Computers

LaCie goes big and roomy with 96 TB hard drive

View 9 Images
LaCie's latest hard drive can store up to 96 TB
There are four fans to cool all 12 hard drives
There are Thunderbolt and USB-C cables included in the box
LaCie's latest hard drive can store up to 96 TB
The LaCie 12Big looks like an old-fashioned computer tower
The tower has 12 7,200 rpm hard drives inside
Neil Poulton has designed the exterior of the hard drive enclosure
The unit is aimed at video professionals
Users are able to choose how they want to set their hard drive's security up
One of the hard drives from the LaCie's housing
View gallery - 9 images

For most people, a few terabytes is more than enough to hold a lifetime's worth of photos, videos and music. Video professionals have slightly different demands, especially if they're working with footage filmed in 4K. LaCie's latest hard drive, the 12big Thunderbolt 3, is designed to make life easier for these power users by offering blazingly fast transfer speeds and up to 96 TB of storage.

The 12Big links together 12 individual 7,200 rpm hard drives, each of which are hot swappable, boast a 256 MB cache and are rated to run all-day, every-day. The housing designed by Neil Poulton features LEDs on the front to indicate drive health and RAID status, and four thermoregulated fans to pull heat away from the drives.

Thanks to a new hardware RAID controller, the hard drive setup is able to transfer data via Thunderbolt connection at speeds of up to 2,600 MB/s read and 1,700 MB/s write in RAID 0 mode and 2,400 MB/s read and 1,200 MB/s write in RAID 5.

In order to manage huge amounts of data, LaCie says the drive has a more user-friendly interface that lets users set up and monitor their storage systems, with wizards for tweaking CPU settings, auto rebuilding drives and providing diagnostic information.

Tim Butcher, LaCie Senior Vice President, says there are a number of factors driving the brand to create high-storage, high-speed products for video professionals.

"The combination of higher spatial resolution and 3D imagery, as well as higher dynamic range and frame rates, is driving the need for high-capacity and high-speed digital storage systems," Butcher says. "We purpose-built the LaCie 12big to have the speed, capacity and reliability to efficiently download and edit even the most demanding content."

All up the 96 TB 12Big can hold up to 100 hours of 4K footage, and there are also 48 TB and 72 TB units available. It's worth bearing in mind the storage capacity depends on whether you configure the drive in the default RAID 5, or seek extra security with a RAID 6 setup.

For that much storage capacity, the 12big offers a fairly small footprint – relatively speaking – with dimensions (W x H x D) of 161 x 447 x 237 mm (6.3 x 17.6 x 9.3 in) and a weight of 17.6 kg (38.8 lb). The drive has a Thunderbolt 3 and a USB 3.1 port and comes with cables included.

No pricing information has been released, but the LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 is due to launch in the Northern Hemisphere summer.

Source: LaCie

View gallery - 9 images
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flipboard
  • LinkedIn
4 comments
Nicolas Zart
I always missed the point with this company. I know it must be good quality, or at least I hope with the price it commends, but it always seemed there is a more affordable solution elsewhere. I think it hails itself as the Apple of storage, whatever that means these days, but I don't understand what makes it unique, save for its exorbitant price. Can someone enlighten me here?
JonathanPDX
Not exactly a "96 TB hard drive", per se, but definitely lots and lots of storage. For people who need a lot of storage, a NAS or RAID is definitely a better way to go, especially with so many hard drives being notoriously flaky.
Gerry Lavell
I'm assuming that's 100 hrs of raw 4K video because it should be more like 3000 hrs of compressed video.
pmshah
One of the images shows a 4000 GB Seagate drive. How do 12 of those add up to 96 GB ? Am I missing something or do you get 2 of those storage towers ? Buy one get one free perhaps !!!