As a photojournalist who has traveled worldwide this device seems aimed squarely like me, people who make their living from producing still and video photography using a variety of capture devices, including these days things like action cams and drones. I can think of times I spent weeks in the remotes regions of Mongolia and Siberia when I would have paid a king’s ransom for something like this.
But LaCie is not alone in addressing my niche market. I have had my sights set on another similar device introduced recently by WD that is similar in many ways in size, form and function but there are substantial differences as well. For my benefit, and now yours, I will attempt to compare my experiences with both and see what conclusions can be drawn. Yes there are other similar brands available as well but WD is the giant of the industry and theirs seems to be the obvious target everyone else is aiming at.
WHAT IS IT
In simplest terms this is nothing but a large capacity motor-driven laptop hard drive, and as such may seem to be much too pricey. Add that it has a built-in SD card slot allowing direct transfer of still and video images for backup protection and its worth goes up a little. Add that you can transfer those image files directly to a smartphone or tablet and the value goes up even more, especially if you are using an iPhone or iPad which are notorious for making the process of direct file transfer difficult. There is a little more worth added by having its own battery power source and simplistic status screen and that it is very ruggedized and you may soon forget the asking price and more easily see the practical value. One thing that it lacks that makes the WD device so attractive, however, is wireless file transfer and that can make or break it in the eyes of many working professionals who want to travel light, with a minimum of adapter cables and power supplies and not have to depend on wires. By the way, if you are wondering what BOSS stands for it is Backup On-Set Solutions, in other words, what I would call backing up data in the field.
COMPARED TO THE WD MY DRIVE
Both devices are similar in size, form and function but of the two the LaCie seems awkward to use, especially its logic-defying single button control switch. Its shape and control placement seem to be the result of an art department rather than people who shoot photos or video (and the designer’s signature on the unit seems to reinforce that). While it is ruggedized, the large display screen seems vulnerable to damage, whereas the similar panel on the WD is only home to two small status lights. There is a removable door to access the various I/O ports. I’m not sure what they were thinking by having the door removable rather than hinged but I guarantee it will get lost in a matter of days, it’s just a bad design. The single switch shows your battery level and available storage capacity at a single tap and if you hold it longer the unit powers up. I would have liked to see it power up just by inserting an SD card. When the status screen goes to sleep you have no idea if the unit is powered on or off and you have to go through several button presses to actually power it down. Compared side by side the WD seems more svelte and user friendly and of course being wireless the concern about losing or breaking a cable is diminished.
IN USE
The idea driving this product is that people who shoot still or video imagery are concerned that their media fills up and they want to download it to reuse the media card. As a career pro I would never take the risk of transferring my photos or videos from one media form to another simply for the sake of convenience. Media cards are cheap and I simply carry as many as I need. When one fills up I replace it with another. That isn’t to say that a way of making a safety backup copy in the field isn’t a good idea. I think that is a great idea and the LaCie makes that relatively easy to do. Many photographers would like to immediately view or field edit their imagery, and this unit acts as an interpreter to facilitate playback on phones, tablets, laptops, etc. I like that even more, but once you have tried using the wireless capabilities of the WD for that purpose you really don’t want to go back to using wires again.
FAIR COMPARISON
While both products are similar in many ways there is one tremendous difference – the WD costs substantially more because it is wireless. But realistically not even a photographer for one of the news services needs the 2GB capacity of either one of them and I have a major concern about putting all of my eggs in one basket, in other words I would never ever even think of backing up everything I shoot to only one large capacity device, that would be inviting disaster.
NOT TO LIKE
Rather than charge using a USB port the manufacturer recommends using the supplied power brick which utilizes a DC-type plug, not something you would normally have with you so you are forced to carry the relatively large and heavy charger with you. Obviously they have never been hundreds of miles from the nearest power plug on a photo shoot.
To make it worse they suggest that the battery in the backup drive can be used to recharge your cell phone or maybe your drone’s battery. I recoil in shock at the suggestion of using up my precious battery time on my backup drive to use it to charge other devices. I guess they have never thought of the power going dead in the mid-transfer of once in a lifetime image files. Overall I just get the feeling that this product was not designed by, or consulting with, real photographers.
Here are a few more examples of why I think the design wasn’t very well thought out:
- Why would anyone design a safety backup device that's intended to be used in harsh conditions with a deep dirt-catching channel around the entire perimeter that can let dust, moisture and other things into the all-important port area.
- Some have mentioned that the cables are permanently attached to the drive. They are not. Perhaps in an earlier version they did that and then modified the design for obvious reasons.
- The 12 English language pages of the owner’s manual are very lacking in detailed information. That is unfortunate for such a versatile device.
- Regardless of its capacity the entire drive weighs too much, even if you don't count the unnecessarily heavy power brick. Photography equipment is heavy and working pros don't want or need excess weight to carry around. This device could have been a lot lighter if they used an SSD. And I don't care what anyone might say, a spinning platter driven by a motor can never give me a total feeling of security that the drive won't crash and lose my entire backup.
- The free one-month Creative Cloud offer (the same as WD offers) is stingy. One month? If you're a pro it’s a yawn of an offer, you likely already have Creative Cloud or your choice of similar solution. Contrary to other information, when you install and register the app it does not immediately begin your subscription but rather it sends you an email with instructions how to complete the software redemption.
- One of the most disappointing things though is that you can only copy an entire memory card, not individual images or video clips. Not only is this time consuming but counter-productive to how I work. I may shoot a thousand images in a session but only choose to work with maybe a dozen of them. It's one of so many ways the designers don't understand photography as a business.
GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD?
In a word, no. This is not a revolutionary new great invention by any means, just a reconfiguration of the kind of backup drive that has been available to photographers for years. I would not consider it any more safe or secure than anything else that has been available. When your career depends on acquiring imagery and safely transporting it to publication you can’t get wrapped up in hyperbole and gee whiz gadgets. The actual practicality of this device itself is questionable. What does it do? Yes it backs up the entire contents of your media card but there is no confirmation that the actual images transferred properly because you can’t see them, only a confirmation that data was transferred. You never know until you plug this into a computer with a screen if the data was corrupted or not. And on that note, there is no way to do a “safely remove media and eject” process so you run a very real and dangerous risk of corrupting your original media disks. That in fact happened to me the very first time I used it, one of the reasons for me considering this device only conditionally acceptable. Considering how much this weighs by itself with no accessories (1 pound 2.5 ounces) you could carry a small laptop computer with you and accomplish as much and more, including Bluetooth, WiFi and more importantly, a display screen. There are numerous laptops, including the HP Envy x2, that weigh only a few ounces more than the LaCie DJI Copilot.
SUMMARY
If you have your heart set on this type of device, having used both this an the WD version I have a preference for the WD despite the added premium. Overall it is more ergonomic and what I would call field-friendly and it gives me a little more confidence that my data is secure. Plus for me the transfer speeds were noticeably faster than the snail-paced LaCie. But the biggest difference is that when I want to view my images I simply turn it on and no physical connections are necessary. That adds up to being a real timesaver and it underscores the real reason I want to use a device like this. The LaCie is an interesting gadget but it is not a well thought out professional tool.
| Brand | LaCie |
|---|---|
| Series | DJI Copilot |
| Item model number | STGU2000400 |
| Hardware Platform | Mac |
| Item Weight | 1.18 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 5.35 x 4.37 x 1.42 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 5.35 x 4.37 x 1.42 inches |
| Flash Memory Size | 2 TB |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacturer | SEAGATE |
| ASIN | B078VCSLD7 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | January 9, 2018 |
