LaCie (www.lacie.com) has announced the LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3, a professional 12-bay desktop RAID storage unit with up to 96TB and the performance of Thunderbolt 3 and RAID 5/6.
It’s designed for video professionals who need to meet the data demands of 4/5/6K cameras. The LaCie 12big features Seagate’s enterprise-class drives with a five-year limited warranty. With its hardware RAID controller and 7200RPM drives, it can reportedly achieve up to 2600MB/s—and 2400MB/s in RAID 5.
With double the video bandwidth of its predecessor, Thunderbolt 3 lets the user daisy chain dual 4K displays or a single 5K display to the LaCie 12big. With two 4K displays, a video pro can spread out his/her workspace by dedicating one display to the timeline and the other to previewing 4K footage. It’s even possible to provide power to a compatible laptop through the Thunderbolt 3 cable.
With up to 96TB of capacity, the LaCie 12big can store 100 hours of 4K ProRes 444 XQ footage in RAID 5. With that capacity, it’s possible to store footage from 48 LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt 2TB shuttle drives.
The LaCie 12big’s 7200RPM Seagate enterprise-class drives are designed to operate 24×7 on 16-bay racks (instead of 8×5 operations for traditional hard drives). These HDDs are rated for 8760 hours of operation per year.
The redesigned LaCie RAID Manager offers an interface to administer the LaCie 12big. An interface assists the user in setting up and monitoring storage. Wizards help create and manage volumes optimized for individual needs. Plus it offers advanced features such as CPU settings, auto rebuild, and drive diagnostics.
From the front of the product, drive status LEDs keep track of drive health and RAID build status, and drives can be accessed. The aluminum enclosure dissipates heat, and four thermoregulated fans pull heat away from the drives. Even if a fan fails, the product is still fully functional. For universal compatibility, users can connect to USB-C laptops—and even USB 3.0 computers via the included USB-C to USB-A cable.
The LaCie 12big will be available this summer in 48TB, 72TB and 96TB capacities through the LaCie online store and LaCie resellers.