Storage

ioSafe external drive takes shotgun blast and keeps working

By // January 11, 2011, 11:05 AM PST // billdetwiler

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  • Go-Anywhere Ultra Rugged Portable Hard Drive

    At CES 2011, ioSafe demonstrated the durability of its Go-Anywhere Ultra Rugged Portable Hard Drive by letting reporters shoot it with a shotgun. I had a chance to take a few shots myself.

    I apologize for the graininess of some photos. I shot them with my iPhone 4 in less-than-optimal light.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Shooting Range

    The shooting range was only a few minutes car ride from the Las Vegas Convention Center where CES 2011 was held.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Range setup

    ioSafe had reserved a section of the range for the demonstration.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Demo-lition

    ioSafe dubbed their event the CES Demo-lition 2011: Hard Drive Shootout.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Testing setup

    ioSafe had a MacBook Pro and external monitor that they used to prove that the drive was working both before and after the demo-lition.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Drive before being shot

    Before the shooting began, the ioSafe representative took a few pictures with a digital camera and copied them to the drive. The ioSafe drive enclosure is milled from a solid piece of aircraft-grade aluminum.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Custom USB 3.0 connector

    The drive has a custom USB 3.0 connector.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Squeezing the drive in a vice

    ioSafe says the drive provides "crush protection up to 5,000 lbs." The first durability test was putting the drive in a vice.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Submerging the drive in water

    According to ioSafe, the drive provides "immersion protection up to 30' for 3 days."

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Displacing the water with alcohol

    The first step for preparing the drive after being submerged was to squirt a little isopropyl alcohol in the port.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Blowing out the port with canned air

    After the alcohol, came a little canned air to clear the last drops of water.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Still working

    The drive still worked after being squeezed in the vice and submerged in water.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • First shot

    The ioSafe tester was the first to take a shot at the drive. He's using a Remington 870 shotgun on full choke from about 30 feet away.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Drive after first shot

    After shooting the drive, the ioSafe tester reconnected the drive to the MacBook Pro. The drive worked. You can see the indentations made by the pellets from the shells.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Connected to the computer after a single shotgun blast

    After showing us that the drive was still readable by the computer, it was time for everyone else to take a shot--including me.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • After five shots

    Here's what the case looked like after five hits from a Remington 870 shotgun.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • It still works

    After five shotgun hits, the ioSafe drive still worked.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Not designed to be bullet proof

    As the ioSafe tester reminded us, this drive isn't designed to be bullet proof. And after the shotgun test was over, they let us have a little fun with an M16.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Drive after shot from an M16

    After a single hit from a M16 round, the drive if finally dead. After

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Drive with bullet hole

    here you can see how the bullet passed through the enclosure and the drive inside. After looking at the dead drive for a few minutes, we all got a chance to try our aim with the M16. I was able to hit the drive with several rounds from a single full-auto burst.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

Go-Anywhere Ultra Rugged Portable Hard Drive

At CES 2011, ioSafe demonstrated the durability of its Go-Anywhere Ultra Rugged Portable Hard Drive by letting reporters shoot it with a shotgun. I had a chance to take a few shots myself.

I apologize for the graininess of some photos. I shot them with my iPhone 4 in less-than-optimal light.

Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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About Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Managing Editor of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...