February 3, 2009

LaCie d2 external BluRay drive for HD video hoarders

by mohsin

The LaCie d2 Blu-ray drive targets customers who have tons of HD video to offload. The d2 is actually a Panasonic-manufactured Blu-ray burner. The drive is encased in a LaCie-branded brushed-metal shell that offers both USB 2.0 and FireWire connectors. The drive can burn up to 50GB of data on a single dual-layer BD-R disc, and can do so at 4x to 8x speed (limited to 6x using USB 2.0). Other formats it supports include BD-RE, DVD+-R, DVD+-RW, DVD+-R DL, CD-R and CD-RW. The included software enables you to burn data files, videos, audio content and more to the drive. Blu-ray formats specifically supported by the drive include BD-ROM, BD-ROM AACS, BD-R and BD-RE (bear in mind that Mac OS X currently lacks the ability to play back Blu-ray Disc movies).

The LaCie d2’s dimensions are slightly leaner than the OWC’s (it measures 6.3 by 10.6 by 1.7 inches; the external drive will cost you around $450. A hefty price for a first generation external BD drive, I would look at the Panasonic price first before look into buying this device.