Rugged USB-C Portable Hard Drive / LaCie
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The LaCie Rugged is a 2.5-inch hard drive wrapped in a signature orange silicone bumper, and that bumper is the whole idea: it absorbs the corner impacts that kill most portable drives dropped from desk height, and gives grip. The drive connects over USB-C, with a USB-A cable in the box for older machines, and the enclosure is rain- and dust-resistant to an IP54 rating, drop-resistant from over a metre, and crush-resistant under a one-tonne load. The orange is so specific to the line that the drive reads instantly as itself, which doubles as a practical way to find it in a bag or on a busy set. Neil Poulton designed the original in 2005, and it has barely changed since, with the first version held in the Centre Pompidou's permanent collection.
Design intent
- The silicone bumper is functional rather than decorative: it absorbs the corner impacts that are the common failure mode for a dropped portable drive.
- The unmistakable orange is a searchability decision as much as an aesthetic one; a Rugged is easy to spot in a bag or on location where a black drive disappears.
Trade-offs
- Inside is a spinning platter drive, not solid state: more capacity per pound, but more vulnerable to failure under sustained vibration than an SSD at a similar price.
- The bumper adds real bulk and weight, so the Rugged is noticeably larger than a slim USB-C SSD, which is the cost of the protection.
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- 19 Jun 2023
