Mini Review: ioSafe Fireproof and Waterproof External Hard Drive

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 7:53 pm

Purchased two of these for a client for on-site backups (they also have an offsite backup). For the cost I'm probably gonna start recommending them to all my clients using external hard drives for backups: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

These aren't my photos - but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looks like:

This drive is waterproof and fireproof. What got me interested in it was this video of the drive being incinerated and the data was readable afterwards:

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Photos do not convey how massive this thing is. It's about the size and weight of a 12 volt marine battery. It's built like a battleship with a thick metal chassis that has a finish that makes it look like some 1950's military hardware.

I like the fact that it has the large standard USB jack on it (not the wimpy, easy to pull out by accident Mini-USB jack) and a nice rugged rocker switch for power on the back (I lament that most modern external HDD enclosures don't have a power switch anymore).

There's also a data recovery plan that it comes with and the first year is free. I personally can't see paying for the extension unless this is your only backup.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:18 am

Looks nice, though now I'm thinking of creative ways to weld my own.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:57 am

This video shows one taken apart so you get some idea. Most of the case is a molded block of some kind of fireproof material, then the drive itself is sealed in a bag which is part of the waterproofing.

I read somewhere that the mold isn't sealed around the drive at the factory (there's an air gap to allow ventilation). Heat from a fire makes the mold material expand and seal in the drive.

Looks like the drive itself is a standard drive. The ones we bought were detected as Hitachi models.

This diagram also shows how it's put together:

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:42 am

So how much does this baby run?

Never mind - I saw the newegg link for $210.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 12:00 pm

About twice as much as a standard 1Tb external HDD, but that's not unreasonable for something that rugged.

I personally also like that it doesn't look anything like a hard drive. I have a fetish about hiding or disguising external hard drives used for backups at an office to try to prevent them from being taken in case of theft. This thing looks like some 40 year old industrial designed piece of medical hardware - like a power supply for an X-Ray machine.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:17 pm

I have to admit, that it's worth the price of the enclosure for mission critical stuff. Don't think I could make something that effective that looked as nice.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 6:46 pm

looks like a winner to me. it's nice to see the internal design, as i was wondering how they protected the drive. i wonder how hot it actually gets inside before the electronics on the drive would die and require professional data recovery.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 7:46 pm

Well that's why they also have a data recovery plan, which is free the first year.