LaCie has revealed a new addition to its Rugged line of external hard drives that features a Thunderbolt connection in addition to USB 3.0. With these connections on an SSD and a sturdy design, LaCie's Rugged USB 3 is designed to survive almost anything you might put it through during a busy day and still provide record-breaking transfer speeds.
The most prominent feature of LaCie's new drive is the shock-resistant case that's built to military grade standards. An outer aluminum shell and rubber sleeve protect it from scratches, rain, dust, and even being run over with a car, while several internal bumpers keep it in place for much stronger shocks. LaCie says that the Rugged USB 3 can survive drops up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) and aside from physical protection, security software using an AES 256-bit encryption is included to make sure any stored info is safe.
A sturdy design is certainly important for an external drive, but the Rugged USB 3 also adds lightning-fast transfer speeds over a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt connection. The SSD version can reach transfer rates up to 380MB/s through either connection, making it the fastest bus-powered drive on the market. The HDD version isn't quite that fast, but can still muster a respectable 110MB/s. Since USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, it can also link to any computer with a standard USB connection.
The bus-powered Rugged USB 3 is available as a 1TB HDD (US$250), 120GB SSD ($200), or 256GB SSD ($350).
Source: LaCie
You are quoting the SSD size while asking about HDD-sized drives. If you want more space, then plunk for the 1TB HDD, but it is not as stable for throwing in your backpack, etc... SSD is not cheap anywhere, but prices are coming down. I'm sure there will be 512GB SSD drives available very soon, but price point is a factor when trying to sell mass market externals. If you notice, 120GB SSD is almost the same price price as a 1TB HDD. Choice is yours. No doubt a 512GB will be available soon for about $500-550, but that is pretty expensive for most people.