There are plenty of portable external hard drives out there that claim to be rugged. We've tested a lot of them, and they mostly do a good job of protecting your hard drive from knocks and drops, but we wouldn't trust them to protect the hard drive from large drops or being run over by cars. The ioSafe Rugged Portable Hard Drive is another case entirely.
This is a rugged external hard drive that takes physical data protection very seriously. Its unique 'Full Metal Jacket' technology involves a case made of a solid billet of either aluminium or titanium alloy, depending on the model you choose.
This enables the drive inside (choices are up to 1TB standard hard drive or 512GB solid state drive) to be crush-resistant up to 5,000lbs, smash-proof up to 20ft drops and waterproof at depths of up to 30ft for three days, without the need of any additional equipment.
While this list is impressive enough, the ioSafe Rugged Portable Hard Drive can also withstand being submerged in diesel, oil, hydraulic fluids and other chemicals by up to 12 inches, for one hour, without any data loss. Protection from extreme sunlight, sand, dust, rain and ice is also included, as well as altitudes up to 30,000 feet.
The casing and an included Kensington lock slot offers protection from thieves as well. For such a rugged and uncompromising case it actually looks quite nice, and is surprisingly light. USB 3.0 functionality makes this a speedy way to back up your files as well - especially if you choose a model with an SSD drive.
Verdict
While many of us won't be putting our hard drives through such stressful conditions, the added protection - along with a data recovery service and warranty for one year - offers plenty of peace of mind. And if you need to store and access data in extreme conditions, then this is a highly recommended purchase.
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