LaCie P9227 Porsche Design Slim Drive 2TB USB C Review

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As I mentioned briefly in the P9227 4TB review, with the launch of 4TB SMR drives in the 2.5-inch form factor, technology has also afforded Seagate the opportunity to slim down 2TB 2.5" drives to a 7mm z-height. This allows vendors including Seagate (LaCie) the ability to create Ultra slim enclosures for their mobile products.

The P9227 Slim Drive accompanies the launch of the 4TB Mobile Drive as part of the new Porsche Design lineup. The Slim lineup includes both 1TB and 2TB solutions while having both gold and silver color options. Software included with this solution does allow for 256-bit encryption along with a backup assistant to streamline the process. Again, we have no marketing numbers for performance, so it is left up to us to see what this drive can do.

Compatibility of the P9227 Slim includes Windows 7+ and OS X 10.5+ while the MSRP of the 2TB LaCie Porsche Design Slim carries an MSRP of $149.99 with a two-year warranty.

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Packaging for the drive is very clean and certainly has that industrial yet sophisticated feel to it. An image of the drive is presented on the front with capacity listed at the top.

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On the backside, the warranty is listed at the top left while OS compatibility is to the right. Further down, we have information about the drive in several languages.

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Like the Mobile Drive, LaCie was kind enough to include along with the USB C cable, a Type-C to Type-A cable for those that haven't quite made the move to a USB C motherboard or notebook.

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This time around, as you can see above, our drive came in the gold coloring. The bottom edge of the drive has just a touch of branding with the LaCie logo while the top stays true to the simplicity with a simple Porsche Design logo.

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Next, we have the USB C connection with a small LED to the left.

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Above, we have the Mobile 4TB drive and the Slim 2TB from this review. As you can see, the Mobile Drive is over twice as thick as the Slim Drive. You can also get a look at both color options in one image.

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Shucking this enclosure open, we found the new Seagate Mobile HDD in the 2TB capacity. This too, from my understanding, uses SMR technology.

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When you first connect the LaCie Mobile Drive, you will need to go through this quick setup that partitions the drive. This setup process also gives you access to the software mentioned earlier.

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Kicking off our performance testing, I ran the Slim Drive through Anvils and CDM to get an idea of the performance. I was able to reach 125 MB/s read and 122 MB/s write without much issue.

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Price/performance for the P9227 Slim landed this drive, again near the top at 87.7%.

The build quality of the P9227 Slim Drive was quite good, and since we did shuck this drive after testing for images, I was able to see that LaCie did recycle and use the same PCB across the 2TB and 4TB versions. That means we have the same ASMedia combination with the 1542 passive switch and the 1153 USB 3.0 controller.

The performance was even better this time around as the 2TB solution was able to produce 125 MB/s read and 122 MB/s write, and this aided in this drive landing near 88% on our price/performance chart.

Overall, the P9227 Slim is a solid drive with both performance and capacity in a slim form factor adding to that the stunning looks and USB C connectivity and you have a mobile storage solution ready for the future.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Z97-A - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Intel 730 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 750W - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon