Storage enthusiasts who will visit CES 2016 will see Seagate's subsidiary LaCie bring out a new array of devices, from Porsche Design drives to an impressive external SSD.
One of the most portable external hard disk drives (HDDs) is the Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim, which has a thickness of only 0.38 inches, meaning that you can easily slide it into your back pocket.
The manufacturer noticed the trend in electronic device finishing and made the HDD available in gold or silver, and both variants get a textured top lid that strongly resembles the texture of a golf ball. Buyers can choose between 1 TB and 2 TB for the HDD and get an extra 200 GB bonus, courtesy of Microsoft OneDrive, for two years.
LaCie announced that the posh class of HDDs, the new Porsche Design lineup, will receive USB-C ports for faster speeds. Clients who want to have the sleek metallic storage box at their disposal can get a Porsche Design Mobile drive in 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB models.
The models from the Porsche lineup are a tad thicker than the Ultra Slim, with thicknesses ranging from 0.39 to 0.79 inches. The addition of the USB-C ports makes them adept at working with notebooks and PCs that already have the standard or last-gen USB ports.
The most affordable Porsche Design Mobile drive has 1 TB memory and costs $109.95.
The Porsche Design Desktop Drive is the larger, more advanced storage device that can host up to 8 TB of storage.
The smaller models feature 4 TB and 5 TB, respectively, and you can get the cheapest of them for $209.95.
A true asset of the Porsche Design Desktop Drive is that its USB-C connector lets users charge notebooks such as Google's Chromebook Pixel or Apple's MacBook.
The solid aluminum enclosure that distinguishes the Porsche Design line resists well to scratches and protects the mechanics of the hard drive, while also dissipating heat for optimal performance.
Last year, the LaCie Fuel wireless HDD appeared on a list of vulnerable storage devices, but updating the firmware apparently resolved the security issues.
Those who have a knack for lavish items will immediately notice the fancy addition in LaCie's lineup of external HDDs: the Chromé, designed by Scottish industrial designer Neil Poulton.
Shaped like a shiny, sleek brick emerging graciously from a round base, the device is a beast under its elegant metallic sheets. It bundles two internal 512 GB SATA M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) in a RAID 0 configuration. This means that not only do you get 1 TB of memory, but more importantly, writing and reading speeds are lightning fast.
RAID 0 is better used in applications that make use of high performance and can tolerate lower reliability, for example in computer gaming or scientific computing.
Chromé utilizes a 10 Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface, which works through a USB-C port. This ensures that users see speeds as high as 940 Mbps.
The device might remind some of you of the opulent HDDs of the past, such as the Mirror and Christofle Sphere drives.
If the specs tempt you, know that owning such a jewel of a storage device will set you back about $1,100.
Check it out for free by watching the video below.
