AIT is increasingly taking over from DDS as the tape technology with the more promising (i.e. higher capacity) future, so it's not surprising that LaCie has taken an AIT1 drive and squeezed it into one of the company's own silver cases. The result is a 35/70GB tape drive with both USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces - hence the 'U & I' in the name, with the 'I' standing for IEEE1394, FireWire's alter ego.

It has to be said that this is not one of LaCie's most stylish designs. Usually the company manages to sculpt its products so that they fit perfectly into the external cases, but this drive looks rather out of place mounted underneath the silver cover.

Not that it matters, really, as this is a practical device rather than a pretty add-on. The AIT1 unit will handle cartridges with a native capacity of 35GB, rising to a predicted 70GB with 2:1 compression, something that should be easily attainable with most of today's software and data. A couple of cartridges should be all that's required to backup even the largest of desktop hard drives.

The drive uses memory-in-cassette (MIC) cartridges, so information such as file catalogues, backup sets and date stamps are stored on the cassette itself. This is a much more sensible approach than that taken with older tape drives, where catalogues were stored separately and had to be painstakingly reconstructed should they be lost.

Both USB and FireWire cables are included in the box and the drive has a claimed data transfer rate of 4MB/sec under either interface. Performance is helped by an 8MB data buffer. Supplied with the drive is a copy of Dantz Retrospect Backup with a 5-client licence, so the unit can be used to backup small workgroup PCs. Drivers and manuals (on CD only) are also included. The only thing missing, in fact, is a tape cartridge. You'll have to buy one of those separately before you can begin the backup process.

Tape drive capacities continue to edge ahead of direct access media, such as writable DVD, and so have the edge when it comes to backing up hard drives. The AIT1 U & I is an expensive solution for a stand-alone PC, but it makes a lot of sense if you need to backup the hard drives of a small workgroup of PCs, perhaps for a small business.