A Hard Drive With Quiet Style

Interactive: Strong and Silent

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

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THE DESIGN OF EXTERNAL hard drives isn't exactly ripe for innovation. Functionally, there isn't much difference from one model to the next; despite how distinct they may appear from the outside, the components inside are standard. So when a marquee designer like Philippe Starck restyles one, our first question is: How much of a premium are we paying for a prettier box?

With the LaCie Blade Runner, however, Mr. Starck pushes the boundary of form—this drive looks like no other—to improve function.

The device's blob-shaped center, which is suspended inside 16 aluminum fins, tackles two age-old annoyances common to external drives of this type: noise and vibration. The Blade Runner is quiet. The bulk of the case is cast from a single piece of aluminum, and those fins, which have enough room between them for air to circulate, dissipate heat so that a noisy fan isn't required. To dampen vibration (hard drives like these have platters that spin thousands of times per minute), the Blade Runner's case is heavy, solid and completely sealed. Adapting a trick from the hi-fi industry, which often poises speakers and turntables on stiletto-like feet, the 4.4-pound drive rests on four slim rubber pads to prevent transferring residual jitter to your desk.

At four terabytes, the Blade Runner is among the largest-capacity hard drives that you can buy—it has enough space to store a lifetime of digital photos, videos and music—and only a limited edition of 9,999 will be released. Compared with other USB 3.0 drives, it does command a premium. But, unlike most "designer" models, its appeal is more than just visual. Mr. Starck's most impressive flourish? Making something so soft-spoken. $300, lacie.com

A version of this article appeared January 26, 2013, on page D12 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: A Hard Drive With Quiet Style.