The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Best rugged external hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Nathand, May 18, 2013.

  1. Nathand

    Nathand Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    256
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I need to buy an external hard drive to take with me while traveling, so it needs to be able to withstand somewhat harsh treatment. As a side note, I need to be able to encrypt it with TrueCrypt.

    I've been looking on Amazon and these are the most popular "rugged" HDDs:

    http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Information-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B005MNGQ6C
    http://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-2-5-Inch-MIL-STD-810F-SP010TBPHDA15S3K/dp/B00AN15O34
    http://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-2-5-Inch-Military-SP010TBPHDA80S3B/dp/B005EWTL7C

    Does anyone have any suggestions on which one I should get, or a recommendation for a better one?

    Thanks!
     
    Nathand, May 18, 2013
    #1
  2. djembe

    djembe drum while you work

    Reputations:
    1,064
    Messages:
    1,455
    Likes Received:
    203
    Trophy Points:
    81
    I use a Buffalo Mini Station Extreme (reviewed here)
     
    djembe, May 19, 2013
    #2
  3. un4tural

    un4tural Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    53
    Messages:
    666
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I've been using normal external drives, chucked in my backpack in/out, still work fine. i got aluminium enclosures for both, unless you plan to play football with them, it should really suffice.

    Then again those "rugged" ones aren't much more expensive than normal ones.

    Also to note, i had one inside a full alumiun case, sort of looped around from sides with plastic covers for both ends, would not recommend that, as after living in my backpack, i upgraded to an USB 3.0 drive, migrated data, but getting the HDD out of the enclosure to pair with my ps3, well it wasn't easy...
     
    un4tural, May 19, 2013
    #3