The LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 is a monstrous 96TB desktop RAID storage unit
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The LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 is a monstrous 96TB desktop RAID storage unit
Here’s a desktop-based storage solution for speed demons and professionals. Announced at the NAB trade show for video professionals, the LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 is a more compact – well, sort of – take on the company’s existing 12big storage servers for enterprises, targeted at professionals who need breakneck speeds and a whole lot of storage space for all those 4K videos.
The 12-bay device measures up to 447mm tall, and supports both Thunderbolt 3 and a variety of RAID modes. The all-aluminum enclosure is designed to more efficiently dissipate heat, and four temperature-regulated fans help keep the drives cool. Front status LEDs serve to inform you about things like drive health and RAID build status.
It houses 12 7,200rpm Seagate drives and has a Thunderbolt 3 plug at the back. LaCie is claiming speeds up to 2,400MB/s in RAID 5 over Thunderbolt 3, with the potential to go as fast as 2,600MB/s with certain tweaks. RAID 5 utilizes a combination of striping and parity techniques, thus allowing professionals to enjoy faster speeds and address the risk of data loss from drive failures.
These Seagate drives have been designed to operate round-the-clock on 16-bay racks, which means they should be a lot more reliable than traditional drives. They are also hot-swappable, as long as you don’t run them in RAID 0.
The 96TB model is actually the largest-capacity one, and the storage unit is available in 48TB and 72TB variants as well.
Finally, the 12big Thunderbolt 3 will also work with USB 3.1 Type-C devices, in addition to notebooks with built-in Thunderbolt 3 support. What’s more, it can provide power to these notebooks through a Thunderbolt 3 cable. It’s even compatible with USB 3.0 computers via the bundled USB-C to USB-A cable, although you won’t quite be doing justice to it.
LaCie plans to launch the 12big Thunderbolt 3 this summer, but there’s no word on pricing yet.
Source: LaCie (Business Wire)
