LaCie offers Rugged Mini hard drive

Peripheral maker LaCie is shipping a more compact version of its Rugged external hard drive line, offering up to 1TB of storage in a bus-powered portable device with a high-speed USB 3.0 interface.

The LaCie Rugged Mini is 40 per cent smaller than existing models and weighs 240g, but keeps the shock and drop-resistant design that can withstand up to one ton of pressure and a fall from 1.2m when in non-operating mode, according to the firm.

It is available in 500GB and 1TB capacities based on 5,400rpm hard disks, while a third model also offers 500GB but spins at a higher 7,200rpm speed, which reduces latency and can deliver slightly improved performance.

All Rugged Mini models are completely bus powered and feature the high-speed USB 3.0 interface with its line speed of up to 5Gbit/s.

This allows the drive to transfer a HD movie in under three minutes, 1,000 MP3 music files in 42 seconds or 2,000 photos in about one minute, according to LaCie.

LaCie includes AES data encryption software with the drives, which are compatible with Mac and PC systems.

The Rugged Mini is available from the LaCie Online Store starting at £89.90.