LaCie announced a faster Pocket CDRW that lets you burn a full CD virtually anywhere in just 4 minutes. Truly designed for portability the drive is shock-protected and doesn't require a power supply when used with the FireWire port. Hardly larger than a personal CD player, the LaCie road-warrior fits in the palm of the hand and weights just over 500 grams. The unique LaCie's U&I* dual support provides connectivity with most current and future Mac and PC systems. Whatever the connection, the diminutive 24x10x24x CD-RW is hot-pluggable and be up and running in a few seconds.

Unlike most portable CDRW drives, the LaCie Pocket CDRW is host-powered. Laptop owners need nothing more than a FireWire cable to write CDs, meaning the LaCie road warrior can actually burn on the move. An international power supply can be used with the USB or I-link interface or to conserve laptop batteries.

The Pocket CD-RW is just as fast with USB2.0 as it is with FireWire, both interfaces delivering impressive transfer rates of more than 400 mbps. The Pocket CDRW can easily be shared between users as most of today's computers are fitted with either USB or FireWire ports — or both — with USB 2.0 expected to come as standard on all new PCs from 2002.

Forty times faster than previous USB generations, USB 2.0 also offers backward compatibility with USB 1.1 controllers — with recording speed limited at 4x.

For increased convenience, the Pocket CD-RW automatically detects the type of interface it is being used with and configures the connection.

Designed for users on the move, the Pocket CD-RW is encased in the LaCie's trademark silicon shock-absorber that prevents sliding or damage and features a groove to keep cables tidy.