lAcie dJi coPilot

A 2TB portable hard drive with a built-in display for peace of mind

www.lacie.com

£329 / $350

The LaCie DJI Copilot is a 2TB portable hard drive developed by Seagate/LaCie in partnership with DJI for photographers, videographers and (of course) drone pilots away from their computer. It has an SD card reader and screen built in plus USB-A, USB-C and microUSB ports.

LaCie supplies three connection cables, one with a Lightning connection for iOS devices and two for connecting Android devices with microUSB or USB-C ports.

Each connector has a block that blends into the drive’s housing. Once one is connected, the cable can be wrapped around the unit and pushed into a groove for storage. The assumption is that this will be a semipermanent connection.

When an SD card is inserted into the Copilot’s slot, or a device is connected via a USB-A port, the screen shows the connection and asks if you want to copy the contents. A press of the large button at the front confirms the action. A long (three-second) press cancels it. Alternatively, if your mobile phone or tablet is connected, you can use the free Copilot BOSS app to confirm or cancel the transfer. The screen on the Copilot shows the progress of the transfer, but you can also monitor it on your phone. Once the transfer is complete, you can view the images on the drive via your phone – it gives you a reassurance that flashing lights or a progress bar can’t quite deliver.

Tapping on the thumbnail of a video prompts you to download another free smartphone app, and once this is done you’re able to review the videos stored on the Copilot.

The Copilot has an internal rechargeable battery that can be used as a power bank for charging your phone, however, we found that transferring images and reviewing the odd video gobbles power quite quickly. For example, transferring around 21GB of files spread across two cards, while monitoring on an iPhone and briefly browsing the contents, dropped the power from around 80% all the way to 50%.

Naturally, when you’re back at base, you can connect the Copilot to your computer to transfer images for permanent storage.

Above USB CONNECTIONS The USB-A port enables device charging or direct backup from a camera or drone. The USB-C port is for connecting to a computer to transfer images; an adapter cable is supplied

Above RUGGED BUILD There’s a cover to protect the ports even when the phone connector is in place and the drive’s rubber-like encasing helps to make it drop,splash and dust resistant