Hands-On Review: LaCie 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3—2big To Be Ignored
By Jim Bask
In this review, an accomplished editor reviews and tests LaCie’s desktop RAID 2-bay storage device, the 2big Dock with Thunderbolt 3…it’s a thumbs up!
I like storage. I really do. Most of the projects I work on are shot in 4K and beyond, so storage is important. It doesn’t help that directors don’t have much incentive to say “cut” as they might have done when they shot on film. A recent project tied up nearly 18 terabytes of storage during finishing.
I’m always on the lookout for more storage. The more I have, the easier my job becomes—less time managing media, more time cutting. When I go to NAB, storage is one of the first things I look at. And when I visited LaCie’s booth this past April, I was excited to see their new storage options, specifically the 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3. And I’m excited all over again, because LaCie sent a unit out for a test drive.
“2big” in the name 2big Dock indicates that it’s a 2-drive array that can be configured as one large drive with no data protection (RAID 0) or as a “mirrored” array where data is protected by duplicating it across both drives (RAID 1). You can also configure it as two separate drives.
The RAID control is via hardware, not software, which helps with performance and portability across other systems. LaCie RAID manager software is used to configure the unit. It also allows you to set up email notifications to help you monitor the health of the array. If there’s a problem, it sends you an email….[continue reading]