The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD) ($999 list) is the latest version of the aluminum-clad thoroughbred series of external solid-state drives (SSDs), keeping a single user's data easily accessible at a moment's notice.

Expensive per GB; Requires included AC adapter for use (not bus powered).

Today we're looking at a member of LaCie's Rugged range of external hard drives, in the shape of the Mini, a tough external hard drive with a self-powered USB 3.0 interface.

Excellent performance: read speeds: 116 MB/s; write speeds: 114 MB/s, Very well protected against shocks, USB 3.0 interface, Self-powered over USB 3.0

Rubber protection is bulky (but can be removed

The bi-directional dual-channel Thunderbolt interface is perfect for working with uncompressed video files. I can now record and edit videos on-the-fly. The drive has exceeded all my expectations.

quiet; high capacity; fast; Easy to Setup/Install; easy to use; Highly Compatible; reliable

I use this product to backup multiple computers (Using Retrospect Express HD) and as secondary storage for videos and digital images. I don't need fancy wizards or outside services to tell me know to connect, create share and use this stuff.

Durable; Fast Connectivity

Huge Power Supply

I needed a solution that I could easily pick up and take with me when I travel. The Mini is perfect in that respect, it's resilient enough to handle a few bumps in my backpack. It's fast and very easy to use.

This is a terrific little hard drive. I work from home, but also travel a lot and so I needed something that I can plug into my iMac in my studio, but also my MacBook when I am on the road - the rubber housing makes this EHD bullet proof!

Durable; Lightweight; Plug and play

When I had an old MacBook Pro, I had to transfer a lot of data from my hard drive to an external. USB 2.0 is fine, but I needed *anything* that was quicker. FireWire was the only choice I had, and with the secondary USB 3.0 port, this was good for looking into a future computer with faster transfer...

Not the smallest drive I had, but certainly the toughest. The drive is very well built, and has excellent transfer speeds. The setup was a no-brainer, and the drive has been working like a charm for a bit more than a year now, and survived plenty of trips.

I transferred roughly 700gb of data to this within a few days of buying this drive. Since then, it's sat on a shelf until today when I needed to access the data. My computer can no longer access the drive citing "I/O Device Failure" My data has been lost and tech support aren't even capable of...

Bought this one for my son because he needs a good reliable hard drive for backup and travelling. The one I purchased for myself has been around the world a few times. I would definitely recommend this drive to anyone.