Pile It On with LaCie 5big Network Drive

LaCie's 5big Network network storage device offers up to 7.5 terabytes of hot-swappable storage and supports seven RAID modes.

Peripheral and accessories maker LaCie has rolled out its 5Big Network storage device, which features support for 5 hot-swappable hard disks, along with gigabit Ethernet and support for seven RAID modes. All told the device can offer up to 7.5 terabytes of network-accessible storage—which might be enough to get production studios and some small businesses drooling—although LaCie is also offering the 5big Network in 2.5 and 5 TB configurations.

"The LaCie 5big Network delivers the best storage RAID value for workgroups and medium-sized offices," said LaCie’s product manager for SOHO NAS solutions Edin del Mar, in a statement. "Now small companies can benefit not only from huge capacities and extra security, but also from a complete backup solution for their business."

The NAS device offers seven raid modes (including RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6, RAID 0 and RAID 10 (a.k.a RAID 1+0), gigabit Ethernet connectivity, three eSATA expansion ports (and one USB 2.0 port) for adding other storage devices, and sports a power-sipping standby mode that pulls just 10 Watts. The system which with SMB, AFP (Macintosh), FTP, and HTTP servers, Apple Boujour and (ahem) BitTorrent capability, a wake-on-LAN feature that can turn the device on and off via the network, Active Directory support, email alerts for notifications and any failures, along with single-click importing of data from external hard drives, USB keys, cameras, and other devices. The system supports up to 25 concurrent users.

The 7.5 terabyte version of the 5big Network goes for a suggested price of $1,899; the 5 TB version carries a price of $1,399 and the 2.5 TB version goes for a paltry $899.