LaCie Rugged SSD4 2TB Portable SSD Review - 4000 MB/s of Awesome

TweakTown Rating: 98%

Our Verdict

Overall, the Rugged SSD4 is the best portable storage device we've encountered.

Pros

• USB4
• Rugged design
• Powerful performance

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $244.16 USD

Buy at Amazon for £403.91

Introduction & Drive Details

The LaCie Rugged SSD4 is a premium, professional product, and if you demand the very best in portable and universally compatible storage, then this is it. As a premium product, Seagate backs its flagship USB portable offering with a 3-year limited warranty, Rescue Data Recovery Services, and included Toolkit backup software. Additionally, upon product registration, you get a 2-month free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud Pro.

The speedy Rugged SSD4 with its native USB interface delivers lightning-fast speeds of up to 4,000MB/s. Because the SSD is a native USB device, it offers universal compatibility, including USB 40Gbps, USB 20Gbps, USB 10Gbps, USB 5Gbps, Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4, and Thunderbolt 3. It can even work on USB 2 ports with a Type-C to Type-A cable.

Further speaking to its universal compatibility, the Rugged SSD4 offers out-of-the-box compatibility thanks to USB-C connectivity, which works seamlessly with macOS, iPadOS, iOS, Windows, Chrome OS, Android, and gaming console systems. Basically, any device with a USB Type-C port or Thunderbolt Type-C port is going to work flawlessly.

This silicon-clad IP54-rated palm-sized portable SSD is as rugged as they come; able to withstand being run over with a 1-ton vehicle, drops of up to 3 meters, and exposure to wet and dusty environments. It keeps your data safe no matter the circumstances. Seagate, as they have been doing for some time now, is building its portable storage devices with the environment in mind, building the Rugged SSD4 with at least 35% recycled materials by weight, reducing environmental impact. Impressive.

Drive Details

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When you buy a LaCie SSD, you get the value-added bonus of free software, enabling you to get the most out of your storage solution with easy-to-use tools such as Backup, Mirror, Sync Plus, Seagate Secure, and RGB and Status LED Management. Click HERE to download it.

Further Enclosures/Externals Reading – Our Latest Reviews

• Seagate Ultra Compact SSD 2TB Review - A Pocket's Best Friend
• Corsair EX400U 2TB Portable SSD Review - World's Fastest Native USB Storage
• LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 2TB - A First of its Kind Masterpiece

Best Deals: LaCie Rugged SSD4 2TB Portable SSD

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$244.16 USD	$214.99 USD	-	Buy
	-	$549.30 CAD	-	Buy
	£403.91	£364.43	-	Buy
	$244.16 USD	$214.99 USD	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned 12/14/2025 at 10:12 pm CST - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, ATTO & Blackmagic

CrystalDiskMark

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The Rugged SSD4 2TB can indeed deliver as advertised, only outpaced by LaCie's own Rugged SSD Pro5. Impressive. Additionally, the device also delivers exceptional low-queue-depth random performance, which is an excellent synthetic indicator of exceptional results when employed for portable gaming storage.

ATTO

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ATTO verifies our test subject as capable of delivering full sequential throughput at 128K transfers at the standard test queue depth of 4. This is exactly what we are looking for from any SSD, internal or portable. Impressive.

Blackmagic

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As these results indicate, the Rugged SSD4 can even be used as a portable scratch disk for video editing duties. Very few devices can handle this demanding use case scenario at this high level, which speaks to the powerful performance inherent in this device. Outstanding.

Real-World Testing: PCMark 10, 3DMark SSD Gaming & Transfer Rates

PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark

The Data Drive Benchmark is designed to test drives that are used for storing files rather than applications. You can also use this test with NAS drives, USB sticks, memory cards, and other external storage devices.

The Data Drive Benchmark uses 3 traces, running 3 passes with each trace as follows:

• Copying 339 JPEG files, 2.37 GB in total, into the target drive (write test).
• Making a copy of the JPEG files (read-write test).
• Copying the JPEG files to another drive (read test).

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Again, results here verify that on-device editing can be done at higher levels than ever before possible with a native USB storage device.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is, in fact, the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially to the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. We are now including gaming performance as a part of our external SSD reviews, as using portable storage for gaming duties is very popular among avid gamers.

Ultra-portable, fully compatible storage is a nice complement to any console or PC gaming device.

As we see it, the Rugged SSD4 is, all things considered, the best portable gaming storage device we've ever encountered. Even though it gets beaten by two other devices, those devices have limited compatibility in comparison to the Rugged SSD4, making it the more desirable option in our opinion.

DiskBench - Transfer Rates

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We brutalize our test subjects with our extremely hard-to-digest 100GB data block. This data block is the same one we use for our internal SSD testing and is composed of more than 62K files. 100GB is probably right at the upper limit for a single transfer, so as we see it, this is a much more realistic test scenario than a sustained filling of the entire drive.

Stunning results here. The Rugged SSD4 is again the second fastest here, where arguably performance matters most for any portable storage device, and because it is again compatible where those that can deliver more are not, we again prefer the Rugged SSD4 over anything else.

Final Thoughts

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It's rugged, dustproof, water-resistant, and overall, the fastest universally compatible portable storage device we've ever encountered, making it a must-have for everyone and earning our highest award. Editor's Choice.