LaCie Mirror Review: Hands-On With LaCie's Latest Designer Hard Drive

[MacRumors]

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Seagate-owned hardware company LaCie debuted its newest design-focused hard drive, the $280 USB 3.0 LaCie Mirror Portable Hard Drive, which has recently become available for purchase. MacRumors met up with LaCie at CES, and we managed to get our hands on one of the company's new hard drives to share with our readers.

LaCie has a history of producing "Extreme Design" products that are aimed at people looking for an attention-catching desk accessory that also performs a useful function, which last year resulted in the LaCie Sphere, a silver-plated sphere that housed a 1TB hard drive. This year's LaCie Mirror follows in the footsteps of the Sphere, offering a 1TB hard drive in a mirrored enclosure, albeit with a slightly more traditional shape.

What's in the Box?

As a premium product, the LaCie Mirror ships in a premium box, which folds out in two tiers to unveil the hard drive in a padded compartment, a cord to connect it to a computer, and a wooden stand.

There's also a carrying pouch for keeping the Mirror free from scratches during transport, a cleaning cloth for removing fingerprints from the surface and a Quick Install Guide for getting the hard drive set up right out of the box. The hard drive itself ships covered with adhesive plastic screen protectors, so make sure to remove those before use.

Design

The LaCie Mirror was designed by French designer Pauline Deltour, who has created a range of modern furniture and home accessories, including several pieces that are sold by Alessi and MUJI. The Mirror is similar to much of Deltour's previous work, with a simple, clean look that's able to fit in with any office design, from opulent to minimalistic.


Click here to read more...

Article Link: LaCie Mirror Review: Hands-On With LaCie's Latest Designer Hard Drive

 

[BeSweeet]

A "designer" hard drive...

 

[rhett7660]

A "designer" hard drive...

Yeah I thought the same thing when I read this.

 

[farewelwilliams]

mirror because you can stare at yourself for realizing how much you paid for a novelty item

 

[jclo]

Let us know if you have any questions about the LaCie Mirror and we'll do our best to answer.

 

[dannyyankou]

Lol, $280 for 1tb is outrageous.

 

[mw360]

Thank you for these considered and in-depth product reviews. Although I'm not sure why you bother when pretty much any non-Apple product here gets dismissed in the comments with a single sentence of snark.

 

[madsci954]

So if it drops and breaks, you lose your data AND get 7 years bad luck?

 

[blueroom]

Thank you for these considered and in-depth product reviews. Although I'm not sure why you bother when pretty much any non-Apple product here gets dismissed in the comments with a single sentence of snark.

It has nothing to do with being a non-Apple product, it has everything to do with it being an pricy USB 1TB HDD in a shiny metal box.

 

[A MacBook lover]

Durability? Encryption? Prevention from failures?

Or did they forget about stuff that when they were enamored with the design?

People love apple products because it's stellar on all levels, not just design.

 

[5t3f4n]

It has nothing to do with being a non-Apple product, it has everything to do with it being an pricy USB 1TB HDD in a shiny metal box.

This is exactly what many people consider Macs to be; overpriced hardware in a shiny case.
I think we found the LaCie Mirror's target group.

 

[CD3660]

So if it drops and breaks, you lose your data AND get 7 years bad luck?

Excellent. Made me laugh!

 

[nutmac]

For an overpriced designer hard disk, I find the design to be rather underwhelming.

At the very least, the dock should have a USB 3.0 connector and the disk should attach directly to the dock (similar to iPhone Dock). And would it kill them to put at least 2 TB platters (and raise price to $300 if they must)?

 

[bergert]

one question:

Let us know if you have any questions about the LaCie Mirror and we'll do our best to answer.

A colleague had the metal case with mirror. When one disk broke, using the PREMIUM LaCie software, he was not able to tell which disk was the good one, and which was broken. And opening the PERMIUM case - to remove the good disk and copy the data, some of the little hooks broke, so it was not possible to put it back together like before. Ideally, you would want to replace the faulty disk and start a rebuild - but that does not seem to be use-case for LaCie.

In one word, just what you expect from a PREMIUM product. In contrast, Promise RAID, has disk trays with status indicators, and REAL monitoring software.

 

[agenda893]

Gilded turd. I don't care how pretty you make a case for a seagate drive, it's going to still die when you need it the most.

 

[g4cube]

...

In one word, just what you expect from a PREMIUM product. In contrast, Promise RAID, has disk trays with status indicators, and REAL monitoring software.

And for the people that want a premium product with drives in removable trays or drawers, LaCie, Caldigit, G-tech and others all have similar products.

As the reviewer says upfront, it is a designer drive for people who value esthetics. For others who simply want a cheaper, larger drive, Seagate has that need covered too. Recall that Seagate owns LaCie.

I think the car industry is similar - different models for different customers. No one needs a BMW or Lexus or Tesla, except to make a statement. A Yugo or Yarus will get you to work, too.

 

[samlikesmac]

$279 for aesthetic lol.

 

[chasemac]

My experience with Lacie External HD's have been absolutely awful. Have owned 3 of them over the years and they never lasted more than a year. This one looks like a shiny turd.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Should have come with a nicer carrying case.

 

[xristy]

So tiresome

LaCie products have never struck me as particularly good examples of industrial design. They always seem to have bent metal with some sharp edges and so on. PLUS, every time I've been in a bind and ended up buying a LaCie drive, it's ended up dead within a week to a month.

I've learned to steer clear of LaCie since it does nothing for me in terms of function or form.

 

[GrumpyOldMac]

The stupidest thing ever.

And who buys 1TB externals anymore?

 

[wlossw]

Shiny case to get dirty quickly is not a plus...

 

[fitshaced]

Mirror mirror on my desk, why did I buy this piece of crap? A mirror hard drive that doesn't actually mirror.

 

[iMcLovin]

I don't mind if it's expensive if it actually were a premium product. For it to be a premium hdd it should include great housing which actually is well thought through, no noise and good and user friendly backup and raid software, and not the least great customer service. This what apple would have done. I've owned 3 LaCie thunderbolt hdds. Simply because I had hopes for the products to be great. The first hdd simply tipped over and got broken - the customer service told me it wasn't part of their warranty. So bad customer service and stupid design. Second the 2big was so noisy that I sold it. So a bad product wrapped in fancy metal. Currently I have the d2. It looks nice but I know if it tip over it will break. Lacie say it's near silent. It's not. Both my mybook and my time capsule have hdds, they are silent...so LaCie should actually start making premium products before charging for that. A simple hdd in a metal case isn't enough

 

[theSeb]

My experience with Lacie External HD's have been absolutely awful. Have owned 3 of them over the years and they never lasted more than a year. This one looks like a shiny turd.

My experience with Lacie external hard drives has been excellent and I don't think this product looks like a shiny turd at all, but I would not buy it.