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MillimeterLaCie Breaks the HD Throughput Barrier with 35MB/s FireWire Desktop Hard Drive
Aug 1, 2001 12:00 PM, VS Staff
HILLSBORO, OR (August 1, 2001) - LaCie, the only company shipping high-speed external FireWireâ hard drives in volume, announced today that it is equipping the drives with a new FireWire controller that provides double the data throughput performance of previous FireWire drives. Available in 20GB,40GB, 60GB and 75GB capacities, the 7200 rpm drives stream data to the computer at a sustained transfer rate of 35MB/s and provide burst performance to 50MB/s. Ideal for storing, exchanging and working on large files such as graphics, audio and digital videos, LaCie's new FireWire solutions eliminate quality and video frame loss.
Depending upon capacity, the compact 3.5" drives can store more than five hours of DV video, more than 100 CD-Audio images and more than a mile-high stack of text documents. The new drives can be quickly and easily connected to the native FireWire ports that are standard with Macintosh G3, G4 and iMac DV systems as well as PCs incorporating Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows 2000.
"The demand for high-capacity moveable hard drive storage has been overwhelming. Until now the biggest problem has been the performance bottleneck at the IDE drive and 1394 interface," said Scott Phillips, President of LaCie. "Users are aware of the quality of digital video and audio that can be edited and quickly transported with FireWire drives. With our new two-chip, single firmware interface design we've virtually eliminated the performance barrier by producing drives that can consistently deliver 35MB/s sustained data throughput to the computer. Twice as fast as the first-generation FireWire drives, the new hard drives open up the data pipe that today's higher-performance video production and content development computers can handle. Simply stated, users won't see any data, quality or frame loss anymore when they are using the new FireWire drives with their projects."
Fully ATA 100-compliant, LaCie's new FireWire to IDE bridge supports the Ultra DMA mode 5 used in today's high-performance hard drives and operating systems including including Mac OS, Mac OS X and Windows 98SE, Windows Me,Windows 2000. By enhancing the external 20GB, 40GB, 60GB and 75GB drives with a new built-in FireWire controller, LaCie provides users with a fast and efficient means of exchanging large files such as high-resolution photos and digital videos with no risk of data loss.
LaCie's new FireWire controller is a 400 Mbps interface that is based on a 1394 to IDE bridge dual chipset. The higher transfer rate of the latest-generation FireWire digital link makes the LaCie external hard drive ideal for users storing large-volume video and graphic files or capturing video from DV camcorders. The compact drives also provide content developers with added security because complete projects can be stored on the drives, removed and locked up when they are not being used.
With latest-generation FireWire support, the drives are hot-pluggable. Users can plug a LaCie drive in, remove it or swap it with others without shutting down or rebooting the computer. The drive mounts automatically as soon as it is connected. There is no need for terminators, device IDs or elaborate setup. This allows the LaCie FireWire hard drive to be easily transferred between Macintosh G4 workstations and Cubes, FireWire-equipped PowerBooks and iMac DV systems. When plugged into a FireWire-equipped computer, the LaCie FireWire drive looks and performs just like any other drive on the system. When properly formatted, the drive can even be used to share video and graphics files between Mac and Windows computers.
Used as a 'data shuttle,' the new LaCie FireWire hard drives make it possible for several professionals to work successively on the same project from their own machine. In the event of a computer crash, the user can also quickly plug the LaCie FireWire drive into another system and continue working with a minimum of downtime.
Designed to match the performance of the leading FireWire or 1394-equipped computers, the new LaCie FireWire drives have been optimized to provide an access time of 8-9ms and a sustained transfer rate of up to 35 Mbytes per second (burst performance of 50MB/s). The drives have an enclosed, integrated universal power supply and two 6-pin IEEE-1394 connections. There is no need for any external power supplies.
Pricing, Availability
Available through authorized resellers, the suggested retail prices for the LaCie FireWire hard drives are 20GB - $229; 40GB - $279; 60GB - $329; and 75GB -$429. LaCie's 40GB an 60GB drives are also available from the Apple Store.
The FireWire hard drives include the LaCie 1394 cable, an internal international power supply for worldwide use, and LaCie's silverlining Pro drive utility software for MacOS environments. Silverlining is also included for Windows 98SE (Second Edition) and Windows 2000. Silverlining is the most comprehensive drive management software on the market and the only driver able to manage USB, IDE, SCSI and FireWire peripherals at the same time.
For more information, contact LaCie, Ltd. at 22985 NW Evergreen Parkway; Hillsboro, OR 97124 or call (503) 844-4500, Fax (503) 844-4593. Visit LaCie's Web site at www.lacie.com
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