14 DAY TRIAL // The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface standard has been steadily growing in popularity, so it is unsurprising to hear that LaCie has completed two more hard drives compatible with it, namely the Minimus USB 3.0 and the Rikiki USB 3.0.
As consumers may know by now, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard is the latest USB specification and has a theoretical maximum data rate of about 5Gbps, ten times that of USB 2.0.
Thus, external storage solutions, portable or otherwise, have been transitioning to this new technology, and LaCie has just made another contribution to this phenomenon.
What the company did was unleash two new high-capacity HDDs that still retain backwards compatibility with the USB 2.0 connection.
The newcomers are known as Rikiki USB 3.0 and Minimus USB 3.0, their respective capacities being of 500 GB and 1TB.
The former has a weight of 176 grams and measures 75 x 118.5 x 13.4 mm, which is a fair bit more compact that the Minimus.
The latter is 110.7 by 29.4 by 172.8 mm and its weight is of a full 850 grams, which more or less makes its status as portable arguably questionable.
Both have the same type of aluminum enclosure, are compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems and are backed by a two-year warranty.
"The Minimus and Rikiki USB 3.0 offer our customers easy and affordable options to access the super speeds of USB 3.0," said Philippe Rault, LaCie Consumer Product Manager.
"Since these products offer backward compatibility with USB 2.0, they will work on any PC or Mac with no worry," he added.
The LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0 model has a price tag of $100, whereas the Minimus USB 3.0 sells for $130. Both of the new arrivals benefit from a one-year subscription for 10GB of secure online storage via Wuala.