LaCie d2 External Hard Drives Upgraded With Thunderbolt 2, SSD Option [Mac Blog]

LaCie today updated its d2 desktop storage hard drives, adding an aluminum unibody, dual Thunderbolt 2 ports, and an optional SSD upgrade. Designed to be a companion device to the Mac Pro, the d2 is aimed at audio/video/photography professionals.

The default d2 comes equipped with a 7200 RPM Seagate hard disk (up to 6TB) that's able to reach speeds of 220MB/s, but it can be boosted with an optional LaCie d2 SSD upgrade, which increases speeds up to 1150MB/s and adds 128GB of PCIe storage. The SSD upgrade is an additional purchase, and snaps right into the back of the d2's removable rear panel.

Two separate drives mount on the computer – one for the SSD and one for the hard disk. Use the SSD for bandwidth-intensive tasks, such as fast file transfers, audio mixing, video editing, or OS booting, and the hard disk for file archiving. No other solution offers this level of performance and capacity in such a compact footprint.

According to LaCie, the d2's new aluminum unibody is designed to draw heat away from the hard disk, and a cushioned base and disk mounts are aimed at reducing vibration. In addition to two Thunderbolt 2 ports, the hard drive also has a USB 3 port and can daisy chain up to six devices.

The LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 2 will be available in September from both Apple and LaCie.com. Prices will start at $299 for 3 TB, going up to $399 and $499 for 4 and 6 TB capacities, respectively. The d2 SSD upgrade will be available in October, and is priced at $299. LaCie is also offering USB 3.0-only versions of the d2, which will also be available in October.