Last August Larry and his fellow firefighters put ioSafe’s external hard drive to the test. They placed a drive with a back-up of Larry’s iMac in an old car, lit it on fire and watched it burn. They then removed the drive and, as promised, all of Larry’s pictures and files were still safely on the drive. (Now how many sites can say they have an an editor who is a real firefighter and can perform such a demo for the site??)
Then back in January Larry, Judie, Kevin and I trekked into the desert with the ioSafe team to watch their new SSD drive be burnt, drowned and crushed only to start up without hesitation. As Larry said in the post’s title, it was a whole lot of fun… unless you were the hard drive!
Well now ioSafe is back with their fastest rugged external drive ever- the ioSafe SoloPRO. The ioSafe SoloPRO is available in USB 3.0 and eSATA/USB 2.0 versions and is available in 1TB 1.5TB and 2TB capacities. The new drives offer transfer rates over 100 MB/s. That is 3 to 4 times faster than typical USB 2.0 speeds and means that one TB of data can be backed up to a SoloPRO in just a few hours.
As ioSafe CEO Robb Moore said,
The new SoloPRO provides industry-leading performance and physical security as well as plug-and-play simplicity. Additionally, the new interfaces and upgraded Data Recovery Services make the SoloPRO a logical choice for disaster protection in home office and business environments.
The new drives will be available on September 1 through the ioSafe website and other distributors with prices beginning at $249.99.
Having watched a hard drive being tortured by the folks from ioSafe only to come back to life with all the data unscathed I can personally tell you that these drives are super impressive. With some much of our previous data sitting on our computers’ drives these days a few hundred dollars is a small price to pay to protect those memories and nothing when compared to the the cost of the angst when it all suddenly disappeared. Trust me… I’ve been there… and so have many of you.
The full release follows and maybe, if we’re lucky, Larry and his crew will get a chance to be even more brutal with this new drive.
ioSafe® Announces the SoloPRO: Its Fastest Rugged External Hard Drive
The ioSafe® SoloPRO is available in high-performance USB 3.0 and eSATA versions, providing users with an unprecedented combination of speed and physical security.
AUBURN, Calif., August 18, 2010 — ioSafe today announced the availability of the SoloPRO. The SoloPRO is the business-class edition of the award-winning Solo external hard drive and is available in USB 3.0 and eSATA/USB 2.0 formats, providing full support for Windows, Linux servers, and desktop operating systems.
SoloPRO features include:
Fast transfer speeds over 100 MB/s – 3 to 4 times faster than typical USB 2.0 speeds. One TB of data can be backed up to a SoloPRO in a couple of hours versus 10+ hours with USB 2.0 or several months online at normal speeds.
Available in 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB capacities.
Rugged disaster proof design. Both the USB 3.0 and eSATA versions of the SoloPRO protect against data loss in temperatures up to 1550° F for 30 minutes per ASTM E119 or being submerged to a depth of 10 feet for up to 3 days.
Advanced Replacement Service. Replacement products under warranty will be shipped out in advance with proper packaging and return shipping pre-paid. The end user simply uses the packaging to ship the original unit back to the factory.
12 months Data Recovery Service Standard. Up to $2,500.00 towards the cost of third- party forensic data recovery, one time, for any reason including accidental deletion, hard drive failure, fires, floods, etc. Upgradeable to 3 or 5 years for $49 or $99 respectively.
Heat-resistant paint option. Bright emergency orange colored coating to help make the SoloPRO easy to recover in a post-disaster environment.
“Both homes and businesses need to store ever-increasing volumes of data quickly without worrying about data loss. ioSafe has always been about safely and securely storing data locally and now with its introduction of USB 3.0 and eSATA, homes and businesses can accomplish that more quickly than ever before ,” said Jerome Wendt, an expert in data storage who serves as the Principal and Lead Analyst at DCIG.
Martin A. Regtien, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Reviews Network, tested the SoloPRO and said, “Based on the ioSafe SoloPRO USB 3.0 strengths – in this case its literal strengths of being fireproof, waterproof – plus its value for money, we have no option but to award it our highest commendation: our Editor’s Choice Award.”
ioSafe CEO Robb Moore added, “The new SoloPRO provides industry-leading performance and physical security as well as plug-and-play simplicity. Additionally, the new interfaces and upgraded Data Recovery Services make the SoloPRO a logical choice for disaster protection in home office and business environments.”
The USB 3.0 Solo is compatible with USB 2.0. Users without USB 3.0 who wish to upgrade can easily do so by adding a USB 3.0 PCI Express card to their system.
Pricing and availability
Priced at $249.99 for the 1 TB model, $319.99 for the 1.5 TB model and $419.99 for the 2 TB model, the SoloPRO will be available September 1, 2010 via the ioSafe website, resellers and international distributors.
About ioSafe
Like an aircraft black box for data, ioSafe provides rugged, fireproof, waterproof hardware and disaster recovery services as a cost-effective way for corporations and consumers alike to protect their irreplaceable data. ioSafe is a privately held company with headquarters in Auburn, Calif. For more information, please visit www.iosafe.com .
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