LaCie Rugged Mini 1 TB

Today we're looking at a member of LaCie's Rugged range of external hard drives, in the shape of the Mini, a tough external hard drive with a self-powered USB 3.0 interface.  

The LaCie Rugged Mini external hard drive has the same basic design as the larger Rugged drive: it's shock resistant for falls from heights of up 1.2 m and splash resistant too.  LaCie also claims that it's new hard drive still worked perfectly after going under the wheels of a one tonne car.

It's available in three sizes: 500 GB, 1 TB and 1.5 TB.

Performance

We've got used to excellent performances from LaCie's Rugged range and today's product is no exception, and is right at the top of the table.  With read speeds of 116 MB/s and write speeds of 114 MB/s, it even comes close to rivaling larger 3.5'' format drives.

Portability

With a volume of 220 cm³, the Mini is smaller than previous Rugged drives.  It slides very easily into a pocket, especially now that you can remove the rubber sleeve, which slims it down to 124 cm³, making it the smallest 2.5'' drive yet.  But be careful—without the extra rubber, it's less resistant.