LaCie DJI Copilot 2TB Review

TweakTown's Rating: 91%

The Bottom Line

LaCie once again delivers on the promise of empowering creators with the tools needed to make something great!

LaCie has always been on the bleeding edge, designing breakthrough storage solutions and supporting and empowering creators with them. With iconic platforms like the Rugged and Big taking care of your portable and desktop storage needs, newcomers like the Bolt3 are capable of delivering all the performance you would need out of single solution.

That said for the longest time we still had a gap in the market that required creators to carry a laptop to each set in order to manage data. LaCie set out to change that with the BOSS series or Backup On Set Solution. With the DJI Copilot being the first in this series, LaCie has created an all-in-one solution catering to all platforms, with cables for Android and iOS devices, a built-in SD card reader along with USB 3.0 and USB-C ports for both device connectivity and charging of your smart devices.

Covered by a rather thick silicon rubber case, the DJI Copilot tucks away its most prominent feature, a simple two-inch screen that allows you to back up your devices and memory cards without the need for a laptop. Taking things further, LaCie introduced the Boss App for both Android and iOS allowing for file management on set from your smartphone.

Compatibility of the LaCie DJI Copilot extends to Android and iOS along with macOS and Windows. MSRP of the 2TB capacity comes in at $349.99 with a three-year warranty and three-year data recovery services from Seagate.

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Packaging for the Copilot offers capacity at the top right. We have an image of the drive and DJI logo along the bottom.

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On the backside, we have a logo for all com0patible platforms along with a breakout of connectivity.

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Packaging includes the power adapter, Smartphone cables, USB 3.0 and C cables.

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Looking at the top, you can see the faint glow of the screen even in bright photo lighting. Along the bottom edge, we have the outline of a button used for functionality in tandem with the screen.

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Removing the I/O cover seen below propping the drive up. We have access to the power input on the far left followed by USB 3.0, USB-C, SD and microUSB for use with the adapter cables. In between the Type-C and C port is the reset button if you have issues with the drive.

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As mentioned above, the adapter cables turn the microUSB connection on the Copilot into USB-C, Lightning or keep it as a microUSB connection.

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Seen above, I have it setup for the iPhone X.

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The Copilot BOSS app allows you to manage data on your drive on set or in the field. We are using the iOS version for this article.

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Once setup is complete, we have a sidebar menu that shows you drive capacity and battery life at the top. Moving down you can access your devices camera roll along with SD and USB devices connected to the Copilot.

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Diving into the settings, you can manage everything from the drives name, letterbox color, firmware updates and power modes.

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The main page of the app shows you folders on the Copilot above and files below. The three dot menu to the top right gives you options for moving data to and from connected storage.

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The DJI Copilot is formatted with the exFAT file system with 1.81TB of usable capacity.

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Running the Copilot through a quick bench, we see 132 MB/s read and 132 MB/s write.

I've been waiting for a storage solution such as this for years. In the past, I have just carried multiple SD cards for my camera or a few iOS flash drives to backup and delete my phone storage. The Copilot changes all of this allowing me to connect my phone and camera directly along with having the ability to charge my devices. Build quality is top notch as expected from LaCie and they took things one step further making this solution dust, splash and drop resistant thanks to the silicon cover and sealed aluminum enclosure.

Performance over multiple devices was pretty good, I saw a peak rate of 87MB/s backing up a UHS-II SD card, 60 MB/s dropping data from my iPhone and 93MB/s from a flash drive. Connecting this solution to my PC, I was able to retrieve all the data at 132MB/s leaving room for improvement and the hope of a SSD version.

The only issue I had with the Copilot was connecting a 2.5" external hard drive, the Copilot simply didn't have enough current on the USB ports to spin the drive up. This being said, the Copilot is easily the most comprehensive storage device for creators allowing them the freedom to leave the office without their laptop and still have the means to back up their data with confidence.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z370 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i3 8350K (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4x8GB DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Air 540 (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
• Wi-Fi NIC: ASUS PCE-AC88 (buy from Amazon)
• 10Gbe NIC: ASUS XG-C100C (buy from Amazon)
• Thunderbolt 3: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)