The just-launched LaCie Rugged SSD4 from Seagate is for “creators working beyond the four walls of a studio.” It’s designed to stand up to punishment while offering terabytes of storage and USB4 data transfer speeds. That’s fast enough for iPhone Pro users to record ProRes 4K video.
I put the SSD through real-world testing. Here’s how it came out.
LaCie Rugged SSD4 review
One of the best ways to waste money is by refusing to use external SSDs. Insisting that all your computers have enough storage capacity for every file you might ever need is… it’s not smart.
The same goes for recording sessions. Shooting in Apple’s ProRes video format at 4K60 on an iPhone Pro or Pro Max can only be accomplished with a high-speed external SSD. As for other formats, recording terabytes of video to internal storage is unnecessary when high-capacity, high-speed SSDs are a better option.
The chief benefit of external drives is cost savings. A 2TB LaCie Rugged SSD4 costs $175, while upgrading an iPhone 17 Pro Max to 2TB of storage adds $800 to the price.
The drive, which Seagate launched Monday, comes in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities.
The LaCie Rugged SSD4 is a compact external solid-state drive (SSD) built for filmmakers, photographers, and audio professionals who need reliable high-performance data storage. The drive’s USB 40Gbps port allows users to quickly transfer files and work directly from the drive across Mac, iPad, PC, and mobile phones.
It comes in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities
- Up to 4000MB/s read and 3800MB/s write speeds
- Portable and rugged but looks good
Table of contents: LaCie Rugged SSD4 review
- A surprisingly stylish SSD
- Excellent real-world performance
- LaCie Rugged SSD4 review: Final thoughts
- Pricing
A surprisingly stylish SSD
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
An SSD is a tool, not a fashion accessory, but LaCie nevertheless made the Rugged SSD4 look stylish. As much as it can, anyway.
The chassis for the actual drive is brushed aluminum, with rounded edges and corners. The two end caps are white plastic that match the aluminum well enough.
To make the product rugged, LaCie includes an easily removable bumper case that wraps around the outside. The only color option is orange, but orange is popular right now — which is why you can get an iPhone 17 Pro that matches the Rugged SSD4. Neil Poulton’s design for the bumper case looks quite good, and the color makes the device easier to see when you take it on location.
The drive in its bumper case has an IP54 rating so it can withstand dust and splashing water. And it can survive 3-meter (9.8-foot) drops.
The central unit of the LaCie Rugged SSD4 is 3.6 inches by 2.3 inches by 0.5 inches. In the bumper case, it measures 4.1 inches by 2.7 by 0.7 inches. That’s easily portable in any gear gag. It’s even sort of pocket-size.
Don’t forget the cable. A color-matching one that measures 8.5 inches comes in the box. Of course, this supports USB4 data transfers, and it can handle up to 240W of power.
It’s worth noting that the product contains a minimum of 35% post-consumer recycled materials by weight.
Excellent real-world performance
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Seagate says the LaCie Rugged SSD4 supports “USB 40Gbps” rather than calling it USB4, but that’s what it is. Whatever it’s called, the drive maker promises up to 4000 MBps read and up to 3800 MBps write speeds. But when it comes to the performance of drives I’ve tested, real-world performance never approaches theoretical maximums. This SSD is no different.
In my testing, the Rugged SSD4 performs at about half the theoretical top data speed, so somewhere below 2000 MBps. That’s really quite good, and it means that you can empty a 4TB drive in between maybe 5 minutes and 10 minutes.
The data transfer speed is more than what’s needed to record ProRes 4K at 120fps.
Because the drive uses USB-C, it can connect to a wide variety of computers, which includes Mac, iPad and iPhone. Because it supports USB4 plus earlier USB standards as well as Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3, data transfers take place at the best speed offered by the host device.
And that’s important: performance depends on the device you connect it to. For example, the USB-C port in the base model iPhone 16 supports USB 2.0, so data transfers top at 60 MBps.
LaCie Rugged SSD4 review: Final thoughts
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
It wasn’t that long ago that high-capacity external SSDs were bulky and slow. Easily portable ones didn’t have enough capacity to be useful. Thankfully, those days are over. The LaCie Rugged SSD4 is small enough that you can attach it to the back of your iPhone, it’s blazing fast and holds plenty of data.
★★★★★
Pricing
The LaCie Rugged SSD4 is now available for $134.99 (1TB), $249.99 (2TB) and $479.99 (4TB).
Buy it from: Seagate
The LaCie Rugged SSD4 is a compact external solid-state drive (SSD) built for filmmakers, photographers, and audio professionals who need reliable high-performance data storage. The drive’s USB 40Gbps port allows users to quickly transfer files and work directly from the drive across Mac, iPad, PC, and mobile phones.
It comes in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities
- Up to 4000MB/s read and 3800MB/s write speeds
- Portable and rugged but looks good
Seagate provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
