ioSafe Announces 'Full Metal Jacket' Rugged HDDs

ioSafe usually uses CES to launch the next model in its line of super-tough external storage solutions and this year is no different.

ioSafe yesterday officially unveiled the Rugged Portable, a 'Full Metal Jacket' line of aluminum-cased HDDs and SSDs. The HDD version comes in 250GB and 1TB flavours while the SSD models (also available in titanium) are available in capacities of 256GB and 512GB. All models support USB 3.0 and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0. A FireWire version is coming in March.

Of course, capacities and availability are important, but when we see ‘rugged’ we want to know how much torture these externals can withstand. According to ioSafe, the aluminum enclosure is crush-resistant to 2,500 lbs. and the titanium alloy enclosure (SSD only) to 5,000 lbs. The SSD models can take drops of up to 20’ while the HDDs can deal with drops measuring up to 10’ (both on solid concrete). If you’re going to be using your external around water, you can rest easy knowing that these babies can stand up to three days in fresh or saltwater at depths of 10’ (HDD) and 20’ (SSD). If chemicals are more your style, then you're safe from diesel fuel, oils, hydraulic fluids as well as aircraft fuels to a 12" depth for one hour. ioSafe’s EnviroSafe and AltiSafe technology also ensures protection from exposure to UV, blowing sand and dust, rain, salt fog, icing, or freezing rain and altitudes of up to 15,000 ft. (aluminum version) and 30,000 feet (SSD and titanium versions).

If all of that still doesn’t protect your data, the Rugged Portable is backed by ioSafe's Data Recovery Service. Should a drive break for absolutely any reason while under warranty, ioSafe will repair or replace the drive and, if necessary, cover up to $5,000 of the cost of third-party forensic recovery services. All Rugged Portable versions include 12 months warranty and Data Recovery Service, which users can choose to extend to either 36 or 60 months.

Prices start at $149.99 for the 250 GB aluminum HDD version and the HDDs will be available for pre-order from January 04, 2011 via the company’s website. ioSafe usually does some pretty awesome tests to demonstrate just how rugged its products are (picture above is from the '09 demo) and we’re scheduled to take part in one of those demos on Friday morning, so we’ll be sure to update later in the week with lots of pictures and video. Stay tuned!