anti-glare coating. A nice assortment of DVI-D, HDMI, DisplayPort and Component Video are found on the backpanel alongside a two port USB 2.0 hub. Sounds great, huh? Well, hope you have the boss’s credit card handy, because this display isn’t low-cost at $1,249.99 — or in other words, $250 more than the larger 27-inch Apple Cinema Display.

The Wireless Space is a perfect all-in-one solution for many households. The back panel houses three Ethernet jacks and two USB ports. Inside is 802.11 b/g/n wireless access point and router along with either a 1TB or 2TB hard drive. The box supports UPnP / DLNA media streaming, remote file access, and is fully compatible with OS X’s Time Machine. The Wireless Space is available today with Apple Time Capsule-busting prices of $229 and $349 depending on the amount of internal storage.

Other than the monkey bit, these are bog-standard hard drives in brushed aluminum cases and plenty of speed for grabbing big files. The Rikki starts at $99 while the Miniumus starts at $129.

Rikki
Minimus

It comes in 4GB ($18), 8GB ($28), and (soon) 16GB ($38 maybe?) flavors and also includes online storage at Wuala, in case you couldn’t find a way to store things online at the five billion free storage sites out there.

The Xtremkey has an alloy shell that seals up and protects what’s inside against… well, just watch the video.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. But just so you have the numbers, it’s waterproof to 100m, drop-proof to 5m, temperature-proof to 392°F down to -58°F. And it’s 10-ton truck proof.

It also seems to be a reasonably fast USB 2.0 device, at 30/40MBps read/write performance. Looks pretty damn solid. I’ll have to put it up against my Survivor to be sure, though.

The drive comes in both 500GB and 1TB flavors, but alas neither USB 3.0 or eSATA is available although the drive does rock Firewire in addition to USB 2.0. All the extra security and manly toughness costs a bit more with with the 500GB version retailing for $189 and the 1TB costing $299. It’s obviously up to you if you need the equivalent of the A-Team protecting your data.

It’s also got a USB 2.0 interface, so you can use it as a normal hard drive as well. Capacity is either 2TB or 4TB, though if I’m not mistaken, effective capacity is half that. After all, there are only two drives in there and they’re mirroring each other exactly. 4TB of space would require two 4TB hard drives… and those don’t exist yet. $480 for a total of 2TB of space is a bit insane if you ask me.

You might remember the Drobo FS that debuted a month or so back that shares many of these features. The LaCie is cheaper, but the limited capacity really kind of sinks it if you need a versatile or professional solution. For a little light storage and torrenting, the Network Space MAX will be fine, but if you need expandability and more options on the accessibility front, the Drobo is a necessary buy — though it’s significantly more expensive.

If you have any doubt that USB 3.0 is a big step forward in data transfer, check out the new LaCie 2Big RAID drive. This puppy can see throughput speeds of 275 MB/s. Let me say it for you, daaaamn. Now all you need is a USB 3.0 motherboard or PCI-E card. Good thing both are now available.

The 2Big uses Symwave’s USB 3.0 standard-compliant dual SATA and RAID bridge controller and a dual-disk RAID o/1 setup to hit those numbers. But LaCie says with this type of throughput, users can stream and edit multiple HD files simultaneously.

Specific pricing and availability on the 2Big hasn’t been announced just yet, but this is just the first USB 3.0 product from LaCie anyway. The company has a whole line prepared that takes full advantage of the new spec and we can’t wait. No need to jump on the first boat out of town.

The USB 2.0 self-powered Rikiki measures in at 109.7x75x13.4 mm, which is just over a full inch shorter than the small Seagate FreeAgent line. The drives are available now with prices start at $74.99 for the 250GB and climb to $109 and $149 respectively for the 500GB and 640GB options.

The Smallest of its Species: LaCie Rikiki
Size does matter–resistance too.

December 15, 2009

Ultra compact, high capacity
· Aluminum exterior for sturdy data protection
· USB Boost and backup software included
· Plug & play on Mac® and PC

PARIS, FRANCE (Dec 15) – Today, LaCie introduced the most compact 2.5” hard drive on the market – LaCie Rikiki, in metal. Measuring just a mere 110cm3, its sophisticated form factor holds up to 640GB of media that you won’t mind storing in a pocket or purse.

Encased in brushed, sturdy aluminum, the LaCie Rikiki, which means “tiny” in French, represents a resilient aesthetic that protects your media from everyday blunders and unwelcome fingerprints. Its lightweight design makes it a perfect companion for keeping your digital world close at hand.

“We are part of a generation that wants more from our electronics, but in the smallest form factor possible, and with a competitive price,” said Anne-Sophie Marchand, Consumer Product Manager. “With the LaCie Rikiki, we have done just that by fitting high-performance and high-capacity in the palm of your hand, for under $100.”

Leveraging the versatile USB 2.0 interface, the LaCie Rikiki is instantly compatible with your PC or Mac. Simply plug it in and you’re ready to store and share your favorite media with high-speed performance. LaCie Rikiki also offers USB Boost software for enhancing speeds up to 33% (Windows® only).

LaCie Rikiki also comes with a simplified software suite – for quick setup and easy-to-use backup management – enabling complete configuration in just a few clicks. The LaCie Rikiki is an all-in-one solution for storage mobility.

Availability
The LaCie Rikiki will be available in 250GB, 500GB, and 640GB capacities through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Reseller+, and LaCie Corner, starting at the suggested retail price of $74.99 (excluding VAT). For more information, visit www.lacie.com.