GEAR MINI TESTS
BELOW The 2big RAID can power your laptop while daisy chaining five additional drives
LACIE 2BIG RAID 8TB £499/$529 lacie.com
SPECIFICATIONS Capacity: 4, 8 and 16TB Transfer speed: Up to 440MB/s Hard drives: 2x7200rpm IronWolf Pro enterprise-class 3.5in SATA Raid: 2 bay Connection: USB 3.1 Type-C 10Gb/s/ Thunderbolt 3 compatible DimensionWxHxD: 217x180x1219mm/8.5x7.1x14.33in Weight: 2.8kg/6.17lb
computer and turn it on. It boots into life very quickly, is whisper-quiet and doesn’t kick out much heat. The Lacie 2big RAID comes in four, eight and 16TB versions at £399/$419 for the smallest, £499/$529 for the 8TB and £689/$729 for the biggest; we tried the 8TB version. The units are called 2big as each has two different hard drives inside. So, the 4TB has a pair of 2TB drives, the 8TB a pair of 4TB units and two 8TB are in the biggest version. Lacie has chosen Seagate IronWolf Pro enterprise-class units. These are standard-sized 3.5in SATA drives that spin at a fast 7200rpm, and being enterprise class are more rugged, able to handle more vibrations and are longer lasting than regular versions. The drives can be used as a large single drive, but it makes more sense to use them as RAIDs to protect data. This means the capacity is half of the original capacity, but your data is doubled up to provide redundancy in case one drive fails. These are hot- swappable, so if one drive goes down you can pull it out and replace it. Setting up a RAID can be a bit of a faff but the Lacie comes pre-formatted exFAT and has an included toolkit with RAID configurations. It’s simple and easy to use, even for non-techy types, by following the instructions. Or, if you knowwhat you’re doing, you can
Technology is changing at a fast pace, with ever-increasing file sizes from cameras including Raw, ProRes and now even 8K footage, along with powerful computers that need ever-quicker connections tomake transferring files and editing smoother and faster. All this means your old-school hard drive potentially doesn’t cut the mustard in terms of speed, safety and connectivity. Huge capacity SSD drives just aren’t available or affordable yet, andmany tech insiders reckon mechanical HDDs are a better bet for safer, long-term storage. French firmLacie may have made its mark with good-looking hard drives designed by Neil Poulton, and those orange-coloured portable hard drives that just about every filmmaker seems to own at least one of. But they are also at the forefront of desktop drives, as proven by the latest 2big RAID series. First, there is the USB-C connection, the same fitment as Thunderbolt 3 for Mac users. And the new dark grey aluminiumbody of the drive goes well with the latest space grey Mac laptops. The drive comes with a USB-C/ Thunderbolt cable so you can just plug it right in and start immediately. It also comes bundled with a USB-C to conventional USB cable for use in PCs or older Mac computers. Just plug it into the mains, hook up to your
“The newdark grey aluminiumbody of the drive goes well with the latest space greyMac laptops”
reformat it however you like. Transfer rates go up to a speedy 440Mb/s. The transfer is limited by the USB-C connection to 10GB/s rather than the faster 40GB/s maximumof a Thunderbolt 3, but it’s still quick enough to edit 4K files on a MacBook Pro without any slowing or waiting for files to render. There’s a five-year warranty and the drives come with free Seagate data recovery software. We’ve had to use this in the past, and it is one of the best in the business for sure. The drives come with a free, one-month Adobe Creative Cloudmembership, too. AD PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 9/10 Fast discs that come with a hardware RAID for security at an attractive price Pros: Easy RAID set-up, USB-C connection Cons: No SD card slot or display port
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PRO MOVIEMAKER SUMMER 2019
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