Review: LaCie’s 1big Dock SSD Pro – The BIG Storage Dock for Your Professional Needs

Many creative professionals, especially videographers, editors, and graphic artists, use peripherals for different kinds of projects every day. However, with such devices, comes the need for extra adapters, ports, hubs, and extra storage space. High-quality hubs and docks, especially, are usually pricey. And the pricier ones are almost most likely the ones that you would need to get your devices to work properly and efficiently.

LaCie, a computer hardware company, specializes in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, Flash Drives, and computer monitors. And today we will be taking a deep dive at one of their more heavy-artillery products: the 1big Dock SSD Pro. As the name implies, it’s a big dock that could handle your bigger projects.

External Build

The 1big Dock SSD Pro is smaller compared to the other LaCie products. Despite that, it still keeps all the features and ports needed for any creative professional. With a black, fully-aluminum, and self-cooling body and a big blue LED indicator found at the front of the device, it also sports the USB 3.0 port, a CFast 2.0 slot, an SDXC slot, and a CFexpress slot.

As for the rear, there’s a fan which is near the center. Directly left to the fan is a Kensington lock port, and right under the two assets are the power input, two Thunderbolt 3 ports (host and peripheral port), a DisplayPort 1.4 port, a shutdown button, and a firmware update button.

Internal Build

The internal structure of the LaCie’s dock has a custom metal enclosure that holds an M.2 NVMe FireCuda inside. It also has heat dissipation built around the drive to keep it running at high performance for much longer. You to never worry about it overheating in a short amount of time.

Capacity and Speed

In terms of capacity, you get to choose either 2TB or 4TB. Of course, the bigger cap would be a much better option for any professional out there, albeit a bit pricier. With the read and write speed of up to 2,800 MB/s, you won’t have to worry much about saving time in rendering your final files in full 8K resolution with the Seagate FireCuda NVMe SSD. With a read speed like that, you can also transfer up to 165 GB worth of high-resolution video in about a minute. This cheetah of a device will increase productivity rates and allow you to finish your work in lesser time than with any other SSD ports out there. Seagate’s FireCuda will allow you to render high bitrate files incredibly fast. With Seagate’s amazing reputation in providing high-quality and high-performing external drives, this is a partnership made in heaven.

Power Pass-Through and Power Delivery

Another great feature the 1big Dock SSD Pro has is how you can connect your laptop’s power supply to the Thunderbolt 3 daisy chain port to deliver up to 70W of power delivery. Plus, when you’re not using your charger, you can still get up to 45W of power from it, and up to 30W if you’re using it with other USB-C devices. Having this power delivery and pass-through will allow you to focus more on your work without the complications of having to worry about your laptop’s power.

Benefits and Warranty

Like any good company, buying the 1big Dock SSD Pro will come with a warranty and rescue data recovery service, which will last for 5 years. Their quality service will allow you to prevent any loss of data in your work.

Aside from that, you’ll also have a one-month complimentary membership to Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan. Ranging from Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, to even LightRoom.

So, within the five years of owning the 1big Dock SSD Pro, if it ever fails you at the worst possible time, LaCie will help in saving whatever files are left within the drive, and you’ll also get all the Adobe products for a month.

LaCie Toolkit

The downloadable LaCie Toolkit makes file security and safety easier to do and maintain. You will be able to make backups on the go, especially schedule necessary daily, weekly, or even monthly backups. Not only that, syncing your files and projects will be easier to do with multiple devices. You’ll be able to get the most out of their benefits with the use of this toolkit. It’s available for Windows and macOS. There’s also a download for the Toolkit GPL Source Code if you ever need it.

Price

As mentioned before, electrical necessities such as these can be quite pricey, but they’re also effective in terms of giving you the upper hand in dealing with potential problems in the future. The 4TB 1big Dock SSD Pro will cost you $2,499.00, while the 2TB option would amount to $1,299.95. Both of which you can buy through Amazon. Pricey, but it’s about what you’d expect for high-quality specs. That, and with all the benefits and plans you’ll be receiving alongside the 1big Dock SSD Pro, it’s honestly quite worth the price.

Final Thoughts

Despite the price being probably enough to scare off some professional creatives out there, it’s worth considering the perks like the Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan, the Rescue Data and Recovery Service that lasts for 5 years, plus all the features that it has and its fast read/write speed, it’s a deal worth considering. Not only that, if ever the drive fails because of a defect, LaCie will replace and provide data-recovery services to salvage whatever was lost within the storage.

If you’re ever making 8K resolution videos and cinema-grade films, then this SSD is just what you need for your peripherals and files. You can opt for that, or you can go for a cheaper alternative, the 1big Dock. It’s a desktop drive that’s still quite pricey, however, going at $679.00. Though it does have similar features, it’s lacking in reading and writing speed. That option would be much better if you’re working on smaller-scale projects.

Click here to buy 1big Dock SSD Pro (4TB and 2TB) and the LaCie 1big Dock (8TB and 16 TB)