Okay, maybe you can beat the LaCie d2 Quadra external hard drive. I haven’t done fancy comparison tests to find out. Nonetheless, I seriously and confidently recommend this and all similar LaCie desktop drives.
For two-and-a-half years I have been ferrying LaCie drives back and forth with me from the USA (where they’re half the price) to Buenos Aires, Argentina (where I live). A couple of my LaCie drives have actually made the trip more than once—full of data. And even when they are on the ground, my lifestyle ensures my LaCie drives get treated pretty rough. Yet my they have proved super sturdy, totally crash-free and, yes, remarkably stylish.
Today, about to return to Buenos Aires, I set up and tested my latest plug-and-play LaCie. Not only is this 750GB d2 Quadra remarkably stylish—design by Neil Poulton—but its innovative fan-free construction means that the power converter is much smaller and lighter than the converters on my faithful LaCie Big Disks.
That might not make a difference in a studio, but it means a great deal to a photographer who is traveling through airports and changing apartments fairly often. Of course I am not suggesting that the d2 Quadra series can replace smaller, mobile drives. I’m simply saying that LaCie deserves credit for making super, quality products that just get better and better—and, remarkably, more stylish.