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Last Friday a strap on my work bag snagged, broke, and it fell about 1 foot onto the ground. I keep a laptop, Wacom tablet, and External HDD in there. The Laptop and the Wacom are completely unscathed, but when I plugged in the HDD an hour later it started smoking like an overdry cigar. Since I absolutely need to bring my work with me everywhere, and there are plenty of unique hazards during my daily commute (I take the train to work daily), I'm now looking at some considerably more rugged storage solutions.
I've narrowed it down to about 3 options, and I'm leaning toward the lattest, but would greatly appreciate some more advice:
1. Hitachi 2.5" Laptop HDD (160GB) + External Enclosure. Our IT manager at work claims that Hitachi laptop drives are supposed to be among the most reliable, rugged HDDs on the market. Ideally, I'd like something that doesn't require an extra power outlet, and after doing a little research it seems it should be possible to get an enclosure that is entirely USB 2.0 powered. I'm just not convinced this solution would be "rugged" enough for me or my commute (I take train, btw, so it will be shaking quite a bit while in operation as well). Then there's the matter of finding the most compact-yet-durable-and-shock-absorbent enclosure on the market...
2. Lacie Rugged All-Terrain USB2.0 drive. There's a 250GB version just hitting the market, but I'd rather not wait any longer than I have to, so the 160GB version is what I'm looking at right now. I just keep reading mixed things about Lacie drives in general. They can be powered by an additional USB cable or by power outlet, which is a plus. Lacie claims the drive can survive a fall of just under 3ft when non-operational (which should be sufficient), but I'm not entirely convinced of it's durability after extended active use on the train (shaking, jolting, etc). On the other hand, I'd definitely get the most storage for the money.
3. Corsair Survivor 16GB. After extensive research, I'm convinced that these thumb drives will be around long after the Apes rise to dominance upon the earth. By far the most rugged and reliable solution out there, but very limited capacity (I wouldn't be able to bring any uncompressed video projects with me, but it should be more than sufficient for the vast majority of my web work). It's also totally waterproof (up to 200M)... so it's completely fret-free and really could go everywhere I go.
All three solutions run around $200 - but which is the right solution for me? I'm leaning towards the Corsair Survivor, but if I can get more space along with an acceptible amount of reliability (especially in the event of an accidental drop).
I've narrowed it down to about 3 options, and I'm leaning toward the lattest, but would greatly appreciate some more advice:
1. Hitachi 2.5" Laptop HDD (160GB) + External Enclosure. Our IT manager at work claims that Hitachi laptop drives are supposed to be among the most reliable, rugged HDDs on the market. Ideally, I'd like something that doesn't require an extra power outlet, and after doing a little research it seems it should be possible to get an enclosure that is entirely USB 2.0 powered. I'm just not convinced this solution would be "rugged" enough for me or my commute (I take train, btw, so it will be shaking quite a bit while in operation as well). Then there's the matter of finding the most compact-yet-durable-and-shock-absorbent enclosure on the market...
2. Lacie Rugged All-Terrain USB2.0 drive. There's a 250GB version just hitting the market, but I'd rather not wait any longer than I have to, so the 160GB version is what I'm looking at right now. I just keep reading mixed things about Lacie drives in general. They can be powered by an additional USB cable or by power outlet, which is a plus. Lacie claims the drive can survive a fall of just under 3ft when non-operational (which should be sufficient), but I'm not entirely convinced of it's durability after extended active use on the train (shaking, jolting, etc). On the other hand, I'd definitely get the most storage for the money.
3. Corsair Survivor 16GB. After extensive research, I'm convinced that these thumb drives will be around long after the Apes rise to dominance upon the earth. By far the most rugged and reliable solution out there, but very limited capacity (I wouldn't be able to bring any uncompressed video projects with me, but it should be more than sufficient for the vast majority of my web work). It's also totally waterproof (up to 200M)... so it's completely fret-free and really could go everywhere I go.
All three solutions run around $200 - but which is the right solution for me? I'm leaning towards the Corsair Survivor, but if I can get more space along with an acceptible amount of reliability (especially in the event of an accidental drop).