subject: External Hard Drive. Seek A Seriously Durable One ? [print this page] The Hitachi SimpleTough external harddrive may be the toughest, most robust storage device in the marketplace. It includes a protective exterior that will manage drops of up to 10 feet. Having a conveniently integrated USB cable and a full three-year warranty, the Hitachi SimpleTough is appropriate for the traveller who needs more space and an ultra resilient design.
Design and features
The exterior of the drive is covered with a carbon-black rubberized weave with adequate grip and rubberized shock bumpers that give protection to the drive on both sides. These barriers are strong enough to protect your data from up to a 10-foot drop and pressure up to one ton !. As well as protection from physical damage, Hitachi also provides you with a two-level solution to avoid data loss due to natural disasters and also other circumstances. First, the Local Backup software lets you set up automatic backups to a host computer, and the Ultimate Backup software gives you 2GB of free online storage through Hitachi's off-site servers. You also get yourself a free copy of Joggle, Hitachi's media organization tool that enables you to view and organise your photos, music, and videos without clicking through multiple menu levels or Web sites. The software also makes it simple to share content through social networks and personal Web pages.
You can only connect the drive to a computer having a USB connection. The drive has a useful built-in cord that wraps and hooks to itself underneath the chassis. The cord is wrapped in a hard plastic. The drive is USB-powered, so there's no requirement for an external power source.
The drive comes in three capacities in three colors: 250GB in red, 320GB in blue, and the 500GB in the textured carbon-black finish. The SimpleTough costs approx. $.30 per gigabyte, which comes in at exactly average for an external hard drive.
What is great is that Hitachi provide a good three-year limited warranty with the SimpleTough drive series.
Specs
Drive type is External USB hard drive
Connector options are USB 2.
Available capacities are 250GB, 320GB, 500GB
Operating systems supported are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Software includes Hitachi Ultimate Backup, Joggle digital content manager
A tremendously rugged drive for the same price per MB as standard drives. If you want a drive that is really durable then the Hitachi Simple Tough is a great choice
