Author: Michael Crider / Source: reviewgeek.com
People who frequently travel with important or sensitive data need some way to store it—preferably on a medium that can take a beating. These flash drives and storage drives fit the bill.
The selection of ruggedized portable storage seems to have tapered off in the last few years.
Previously every major storage vendor had at least one tough-as-nails option, but with the advent of cloud storage then market seems to be contracting. That said, there are still a few standouts in this niche, particularly from Corsair and Lacie. Other picks are good for those on a budget or users who need both physical protection and digital encryption.Best Rugged Flash Drive: Corsair Flash Survivor ($28-$300)
If you need a USB flash drive that can survive in a war zone… well, we suggest you get out of said war zone. But if that isn’t an option, the Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth is the next best thing. This aircraft aluminum-encased tube uses a two-piece design that screws down the cover to lock it in place over the main body of the drive, with a handy loop mount and impact-resistant bumpers on top of that. The various incarnations of the drive are rated to withstand 200 meters (over 650 feet!) of water pressure, plus generic “vibration and shock resistance.”
Exactly how much shock it can handle isn’t enumerated by Corsair, but between the housing and the light weight of the flash components, it’s likely to withstand anything except overwhelming amounts of direct, sustained force.
The Flash Survivor and its all-black “Stealth” variant are equipped with USB 3.0 connections for speedy transfers, but have yet to be offered in USB 3.1 or Type-C varieties. Capacities range from 32GB all the way up to 512GB.Best Rugged Full Hard Drive or SSD: Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt ($130-$486)
Lacie has a legendary reputation for reliability thanks to its range of professional data equipment. Their consumer-grade offerings are appropriately tough, too. The company developed its shock- and water-resistant techniques for hard drives, which are much more fragile than flash storage thanks to big magnetic plates and moving…
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