littlebigdiskLaCie's first Thunderbolt hard drives are finally available, more than 6 months after Apple put its first Thunderbolt-enabled Macs on sale.

The Apple Online Store is offering 1TB and 2TB Little Big Disks for $399.95 and $499.95 respectively, both shipping in 1-2 weeks. 9to5Mac reports that these drives are already available at some Apple Retail Stores.

In June, LaCie promised SSD drives with Thunderbolt this summer ("a question of weeks"), but those have yet to be released. (Update: LaCie now says the SSD drives will be available in October.)

The hard drives are available on Apple's website and will be available soon through LaCie directly.

Update 2: Apple has removed the 1 TB and 2 TB drives from its online store for unknown reasons. The company has also added listings for the 250 GB ($899.95) and 500 GB ($1499.95) solid-state drive versions, with shipping estimates set at 1-2 weeks.

Update 3: The 1 TB and 2 TB models have now returned to Apple's online store with a shipping estimate of one week on both models. Shipping estimates for the two SSD models have been pushed out to 1-2 months.

Top Rated Comments

CrAkD Avatar
164 months ago
Rip off. Just sell me the enclosure for $150.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OllyW Avatar
164 months ago
No cable in the box so don't forget to add on another $50.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shaunb83 Avatar
164 months ago
Ouch. Kinda (really, really) spendy. And I don't think the little big disks are particularly user upgradeable to put in larger hard drives?

I'd love to have one - hopefully independent thunderbolt enclosures aren't that far away.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sneakz Avatar
164 months ago
Yes.

A standard mechanical hard drive these days can push data at well over 100MB/s. This LaCie design places two in parallel, doubling the throughput.

In the real world, FW800 maxes out at 65MB/s.

So expect these to be 3 or more times faster than FW800.

FW800 maxes out at 100MB/s for real world transfer rates of just short of 90MB/s. 65 is not even close.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Battlefield Fan Avatar
164 months ago
$400 for two 500GB drives and a thunderbolt connection? Ouch

Edit: FYI two drives are available for $60 each on newegg. $340 for TB?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
firestarter Avatar
164 months ago
You guys have to remember this is a raid enclosure, which means they will be using raid compatible drives. This is important. No 50$ 1TB jobbers, think 120$+ 1TB drives. Plus markup. Plus the enclosure / raid controller / thunderbolt adapter / support / r&d / etc.
Unfortunately I have my doubts.

LaCie isn't a high end brand... it's a 'designer' brand making pretty products. Sure, they make some well performing gear, but I think you're going to be very disappointed if you expect anything other than consumer level mechanisms in that box.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Friday April 12, 2024 11:11 am PDT by
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...
iGBA Feature

Game Boy Emulator for iPhone Now Available in App Store Following Rule Change [Removed]

Sunday April 14, 2024 8:06 am PDT by
A week after Apple updated its App Review Guidelines to permit retro game console emulators, a Game Boy emulator for the iPhone called iGBA has appeared in the App Store worldwide. The emulator is already one of the top free apps on the App Store charts. It was not entirely clear if Apple would allow emulators to work with all and any games, but iGBA is able to load any Game Boy ROMs that...
top stories 13apr2024

Top Stories: M4 Mac Roadmap Leaked, New iPads in Second Week of May, and More

Saturday April 13, 2024 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's hardware roadmap was in the news this week, with things hopefully firming up for a launch of updated iPad Pro and iPad Air models next month while we look ahead to the other iPad models and a full lineup of M4-based Macs arriving starting later this year. We also heard some fresh rumors about iOS 18, due to be unveiled at WWDC in a couple of months, while we took a look at how things ...
new best buy blue

Best Buy Opens Up Sitewide Sale With Record Low Prices on M3 MacBook Air, iPad, and Much More

Saturday April 13, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy this weekend has a big sale on Apple MacBooks and iPads, including new all-time low prices on the M3 MacBook Air, alongside the best prices we've ever seen on MacBook Pro, iPad, and more. Some of these deals require a My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total membership, which start at $49.99/year. In addition to exclusive access to select discounts, you'll get free 2-day shipping, an...
iGBA Feature

Apple Removes Game Boy Emulator iGBA From App Store Due to Spam and Copyright Violations

Sunday April 14, 2024 9:22 pm PDT by
Apple today said it removed Game Boy emulator iGBA from the App Store for violating the company's App Review Guidelines related to spam (section 4.3) and copyright (section 5.2), but it did not provide any specific details. iGBA was a copycat version of developer Riley Testut's open-source GBA4iOS app. The emulator rose to the top of the App Store charts following its release this weekend,...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

Apple's First AI Features in iOS 18 Reportedly Won't Use Cloud Servers

Sunday April 14, 2024 9:52 am PDT by
Apple's first set of new AI features planned for iOS 18 will not rely on cloud servers at all, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "As the world awaits Apple's big AI unveiling on June 10, it looks like the initial wave of features will work entirely on device," said Gurman, in the Q&A section of his Power On newsletter today. "That means there's no cloud processing component to the...