The Bottom Line
Introduction & Pricing, Availability, and Specifications
Over the last year or two, we have seen quite a few products come through the storage lab from LaCie. Today is no different as we take a look at yet another LaCie product, the latest Thunderbolt 2 solution, the D2 6TB.
Very few companies push the amount of Thunderbolt storage solutions as LaCie; this is quite evident once you do a quick search for Thunderbolt storage. There are a few different categories when it comes to external solutions powered by Thunderbolt, and the D2 Thunderbolt 2 that we are looking at today falls into the professional storage category. Like many solutions from LaCie, the D2 carries a design we have grown quite familiar with. This design of aluminum exterior with blue centered orb has made its way through many products lines since its inception by Neil Poulton.
The LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 comes in several capacities ranging from the baseline 3TB solution all the way up to the top 6TB model. In addition to this, LaCie has designed the D2 for a SSD upgrade kit that we will be looking at in another review in the coming days.
Pricing, Availability, and Specifications
Marketing specifications for the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 allow for 180 MB/s reads for the 3TB, and 4TB models; the 6TB solution we have in house is capable of 220 MB/s reads. Connectivity options for the D2 include USB 3.0 with UASP capabilities, along with dual Thunderbolt 2 ports.
Additional features include power saving mode; power saving mode can be activated by short-pressing the front button, while a long press will shut down the drive completely. LaCie has also designed the unit to be fan-less, allowing the aluminum body of the enclosure to aide in cooling the drive. Then we have the bundle's value-added software, including Intego Backup Assistant for OS X, and LaCie Private-Public for encrypting your data.
MSRP of the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 in the 6TB capacity is $499.99, with a three-year warranty. Availability is high at this point, and many online retailers are stocking the unit.
PRICING: You can find the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 6TB retails for $499.99 at Amazon.
6TB LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2
Packaging for the D2 carries the capacity at the top right with a centered image of the drive.
Scope of delivery for the D2 includes a USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt cable. We also have the power brick and drive.
The front of the unit houses the iconic Neil Poulton aluminum and blue orb design. The base of the unit, also aluminum, has vibration-dampening rubber installed.
The back of the D2 houses both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 2 ports. Below the I/O ports, we have the power input and Kensington lock to the left.
Test System Setup and Software
Test System Setup
In testing the performance of Thunderbolt storage solutions, we utilize the Apple MacBook Pro Retina, late 2013 model, which is currently running OS X 10.9.1. Full system specifications are available above. To create RAID volumes in OS X, I use Apple Disk Utility with 64K stripe size. In addition to this, we use a Windows test system (seen above) for Thunderbolt appliances that support. Benchmarks used in Windows include IOMeter 1.1; all volumes use a 128K-stripe size, and are tested without a file system.
Software
Above, we have the LaCie setup assistant. This software will allow you to partition your storage for use with Windows and OS X.
Above, we have the partition slider that allows you to choose how large you would like each partition.
The last page allows you to select additional software, if you want to install it.
OS X Benchmarks
AJA System Test
Starting out our testing, we begin with 720p. As you can see, the D2 managed nearly identical read and write speeds in this portion of testing. Peak results fell around the 250 MB/s mark several times.
Moving over to 1080p, we found the D2 offering similar performance around 250 MB/s at times, but again, read and writes were identical.
4K calmed things down a bit; here we found peak performance around 245 MB/s, with the lows running anywhere between 150 and 200 MB/s.
Black Magic Disk Speed Test
Within Black Magic Design DST, we reached 213 MB/s read, and 217 MB/s write.
Windows Benchmarks
Page 5[Windows Benchmarks]
4K Random with QD
4K read scaled quite well from 179 IOPS at QD1 to 708 IOPS at QD32.
Random write fell steadily around 300 IOPS through QD32.
128K Sequential with QD
Sequential read started out at 171 MB/s at QD1, and ended just a tick above at 173 MB/s at QD32.
Sequential write gave us an initial result of 151 MB/s for QD1, while QD32 came in at 164 MB/s.
Final Thoughts
Initial impressions of the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 certainly start with the aesthetics of the solution. Of course, we have seen this design many times before, but it is like an old friend, and one I certainly enjoy. Build quality is superb with the single piece aluminum design. While it is aesthetically pleasing, it also aids cooling capabilities and the rubber on the shoe of the device dampens any vibrations from the hard drive.
Performance was as expected, and rather good for the installed 6TB Seagate Desktop drive. We were able to reach 250 MB/s read and write in our AJA OS X testing, while in Windows we peaked out around 180 MB/s for both read and write. Of course, the biggest selling point of this solution is the ability to upgrade and swap this enclosure over to a hybrid solution via the SSD Upgrade kit. While we don't have results for the SSD upgrade kit at this point, we will very shortly, so look for a review of that unit in the coming days.
Overall, the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 is a great solution for those that want a professional capacity driven storage solution that doesn't lack in performance.
MSRP of the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 in the 6TB capacity is $499.99, with a three-year warranty. Availability is high at this point, and many online retailers have the unit in stock.
PRICING: You can find the LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 2 6TB retails for $499.99 at Amazon.