LaCie / Hitachi Press Release

LaCie and Hitachi Collaborate to Deliver Industry’s Largest Capacity External Storage Solutions

500GB Hitachi Deskstar Hard Drives Provide Advanced Features and Renowned Quality

PORTLAND, OR (July 2005) – LaCie and Hitachi, two pioneers of innovative hard drive technology and design, today announce a collaboration to deliver three external hard drives with record capacities for both consumer and enterprise users. LaCie selected 500GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 hard drives for its 2TB Biggest F800, 500GB Ethernet Disk mini and 2TB Bigger Disk Extreme storage solutions. Hitachi has incorporated a number of unique design features that make its 500GB hard drive well-suited for use in digital video editing, multi-drive RAID storage and numerous other high-bandwidth applications.

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with LaCie to include their latest high-capacity external storage solutions,” says Steve Pereira, director, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Europe Limited. “LaCie and Hitachi are both known for providing customers with breakthrough features, unique design and cutting-edge technology. LaCie is using 500GB Deskstar hard drives to deliver external storage solutions with massive capacities and that are easy to use for both consumer and enterprise customers.”

“LaCie is excited to work with Hitachi to deliver the largest capacity hard drives solutions on the market,” says Olivier Mirloup, LaCie Senior Product Manager. “LaCie has a history of developing award-winning storage solutions and Hitachi’s ongoing leadership in the internal hard drive industry makes this pairing a natural fit. Linking our strengths will be a great benefit to our customers.”

Hitachi Deskstar drives will provide LaCie customers with industry-leading capacity and award-winning performance. Several Deskstar 7K500 design attributes combine to enhance system performance and usability, including fast data transfer rates, low power consumption and “Smooth Stream” technology, an advanced error recovery process designed to improve digital content management.
   
The following LaCie solutions include 500GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 internal hard drives:

* LaCie Biggest F800 is a RAID subsystem offering a higher level of data protection for professionals with secure storage for 2TB data. The 4-bay array supports RAID levels 0, 0+1, 5 and RAID 5+hot spare in a sturdy aluminum enclosure with FireWire 800 and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interfaces for use on PCs or Macs. Biggest F800 allows for easy installation of four arrayed disks with no driver required. Should the system overheat or a drive fail, the Biggest F800’s smart alarm will notify the administrator via an audible sound and automatically begin rebuilding a faulty drive for those using RAID 5.

* LaCie Ethernet Disk mini is an affordable network hard drive for use in homes or small offices with 500GB shared storage space. Anyone plugged into the dual-purpose Ethernet Disk mini can instantly share files via the fast Ethernet connection without having to install drivers, or the drive can be attached via USB 2.0 to any individual computer for faster throughput and a private connection. Designed for small office and home environments, the user-friendly LaCie Ethernet Disk mini is plug and play - no prior networking experience is required.

* LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme is a compact and sturdy drive designed to support multi-stream audio/video editing in a variety of formats with burst transfer rates reaching up to 85MB/s and unrivaled 2TB capacity. A true plug-and-play device, the LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme has a built-in RAID 0 configuration that allows for instant high-speed data transfers of up to 85MB/s and immediate large-scale backup without the need for complicated setup. LaCie Bigger Disk Extremes are hot-pluggable for file sharing among FireWire 800/400 and iLink/DV workstations. No drivers or software installation is required for those using Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Mac OS X operating systems.

LaCie drives are available immediately worldwide direct from LaCie or through the company’s specialized dealer network. For more information, visit www.lacie.com.

About LaCie
LaCie creates external storage solutions and color monitors that help professionals and everyday users easily manage their digital lives. Powerful technology combined with unique designs by the internationally acclaimed Philippe Starck, Neil Poulton and Porsche Design GmbH make LaCie the world leader in storage innovation. Established in France in 1989, LaCie is now headquartered in North America, Europe and Asia and listed on the Paris Nouveau Marché (code 5431). For more information, visit www.lacie.com.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 as a result of the strategic combination of Hitachi’s and IBM’s storage technology businesses. Hitachi GST is the industry’s second largest hard disk drive manufacturer in revenue.

The company’s goal is to enable users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing access to large amounts of storage capacity in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home. The company offers customers worldwide a comprehensive range of storage products for desktop computers, high-performance servers and mobile devices. For more information on Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, please visit the company’s Web site at http://www.hitachigst.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s Website at http://www.hitachi.com