LaCie Rugged 1TB NVMe SSD Review

With the portable SSD market heating up, LaCie has decided to launch a few solutions they noted earlier in the year. The Rugged SSD takes from its iconic lineup and offers a miniature sized portable SSD fit with the latest technology.

One look, and you instantly know the Rugged SSD is a LaCie solution. Working off the iconic Neil Poulton design, the latest offers a much smaller form factor for those wanting the best in portability with this pocket-sized drive without sacrificing performance or durability. To further this, the Rugged SSD is a sealed solution garnering an IP67 rating for dust and water intrusion.

Capacity options for this solution range from 500GB through 1TB with 2TB at the high-end. Connectivity is offered via USB-C 10GB/s and is backward compatible with both USB 3.0 with an adapter and Thunderbolt 3. Performance is rated at 1000 MB/s.

MSRP of the LaCie Rugged SSD in the 1TB capacity comes in at $319.99, while the 500GB model is offered for $189.99 and the 2TB for $529.99. All three have a five-year warranty.

Packaging offers capacity at the top right along with an image of the drive.

On the backside, we find more details about the drive, including performance in several languages.

Unboxing the Rugged SSD; we have the box and USB-C cable along with a C to A cable.

The drive is a very vibrant orange color, completely sealed with branding on top.

The bottom edge offers the USB-C port for connectivity.

The drive was factory formatted with exFAT for wider compatibility. 931GB is available after formatting.

For performance, we start with CDM. With this, we have 934 MB/s read and 913 MB/s write.

Moving over to ATTO, we have performance reaching optimal numbers around 128K and holding through 64M. At peak, the Rugged picks up 935 MB/s read and 907 MB/s write.

In our price/performance chart, the performance of this drive isn't able to offset the high price tag. With that, we see the Rugged SSD just below the Tuff nano at 70.5%.

Finishing this up, the Rugged SSD is a tremendously durable solution that offers both a simple small form factor design but also that aesthetic that has brands this as a LaCie solution. In my testing, the drive had no issues taking a few drops from heights of 5 and 10ft and even one onto the pavement and still working. That said, the orange overmold does appear to scuff quite easily.

As far as performance is concerned, the drive was fantastic, reaching 934 MB/s read in both CDM and ATTO and 913 MB/s write putting a good 50 MB/s between it and the CalDigit Tuff nano tested earlier. Price/Performance for this drive was not kind, putting it at 70.5% but it does not consider additional features like the IP67 certification.

Pricing for the LaCie Rugged SSD comes in hot at $319.99 for the 1TB capacity. This makes it almost double the price of the Crucial X8 in the same capacity, but does carry the additional features of IP67 and the longer 5-year warranty.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair VIII Formula X570 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2x8GB DDR4 3600 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H60 (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Carbide 275R (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Corsair MP600 1TB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)