LaCie Toughens Up Rugged XL Hard Drive to 1 TB

Looking for a lot of storage that can take the bumps and scrapes of your busy lifestyle? La Cie's Rugged XL external hard drives now sport a 1 TB capacity.

Storage and accessory maker LaCie has rolled out a new 1 TB edition of its Rugged XL external hard drive. The ruggedized drive features an aluminum casing and a you-can’t-possibly-miss-it bright orange rubber sleeve that keeps the drive from sliding around and also protects it from bumps and scrapes. And, as befits a large capacity drive, the Rugged XL sports both eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces…although Mac users may be a little left out by the omission of a FireWire port. The eSATA port can sustain transfers up to 80 MB/s, while the USB 2.0 port can handle 30 MB/s.

“Since the launch of the original Rugged drive, users have shared stories of admiration for the robust materials, functionality, and design of the Rugged family of hard drives,” said LaCie desktop hard disk product manager Lise Manteau, in a statement. “It was a natural progression to expand the Rugged family and offer customers the same durability and style in a solution suited for safeguarding data in the desktop environment.”

And if the orange casing wasn’t enough to attract your attention, the drive also features an orange LED strip on its underside to indicate power and activity.

The 1 TB version of the Rugged XL is priced at $159.99.