Indestructable Hard Drives

Im embarking in March on a grand tour of the western National Park with my lady. Gonna be rad. Figure I need to backup all my shots (bringing my MacBook along), and I want a portable HD that can take a beating. The computer will be left in the car, but I'll take the drive with me on every hike, just in case (cant afford to lose a body of work this magnificent).

Been looking at these but open to whatever works

http://www.amazon.com …rproof+external​+harddrive

http://www.amazon.com …_t1_B005EWTL7C_​B004FLQF0E

Same price just about, 250gb more for the Silicon Power. I just want the one thats most reliable and least likely to blow it. I understand too though that normally, if the hard drive works for a minute itll work a day, and if it works for a day itll work a year, etc.

Thoughts? Thanks!!

Rugged drives are almost certainly just standard laptop hard drives in a more protective case. The drive itself can still fail so I wouldn't put too much faith in a drive being "indestructible". The only way to be sure is to have multiple copies of your files as you appear to be planning.

mike_d wrote in post #16613750
Rugged drives are almost certainly just standard laptop hard drives in a more protective case. The drive itself can still fail so I wouldn't put too much faith in a drive being "indestructible". The only way to be sure is to have multiple copies of your files as you appear to be planning.

Exactly. And I will, I'll have the computer and the external drive. I wonder if the drives inside these cases are any good? I have no experience with hard drives outside of Lacie.

The ones above look like they're just standard HDD's - and built with some protection around them for when they're not powered up. I definitely wouldn't want to risk any impact / shock to these while they were powered up.

I'd say you'd be better off with 2 seperate HDD's wrapped in bubblewrap than just using one of those.

From what I understand Solid State Drives can take a bit more of a beating than Hard Drives, due to there being no moving parts. (ie, if you drop a HDD while it's still spinning, the head can damage the platter). Of course SSD's are more expensive than HDD's to, and don't hold nearly as much.

I/O Safe have a SSD drive that's waterproof, fireproof, and if I recall correctly they drove a truck over it as well. (But far more pricier than the ones above). Not sure how indestructible you want

Anything that can take shock would be a SSD in a thick rubber case.

No moving parts in SSD might be ideal for for a more durable HD.

adza77 wrote in post #16613881
The ones above look like they're just standard HDD's - and built with some protection around them for when they're not powered up. I definitely wouldn't want to risk any impact / shock to these while they were powered up.

I'd say you'd be better off with 2 seperate HDD's wrapped in bubblewrap than just using one of those.

From what I understand Solid State Drives can take a bit more of a beating than Hard Drives, due to there being no moving parts. (ie, if you drop a HDD while it's still spinning, the head can damage the platter). Of course SSD's are more expensive than HDD's to, and don't hold nearly as much.

I/O Safe have a SSD drive that's waterproof, fireproof, and if I recall correctly they drove a truck over it as well. (But far more pricier than the ones above). Not sure how indestructible you want

Im not worried about damage while in use, Im careful, but Id like to be able to toss it in my backpack when were leaving the car for multi-day trips, sometimes up to two weeks (wonderland trail around rainier!!), and not worry about bumps dings and condensation. It would probably go in a dry sack anyway, so the idea of indestructable to me just means mostly weatherproof and mostly shockproof. I guess my only concern really is the quality of the drives themselves. Ive always used Lacie and never had a problem. I know their rugged 1tb is a nice drive but its also $50 more than the ones I linked.

RHChan84 wrote in post #16613946
Anything that can take shock would be a SSD in a thick rubber case.

No moving parts in SSD might be ideal for for a more durable HD.

+1!

An SSD is/would be the way to go. If nothing else buy a SSD and replace the HDD in your portable case. Most portable cases today are oversize for the SSD's but, you can utilize that space with foam wrapping to give the drive some extra shock resistance.

Just because something is shock RESISTANT, does not mean it is indestructible. A drive of any kind probably needs to be treated nearly as well as you would your camera.

Hillbille

Im thinking maybe a conventional portable drive with a soft foam case oughta do it really? http://www.amazon.com …_t3_B00H4YGR48_​B00H4XH5IG

Im not river rafting with it, just backpacking, so unless I fell 50 feet and died (in which case who cares about my photos), i should be ok I think. SSD looks awesome but too pricey, I need at least 500gb and more likely a TB

I did a tour around the US twice, shooting thousands of photos on the way. I bought two 2.5 inch USB drives, 340GB each. They work just fine, and seem indestructible to me. I keep them in my camera bag, and dump to them at the end of the day.

BTW, portable drives usually park their heads when they're not powered, so unless you toss it in your bag or drop it while it's running, you are unlikely to lose images. If you go for SSDs in this size, you'll be spending lot more money. Might as well just buy a whole bunch of SD cards and only use them once.

Hen3Ry wrote in post #16614175
BTW, portable drives usually park their heads when they're not powered, so unless you toss it in your bag or drop it while it's running, you are unlikely to lose images.

Portable hard drives are just 2.5" laptop or 3.5" desktop hard drives in a case with a USB interface. ALL hard drives automatically park their heads when powered down. I remember having to issue a "park" command in DOS before moving 1980's PCs but its been automatic for a long, long time.

Buy more memory cards. Back up to a disk (SSD would be most robust) as well as keeping them on the memory cards, keep the cards on your and the disk in another location.

This device may be helpful too. I have one on the way.

tim wrote in post #16614381
This device may be helpful too. I have one on the way.

This looks like an excellent product.
Can I used a CF card reader on the USB slot to access pictures from a CF card?

I found the product writeup - it supports CF. An excellent product for those long trips.

Doesn't Pelican make some very small cases? Perhaps just get any standard 2.5" USB drive and throw it in a case.

mike_d wrote in post #16617470
Doesn't Pelican make some very small cases? Perhaps just get any standard 2.5" USB drive and throw it in a case.

Fry's has cases just slightly larger than a 2.5" drive. Fits in your shirt pocket.