Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have been using the thunderbolt back drive for my MacBook Pro 15" and it has worked great. Although I have reformatted the drive removing the software that was installed. One thing that has happened many times is the disk will mount and unmount several times for no apparent reason, I did narrow it down further and thought at one point it was Parallels. I had a hunch in might the cable and switched from the stock cable to the Apple thunderbolt cable I have and have yet to see a reoccurrence. I hope this will help someone else, otherwise no issues its very fast.

Check out the two screen shot images attached to this review. This little sucker is fast. I measured it on a Macbook Pro running Mavericks using Superduper which monitors the current copy speed. Thunderbolt speed ranges between 70 and 280 mb/s, usually running over 100, i suppose depending on file size. For comparison, connecting it with the USB v3 cable that came in the package it ran between 35 and 40 mb/s. The fact that it also has USB 3 makes it flexible. As packaged the setup software defaults to a small 220 gb FAT32 format partition and a larger Mac extended journaled format, so you can connect it to a Windows PC too. I deleted this so i could simply mirror my 1tb internal hard drive. But it shows good, well-thought out engineering. It is also nice that it has no external power supply. That will take your laptop battery down in a few hours, if you are not plugged in and using it for an extended period of continuous copying (initial backup). But in most circumstances, the laptop is plugged in and this is not a problem. The rubber shock frame seems sturdy. Con: My only warning is that it runs pretty hot under continuous use. I recommend laying it on a pencil to get air underneath for the initial long hot run. Pretty expensive for 1tb but considering it has aThunderbolt connector and no needed power, its the thing for some applications.

I purchased this for my macbook pro. I choose this option because of the thunderbolt, and USB c options. It is fast, and is durable. I carry this with me in my backpack everywhere I go. I use it to store personal files, school files, and tons of video footage from my GoPro and Typhoon H. I like how the thunderbolt plug is integrated in the drive and it wraps around to be in once piece. I don't have to shuffle through the backpack pocket with all my cords. I have dropped it twice, and it is still ticking.

I knew when I bought this drive that both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt were capable of incredibly fast data rates, but seeing it is the only way to understand the benefits. I'm using this with a brand new MacBook Pro retina which has both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 2.0 so I have used both connections. USB 3.0 is way faster than USB 2.0 obviously, so I was impressed-but after using thunderbolt, it is all I use as long as I can. It makes time machine backups incredibly quick and therefore convenient. The drive also has an encryption system built in which I have found to be very useful at times. However, the thing I like the most is how compact this drive is and that the Thunderbolt cable is hard-wired to the drive and uses the Orange bumper to wrap the cable up. Initially I considered buying the LaCie Rugged Tripple drive as it is a bit cheaper, but it had FireWire, which I have no use for. I highly recommend this drive.

What a great external storage device. Looking at buying a second one.. I have thousands of pictures... Hundreds of folders. This is a very fast external device... Great buy for the money... Have had other external devices that have failed. NOT GOOD when you have thousands of pictures like I do....

Love the fact that not only is this fast because it uses thunderbolt connectivity it's portable, stands out with color and has enough storage for all my photos, music & bulky files I don't want clogging up my computer hard drive.

Compared to my last external that really didn't last long... this one is amazing, the space is fantastic, the thunderbolt adapter is a bonus. However, just using a regular USB to transfer, without the use of the software from the computer to the device is fast and simple. It does come with it's own backup software and device software that you can choose to install. I just want to copy and paste and call it good, and do a manual backup once a month. It will do it for you if you'd like as well. It's a good product, and the rubber casing makes it not only portable but a little less worrisome if you drop it. It fits like a glove. Good portable purchase for storage.

As far as hard drives that offer thunderbolt speeds, this is one of the best out there. It's super portable. The data cable just tucks right back into the side so you never have to worry about losing another pesky cable. With the rubber sides, you can feel at ease knowing it can withstand a drop if it were to happen. Setup is easy and straightforward on the Mac. Overall, I am really satisfied with the product.

This device is just what I needed! I put it to work the moment I took it out of the box and haven't had a single problem since then. I use this mainly for my photography and for client work and it satisfies everything I need it to do! The Thunderbolt cable makes everything faster which cuts my transferring/editing time but half! Would highly recommend this to anyone that needs this for work!

I bought this drive to back up images while i traveled. The drive worked great and has been in my computer bag while I have traveled around for a few weeks. the 1 TB is big enough for me and I like that you can partition it for use on a PC so I can use it when I visit family and leave them large photos. My only issue is that I keep misplacing the orange stopper that protects the plug and gives it a completely sealed look.

This is my third LaCie and I love them. My first was identical to this one and my second is a four tb drive. They are extremely fast with the lightening cable, I have never used the USB that comes in the package with it so I don't know how it compares. I absolutely love that the cord is attached, and winds around the drive for safe keeping. The orange is a lot more visible in my bag, so it's always easy to find.

This is probably one of the best portable hard drives. However I have not had it long enough to know how long it will last. I have had several drives from other companies crash after two or three years which is totally horrible and deceptive: a generic hard drive should last around 7 years. Nevertheless, this is a very well built device. It is super fast and did about 5GB of transfer in about 3 minutes. The price however is wrong, they are not selling a SSD (solid state drive) so it should not be so high. It also should be 2TB capacity minimum.

I recognized that a lot of people are using these hard drives and I had to understand why and now that I have purchased one, I sure know why! This drive is INCREDIBLY fast. It's as solid as a rock. I'm not worried about accidentally dropping it. Worth the money!

Purchased this drive for storage of my digital photos as I had maxed out my MacBook. The drive is fast, portable for taking between multiple computers and sturdy as it goes on me with all my trips. No issues with setup at all. Absolutely recommend to anyone.

While slower than some of the bigger, dedicated Thunderbolt drives out there, the LaCie Rugged External Thunderbolt portable drive is still fast enough to boot a MBPro Retina from without necessarily feeling like you've compromised your system's speed. The self-storing cord is easy to "put away" when storing the drive for travel.

I had no problem hooking up to my IMac and backing up my system. I use a product called Super Duper for back up. First time it took 40 minutes for a complete back up. But now, it takes a minute or two whereas it used to take 30minutes with an older external usb drive. Seems very durable as well.

Works great as my main file storage drive. Small and easy to transport and the thunderbolt is definitely a plus.

Lives up to the rugged name, the built in thunderbolt cable is a great feature for Mac users. I've been using the predecessor to this one for about 2 years without issues and its lasted me through constant use and travel, this one feels like it should last the same.

These are the best drives if you are working in different places and need to take stuff with you. And with the thunderbolt connection the transfers are awesome

This drive does everything I need it to. It holds pictures, documents, music, movies, and more. I'm a long way from completely filling it up (which will eventually happen), but it has a lot of room on it. It looks nice. It's small and easy to store. I love it.