In a bit of understatement, storage enclosure manufacturer LaCie announced the “Bigger Disk” this week, a device that houses a full terabyte of storage.
The $1,199 enclosure isn’t cheap, but the device serves as a direct-attachable bit bucket that can house up to a month of MPEG-2 video. Four cables are included to allow data to be transmitted through each of the following interfaces: FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and iLink, a version of the FireWire interface with a 4-pin port connector.
LaCie will begin shipping the drive this month through its online store, retailers, and distributors.
The device supports both Mac OS X and OS 9, Windows 98SE Windows 2000 and the Windows XP operating system, LaCie said. FireWire 800 speeds require the use of Mac OS X, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, however. The Bigger Disk ships with backup software for each of the available operating systems: Silverlining Pro for Mac OS 9.x, Silverlining 98 for Windows 98SE and SilverKeeper 1.1. However, the Bigger Disk needs no special drivers to set up, the company said.
The Bigger Disk can be stacked in a 19-inch rack through the use of an optional rack-mount kit, or left to perch on a desktop. The LaCie Big Disk also has a slot for the use of chain locks for extra security, the company said.
The disk enclosure includes an on/off switch and features a special operating mode to reduce noise in a shared office environment, LaCie said. The Bigger Disk can also hibernate to save power.
