The most significant part of the new year is the new electronics. At least, that’s what you might believe if you happened to be in Las Vegas at the ginormous Consumer Electronics Show or CES2018 for short. This year, we had our eyes on the latest portable rugged hard drives announced at the show by G-Technology, SanDisk, LaCie, and Western Digital.
These portable drives have various features that set them apart from each other ranging from wireless connectivity to automatic encryption. But, they also all have a few things in common: they are all portable, rugged, and they feature USB Type-C connection, though some are USB 3.1 while others are USB 3.0 (if you’re not familiar with the difference, read this article all about USB Type-C).
G-Technology 2TB G-Drive R-Series
G-Technology debuted their new 2TB G-DRIVE R-Series USB 3.1 Type-C mobile SSD. Designed for on-the-go users who need rugged hard drive storage that can withstand tough conditions while in the field, this SSD features IP67 water and dust resistance, shock and vibration resistance, drop protection up to 9.8′ on a carpeted concrete floor, and a crush-proof rating of 1,000 pounds.
When combined with its 2TB storage capacity and 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 Type-C interface, this SSD provides data-transfer speeds of up to 560 MB/s, allowing users to edit, save, and archive large files quickly, including videos and photos.
Power is provided solely using the USB bus and included is a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a USB Type-C to Type-A cable.
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD
Also new for CES, the compact and pocket-sized Extreme Portable USB 3.1 Type-C External SSD is built with capacities ranging from 250GB to 2TB. This SSD has been designed for saving and editing high-resolution photos and videos, as well as other creative content work or general storage. Thanks to its 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 Type-C interface, the Extreme Portable delivers read speeds of up to 550 MB/s. Additionally, it is IP-55 rated for resistance against water, dust, shock, and temperature extremes making it a very rugged hard drive.
SanDisk has pre-formatted the SSD as exFAT, meaning it is ready for immediate plug-and-play use with Windows and Mac, without the need for any special drivers or reformatting. If you’re concerned about drive security, SanDisk’s SecureAccess 128-bit AES encryption allows private files to be password protected. Included is a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter.
My Passport Wireless SSD
The My Passport Wireless SSD from Western Digital was showcased this year at CES and it will change the way you back up your photos and videos captured on cameras, drones, and mobile devices. This portable SSD comes equipped with an SD card slot, so you can simply remove the memory card from your camera, drone, or mobile device and insert it directly into the SSD. Once inserted, the one-touch copy button transfers the data from the card directly to the solid-state drive. My Passport Wireless SSD can connect to your Windows or Mac computer and has a read speed of up to 390 MB/s via the built-in USB 3.0 port.
Want to share your stored content with friends and family? The My Passport Wireless SSD does that too! Simply turn on the My Passport Wireless SSD’s Wi-Fi feature to create your own dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi network. Once configured, multiple devices can wirelessly connect to the drive and stream content including 4K video, export RAW images, and even edit images using third-party apps. Stream, transfer files, and more all day long, thanks to the built-in battery, which provides up to 10 hours of use, as well as the ability to charge your mobile device via the built-in USB port with a power output of 2.4 A. The My Passport Wireless SSD comes wrapped inside a protective bumper to help protect the rugged hard drive and its contents against bumps and drops at heights from up to 1 meter.
LaCie DJI Copilot BOSS Hard Drive
Brand-new for CES 2018: LaCie’s 2TB DJI Copilot BOSS USB 3.1 Type-C External Hard Drive. BOSS, which is short for Backup On-Set Solutions, will help those who need an in-field backup solution with direct file ingestion that does not require a computer, while also providing mobile-device charging and mobile file management.
Files can be copied directly from drones, memory cards, action cameras, DSLRs, phones, USB hard drives, and USB flash drives to the DJI Copilot’s 2TB internal drive. Using the DJI BOSS app and the included USB Type-C, USB Type-C to Type-A, Lightning, and micro-USB cables, as well as the integrated SD card reader and included microSD to SD adapter, files can be downloaded.
The integrated LCD screen also allows for the monitoring of file transfers, storage capacity, and battery power. If you need to review footage that has been transferred to the DJI Copilot, just hook up your device using a compatible cable and review away on your mobile device.
LaCie Rugged Secure Hard Drive
We are big fans of the LaCie Rugged hard drives so we were happy to see LaCie announced the Rugged Secure portable hard drive at CES 2018. It is designed for all-around security, featuring drop-, shock-, crush-, and rain-resistance for all-terrain use, which is ideal for the on-the-go creative professional. Security is handled by Seagate Secure Technology that utilizes AES-256 hardware encryption making your data self-encrypting and protected, even if the drive is removed from its enclosure.
It utilizes a USB Type-C port with USB 3.0 data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gb/s. Additionally, it’s Thunderbolt™ 3 compatible since they share the same reversible connector. Included with the purchase of the Rugged Secure drive is a two-year rescue data-recovery service should any damage happen to the drive and you are unable to recover your information.
Solid Rugged Hard Drive Offering
This is a very solid offering in the rugged hard drive department with a wide range of features to satisfy many different applications.
We’d love to get your comments below on which drive appeals to you the most.