LaCie Rugged’s designer aimed for an instant classic

LaCie Rugged portable hard disks have survived where other hard drives fail — in the film sets, photo shoots and music studios of some of the most creative professionals around the globe. Why? LaCie Rugged products have been the most trusted method to transport and capture data in the field for over a decade.
They are compact, strong, and can be used for any purpose. The Rugged drives are IP67-rated for extreme water resistance to rain, drop, dust and crush resistance. This is what keeps filmmakers and photographers coming back for more.

Since 2005, we have released over 6,000,000 Ruggeds into nature.

How has Rugged changed since its conception? Let’s look back at LaCie‘s award-winning history with Rugged hard drives.
Rugged’s designer wanted to create a classic design.

The Rugged drive, a steel box with a protective orange rubber sleeves, was a hit from the start and became a popular choice for creative professionals looking for high-capacity, portable storage that can withstand all the challenges of life.

The Rugged was an instant hit,” said Neil Poulton, a Paris-based designer who designed the look of many LaCie storage products, including Rugged. “But, where we are now is more exciting than where we have been.”

Poulton described the painstaking design process that went into creating the drive. It included many revisions and dealing with early durability issues. He says that despite performing over a million hardness testing, the bumper still failed to meet the Shore value (hardness rating).

These tests were passed eventually. Today, Rugged is stronger than ever. It can withstand drops from higher heights and be run over by a 1-ton vehicle. Some models even have a 2-ton vehicle!

This is why creative storytellers choose Rugged Shuttle drives.

Poulton noted that the original product’s design was influenced by the “Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle”, a tank-like vehicle used in the 1960s British sci fi TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

Design improvements from the beginning to today

LaCie has made improvements to the Rugged family over the years. We have increased its capacity by 9,900% from the 80GB it had in the original version to the 8TB (8,000GB) version of the Rugged RAID Shuttle. LaCie’s also expanded the types of Ruggeds available to solve a wide variety of needs, producing everything from mini versions to larger high-capacity versions, SSD models and backup-on-set-solutions (BOSS).

Over time, Rugged has been enhanced with new speed- and productivity features. We have added Thunderbolt connectivity to Rugged in 2012 and models that use two internal drives with RAID in 2015 for twice as fast speed and capacity. We also introduced breakout capabilities that allow creatives in the field to back up files from SD cards or USB devices. You can monitor file-transfer progress and capacity on the drive, and you can even access the drive’s files from your smartphone.

The Rugged drive was first introduced by Andy Best and Zak Nyle, adventure photographers such as Andy Best and Cory Popp, videographers such as Sara Dietschy, YouTube stars such Sara Dietschy, and music producers such Nashville’s Paul Moak. It is used to store and ship footage from field to editing room. The durable drive can be used in Hollywood production studios as well as the extreme heat, dry, wet, and icy conditions of any wild place.