LaCie 2TB Portable SSD (2021) review

Two minute review

The LaCie Portable SSD is a nice looking 2TB portable solid state drive that comes with a free data recovery service from Seagate, a generous 3-year warranty but also a rather steep price tag for what it offers, which is USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds and nothing more. As such it is a tough sell against the likes of the Kingston XS2000 or the SanDisk 2TB Extreme portable SSD, both being significantly cheaper without any performance penalties. That said, some might argue that the data recovery service alone is worth it, something that’s unique amongst mainstream solid state drive vendors (although other less stylish Seagate products - like the OneTouch have the same feature). Which brings us to the real question; are we paying a premium for the LaCie name?

Pricing and availability

The model tested (STKS2000400) has a suggested retail price of £339.99 but it is available from Amazon UK for £269 and from Amazon US for $330 respectively. Two smaller models are available, a 500GB and a 1TB one, on sale respectively for $100 and $170 at Amazon US and £90 and £185 at Amazon UK. As expected, the largest model has the lowest cost per Terabyte. We’d expect a larger 4TB model at some point as well. Note that this drive range occupies the entry-level segment in LaCie’s portfolio.

Design

Compared to some of its predecessors like the 2019 edition (LaCie Portable SSD 2TB), it is more compact although we’re not sure about the thought process that convinced the designers to choose the parallelogram as the inspiration. It’s worth - at this stage - mentioning the French origins of LaCie or La Compagnie and how aesthetics was at the core of its mission.

Before its acquisition by Seagate in 2014, the company had carved itself a lucrative niche amongst like-minded designers (and creative professionals) looking for creatively-inspired peripherals that could perform, regardless of the price. Trendsetters like Neil Poulton or Philip Stark collaborated with LaCie to design some iconic products. So the adage, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, holds truer than ever in this case.

The drive itself is presented as a monoblock of machined aluminum with a Type-C connector at one end, a status light and the LaCie logo etched. Minimalist and stylish at the same time, it is also small enough to be carried around unnoticed (10.6mm x 50mm x 80mm for a weight of 45g). Inside the box is a USB Type-C cable, a 1-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud and details for Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery services.

Performance and in use

The LaCie 2TB Portable SSD is built to last and should be able to withstand shocks and knocks. Just be mindful that the metal surface can and will get scratched if it falls on something that’s abrasive (think concrete floor). Note that it doesn’t have any IP rating, which means that it is not waterproof or dustproof. That puts it at a disadvantage compared to others.

When it comes to sheer numerical tests, the drive itself performed in line with our expectations. Seagate promised read speeds up to 1.05GBps and write speeds up to 1GBps. We notched 1.05MBps (read) on CrystalDiskMark and 1.04GBps on write using the same benchmark. Other benchmarks reported slower numbers while a single 10GB file was transferred in 17.6 seconds (or a real life speed of 574MBps), slightly faster than the Seagate OneTouch Pro.

We suspect that the latter and the LaCie drive share at least some components. The storage device didn’t warm up significantly during our tests and perhaps the only small complaint we could put through is the short length of the bundled cable.

Should I buy the LaCie 2TB Portable SSD (2021)?

Buy it if:

You want a storage device that has a great design. We won’t lie, the drive looks great but that’s a personal opinion and one that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t have any influence on the actual performance of the device. But yes, this LaCie drive is solid and built to last.

Data recovery services are a must to keep your data safe. Losing data is not fun especially if you’re a creative professional. Fortunately, Seagate’s data recovery services can come to the rescue although we’d still advise you to go for a cloud backup solution.

Don’t buy it if:

You want enterprise grade protection out of the box. For that Seagate has another product called the LaCie Mobile SSD Secure which is basically the same drive with enhanced security. Oh and it is only on sale at Apple.com. Alternatively one feature that LaCie could add to its drive would be a fingerprint reader similar to that found on the Samsung T7 Touch.

You want the fastest or the cheapest drive. The Sandisk Extreme, which we mentioned before, retails for only $230 at the time of writing with the faster USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 version costs about $300. The Crucial X8 is even cheaper at $190. For ultimate speed though, you will need a Thunderbolt 3 drive and the most affordable 2TB version is the $360 Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q.

You want a waterproof drive. This drive doesn’t have any IP rating. Coincidentally, LaCie has one called Professional SSD which has a bright yellow rubber sleeve, an IP67 rating and an industry-leading five-year warranty with data recovery services for just as long. 

We've also highlighted the best portable SSD