LaCie has announced a new 500 GB version of its Rugged Hard Disk, available with either a USB 2.0 interface or with FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and USB 2.0 interfaces. And even better for storage fiends on the go, the drives are bus-powered, so there’s no need to carry around a separate external AC adapter…although folks with low-power USB ports will need to use the included power-sharing USB 2.0 cable that can draw more juice off a second USB port.
“The Rugged Hard Disk is one of LaCie’s most popular products and has been so for a number of years,” said LaCie mobile product manager Nolwenn Rozen, in a statement. “We recently upgraded capacity to 320 GB, and now with recent innovations, we are able to increase it again. With all LaCie products, we will continue to push the envelope on capacity as technology permits.”
The new Rugged Hard Disk sports a 2.5-inch Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 hard disk, and ships with LaCie Setup Assistant for formatting the drive according to a user’s platform, and “1-Click” backup software for both Windows and Macintosh. LaCie says the drives are fully compatible with Mac OS X Leopard’s Time Machine integrated backup utility. The drive case was designed by Neil Poulton and feature a scratch-resistant aluminum shell and a shock-resistant rubber bumper to protect the drive against the bumps and thumps of traveling.
The drives are available now; the USB 2.0-only edition is priced at $339.99, while the triple-interface edition is priced at $399.99. Smaller capacity versions of the Rugged Hard Drive are also available.
