Safe storage for your digital data
We’ve written in the past about personal safes and how most of them will not protect digital data in case of fire. A typical consumer-grade safe is only effective at protecting papers for half an hour during a fire. Most safes that would protect a hard drive cost multiple thousands of dollars and are even out of the price range for many small companies.
Thankfully, this may be a thing of the past. Check out the ioSafe Solo. It is a fireproof and waterproof hard drive enclosure that can protect your data at a more reasonable price (most systems are less than $200).
The ioSafe Solo is available in 500GB/1 TB/1.5 TB hard drive sizes. The fireproof and waterproof specs are as follows:
- Fire: 1550° F, 30 minutes per ASTM E119
- Flood: 10′ depth for 3 days, freshwater or saltwater
We’re delighted to learn about this product and am glad someone stepped into the consumer-grade digital protection market.
(via Engadget)
Posted by Matt on Jan 20, 2009 |
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20 comments posted
Posted by Tabitha (From Single to Married) - 01/20/2009
I have to admit that I’ve never even thought of fire-protecting my digital data, I just assumed it couldn’t be done. Will definitely have to check out this product.
Posted by Mark - 01/20/2009
Really, the only safe solution here is to have offsite storage. Either backup to disk and bring it to work, or upload to a backup service such as Backblaze.
Posted by Ed Eubanks - 01/20/2009
Very good idea, and what a great price!
The only thing missing? A FireWire connection, of course.
Posted by Dorothy - 01/20/2009
Ed Eubanks, I, too, am surprised at the lack of a Firewire interface. I wonder if that’s a technology constraint — if it’s harder/impossible to make the Firewire port fireproof and waterproof, and easier/possible to make the USB port fireproof and waterproof?
Posted by Dustin H - 01/20/2009
Another good option would be to use an online backup service; one example would be Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) which is $50/mo for unlimited storage…
I have a 1TB disk array at home, but I think for general users it would be somewhat of a pain to maintain in the long run… and nothing is more safe than offsite storage.
Posted by Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome - 01/20/2009
What a great idea. I use an online backup system, but if I wanted to do it in-house this looks like a great option.
Posted by Zsolt Török - 01/20/2009
I agree with Dustin H, regarding the importance of offsite backups.
In my opinion a more feature-rich NAS for local storage + reliable offsite backup is a much better solution.
Posted by Erin Doland - 01/20/2009
@Mark, and others — We 100 percent agree about the additional online storage. If you read the linked article in the first sentence, you’ll note that we think online storage is an additional third step.
1. Onsite storage (like this one) for automatic backups a handful of times an hour. This is so you can never lose more than 15 minutes of work.
2. Swapped physical drives at a nearby safe storage location (like a safety deposit box) for weekly drive swaps.
3. Online storage (like Carbonite or Amazon’s S3 or even gmail if your data collection is small) as a third line of defense in a facility in a different part of the country from where you live.
In the past, if you haven’t had all three systems, you run the risk of losing data. This system would reduce the need for #2 listed above. Currently, though, I use all three and have never been in a bind.
Posted by Robert Jameson - 01/20/2009
Great product. I think a combination of on-site and off site is best. In my business (medical) we have to pay close attention to how we store patient data and medical records. Sending data off site is more of a security risk (sort of like taking the backup tape home every day like I used to). For me, this type of product has been needed for years and will ultimately save my small business quite a bit of money.
I’d like to see it with a network connection, but there are ways around that with wireless routers that have USB ports on the back.
Posted by Peter (a different one) - 01/20/2009
I think it’s a great product, especially for the price. While Online storage may be an option, for some, the massive amounts of data we have may be prohibitive to upload, even with broadband, the upload speed is usually much slower than download. Also, many people may be wary about having sensitive data out on the internet.
I know most of these sites are very secure, but I am sure all those government agencies who have had their data compromised thought they were pretty secure too.
As for the USB vs. FireWire. It may have been an economical decision. almost 100% of pcs have USB. Firewire is not as widely used (although most newer laptops have it and I am sure the number of PCs with it is increasing)
Posted by PJ Normz - 01/20/2009
Man, this is just another sign of how important data is becoming to this world. Great product. I wonder what’s next. Hurricane protection?
Posted by Ed Eubanks - 01/20/2009
I was joking about the FireWire. I don’t think we really need both, especially for a backup drive. (In my view, only heavy media creators NEED FireWire.)
But I thought the irony of the name would have been a good inside joke.
Posted by comboman - 01/20/2009
I understand that magnetic and optical media won’t last long in a typical fire safe, but what about solid state media (i.e. flash drives and flash cards)? As I understand it, they are pretty robust.
Posted by Robb Moore - 01/20/2009
Great discussion everyone.
With regards to hurricanes, the ioSafe Solo is designed to be bolted to the floor or locked to something. With HydroSafe technology, the drive stays dry even if completely submersed (10′ depth for 3 days) in saltwater or freshwater.
While no one technology will save you from every possible disaster, the ioSafe Solo was designed to be a very simple way to add disaster protection where previously it may have been impractical.
The interface, USB 2.0 was chosen for this product to keep it simple and as low cost as practical. We have other enterprise class NAS/RAID products that are more sophisticated and of course more expensive. The ioSafe 3.5 is also an internal hard drive that can be integrated anywhere a normal 3.5 disk is installed to add fire/flood protection.
Future interfaces like FireWire, NAS, eSATA, etc. are possible with the technology.
My personal home setup btw, is a Netgear NV+ NAS that backs up to an ioSafe system every night. Having over 1TB of pictures, video and music makes it impractical for me to backup online.
If you have a small amount of data, backing up online might be a great option. If you’d like to perform a baremetal restore of your main computer or server (post fire or flood), an online “restore” might be tough. Moving a 100 GB across the internet may be next to impossible. It might be faster to FedEx the data rather than trickle it across a T-1. Severed internet connections are common in big storms.
Again, no one solution solves for every possible disaster. Your best bet is to use a combination of strategies. The ioSafe Solo just happens to be the fastest, least expensive, most protection you can get per dollar spent.
Robb Moore
CEO
ioSafe, Inc.
Posted by Peter (a different one) - 01/20/2009
@Ed
Sorry, I totally caught the pun with the “Fire”wire, I forgot to acknowledge it in my post. It did make me chuckle when I read it.
Posted by Lily - 01/21/2009
I do both offsite storage with Officezilla and I have a backup external hard drive, though it isn’t designed as tough. I don’t think I’d try setting it on fire or submerging it in a swimming pool to find out.
Posted by gypsy packer - 01/23/2009
I love everything about it but the size. As soon as it’s available with solid state hard drive, it’s in here and loaded.
The fire wire comment was a hoot.
Posted by Michele - 01/23/2009
I’m in the process of building a home NAS system, but I already have the hard drives picked out. It would be great if this case were offered alone, in addition to the full drive version.
Posted by HeartSongs » Surfer Sunday 106 - 01/25/2009
[...] Safe storage for your digital data [...]
Posted by sock - 01/21/2010
Still not burglar proof. I learned the hard way and now back up to the cloud.
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