Tough Harddrive enclosure

I am looking for an enclosure for a back-up hard drive that would live up to the Toughbook status. We are currently using the plain aluminum enclousre but have had problems with that setup. We backup our server to a portable hardrive every night. We have four of them and a diferent person is reasonable for taking one home and returning it every forth day. They don't always get treated with the care the information deserves.

If not an enclosure is there a shock proof/mositure proof case that I can put the HD in for protection after the back-up? Surily someone is using one they can recomend.

 

Get an appropriately sized Pelican case (no affilliation). Water proof, shock resistant and dust proof.

 

Either Pelican or Otterbox.

 

I was hoping to find an enclosure that had a silicone jacket like our TB do.

 

How about Addonics?

http://www.addonics.com/products/jupiter/jexd.asp

It looks like they have a silcone jacket, aluminum case and look to be well built.

After seeing how my TB is put together, it's hard to accept how poorly other electronics are put together. I'm not a compuer guy but I can't help but get sucked into this addiction you guys talk about. Thanks everone for all the good information it is very helpful to all us that have just been bitten by the moding bug.

 

Mmmhmmm... I can recommend these from personal experience:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=RF-USBFLB80-R&cat=HDD

I own two of these in the 40GB version; one I use for backups on my home PC, the other has been bouncing around in my laptop bag for over a year.

Below you can see what the insides looks like (I know - Samsung's not MY first choice either, but I got two of them shipped over a year ago for $65). It does have silicone foam shock protection in all 3 planes; but it definitely does not seem as rugged as the Toughbook HD Caddy.

Geeks.com also has these:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=301175R&cat=HDD

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=301009-DT&cat=HDD

Although I cannot vouch for them in any way, they LOOK pretty tough. Newegg has the 120GB USB only version here with more pics:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154154

and it has received some bad reviews, but it looks like they all stem from dumb@sses wrapping the cord around the drive without unplugging it from the drive. It uses the same standard mini-usb type connector as my Firelite drives do, and I'm certain that if I was dumb enough to do that, they'd have broken by now too.

As for the purchase - in your case, I'd recommend buying from Newegg since you want them for your work. Geeks.com RMA process is not user-friendly; they are a good place to get stuff cheap, but Newegg's customer service is second to none.

mnem<~~~ The Not-Yet-A-Celebrity Shopper*