External hard quality criteria

First, apologies if a recent thread on this topic exists, search showed latest as of 2008.

Now, while I know lots of good brands are out there, I wonder what is a good framework of judge the quality of an external hard drive.
What I care about is mainly criteria such as
- reliability
- shock absorption
- speed

I have a somewhat ok grasp of speed and it's not too crucial anyway. I am however concerned with reliability and shock absorption. I think most of my drives died due to shock (I think). I killed probably 4-5 500GB's last year, from high end to low end, from WD to noname I have been through a bunch of drives over the years.

What are criteria, or better, how can I judge how much damage a drive can withstand, or essentially, how rugged a drive is.
They sometimes drop around a foot on hard floor or get shaken for a bit of time.

 

They are all pretty much the same. It just comes down to interface, look, feel, and size. Sounds like you need to just buy whatever external drive is cheapest and cover it in bubble wrap. That or try really hard to treat your drives better. Chewing through external drives is not normal. The lifespan should be measured in at least a few years, not in just a few months.

 

I see your point, though I am surprised nobody makes 'extra rugged' hard drives, and I dont mean just the bubble wrap.

Anyone any experience where a particular wrapping or sth withstood more damage?

 

What exactly do you mean by "rugged"? The hard drives inside the enclosures are all prone to shocks and failure. The enclosures themselves sometimes are more sturdy, but it's still not recommended to be dropping them on the ground all the time

LaCie makes some rugged HHD enclosures IIRC though.

The only other thing I guess is that you can take a look and compare warranties for externals. See which manufacturers will cover how long and see if maybe some users have gotten the manufacturers to fix/repair damaged HDDs.

 

hm hm hm.... This is now really pushing it, but anyone knows what kind of gear the military uses?

There must be something seriously shock and/or even bullet proof no?

Anyone any experience with the ioSafe drives?

 

If shock absorption and such is your concern why not just get an SSD and stick it in an enclosure?

 

You have a point. A big SSD that will last a few years is far cheaper than the 12 or so external mechanical drives the OP would run through during that time period.

 

That is a good thought... so I wont be able to ruin SSD? At all? (from shock, obviously I can ruin them somehow )

 

Just to update, the company iosafe is what I will be going with. After some research, this is I think the best there is plus they offer data recovery insurance. They do SSD as well, quite pricey of course, but at least i'll end up with a shock, water, fire, bullet proof 1TB

I will report back how performance is.

 

Alright good luck with it

Hope it fits your needs for....well whatever it is you're doing that needs that much HDD sturdiness lol

 

Well, unless you decided to destroy the shell and interface of the SSD itself (as in, the ports), then it should still work after being dropped

Of course, that doesn't mean you should do a shock absorption test, but yeah, SSD would be your best option.

 

Sooo. ioSafe Rugged Portable is ordered for a bargain I feel, searched a bit but got a pretty good deal in the end.

I'll do a review once I get it. I'm just wondering how to review it I am NOT going to start burning/watering/shooting the thing

If anyone has a good idea, I'd be happy to hear it haha