Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
For owner of Thunderbolt - outfit Macs who want to put the fancy new interconnect port wine to good use , there are still treasured few option . Thankfully , LaCie has released another , theLittle Big Disk Thunderbolt Edition 240 GB SSD .
Like the other products in LaCie ’s picayune Big Disk line , the Thunderbolt Series are aluminum , portable , external two - private road RAID arrays that can be used in mirror or striped mode . ( you’re able to reconfigure the driveway using OS X ’s Disk Utility . )
The drive is available from theonline Apple Storefor $ 900 . Like with the other Thunderbolt computer memory offerings , LaCie does n’t admit the necessary Thunderbolt cable , whichApple sell for $ 50 .
Also , like the other Thunderbolt parkway we ’ve test , the slight Big Disk SSD has only the Thunderbolt connection . While all of Apple ’s current line of Macs ( away from the Mac Pro ) include Thunderbolt ports , these product would be much more versatile if they had FireWire or USB port . The Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series do propose two Thunderbolt embrasure , however , which grant you daisy chain more Thunderbolt devices or an Apple Cinema Display with Mini DisplayPort .
A driving with a similar design as the LaCie SSD , theLittle Big Disk Quadra($369 for a 1 TB 7200 rpm model ) , can utilise power via FireWire . The Thunderbolt SSD parkway need external index , cause it not as portable as the Quadra . The Thunderbolt connection does provide some bus major power , but not enough for the two SSDs in the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt .
In terms of amphetamine , the LaCie SSD put up some bounteous public presentation numbers . In read tests using the AJA System Test , the SSD reached 478.6MBps , much quicker than the 207.2MBps that the2 TB small Big Disk hard private road ( ) posted , and more than six times as fast as the portable Avastor XMR 1.5 TB ( ) two - driveway maraud ’s score over FireWire 800 . The PromisePegasus R612 TB four - disk Thunderbolt RAID was only 11 percent faster in the read test than the two - drive LaCie SSD . publish tests using AJA were a unlike narrative though , with the Pegasus engender 707.6MBps , versus the LaCie SSD ’s 258.4MBps . The LaCie SSD was still 36 percent quicker than the 2 TB Little Big Disk Thunderbolt hard drive , and 3.5 time dissipated than the Avastor .
In our reading and writing leaflet and files in the Finder , the differences between the results flattened out quite a chip , with the LaCie SSD nipping at the heels of the Pegasus in our Read examination , with a the four - drive foray still putting a lilliputian distance between it and the LaCie SSD .
Macworld’s buying advice
It only works with bolt of lightning - equipped Macs , but for those who can use it , the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Edition 240 GB SSD packs a grownup execution puncher in a modest package .
