ioSafe Solo
Rating: 5-Stars 
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Bottom Line
I got a 1 Tb external USB drive last year. It cost about $100 and weighs a pound or two. Compare that with $150 for an 500 Gb ioSafe Solo that weighs in around 15 pounds and takes up a good chunk of desk real estate. Paying 50% more to get half of the storage space doesn’t seem like a very good deal until you consider that the ioSafe is virtually impervious to disaster and can protect my family photos, important documents, and other irreplaceable data from a fire or flood while my other external USB drive would end up as a useless molten or water-logged lump of plastic. The 1.5 Tb model with the extended 5-year disaster recovery plan is about $400 total, but that is $400 well-spent if you consider that it buys you 5 years of peace of mind knowing that your personal memories and important data are safe and sound.
Pros
- Withstands 1550° F temperatures for up to 30 minutes
- Survives submersion in up to 10 feet of fresh or salt water for up to 3 days
- Compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
- $1,000 data disaster recovery guarantee. One time, no questions asked policy
Cons
- Large and bulky compared with other external USB drives
- Weighs in at 15 pounds
Review
I love digital cameras. I used to spend tons of money on film and processing only to find out that most of the photos I took were crap. With digital cameras I can see if the photo is any good instantly. I can take 1,000 photos and it doesn’t really cost any more or less than taking 10 photos. Of course, you have to do something with all of those photos. In my family we store them on our hard drive. As of today, I have over 140Gb of family photos and video clips.
That brings me to my paranoia. I have 140Gb of one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable data that could all be gone in the blink of an eye. Hard drives die. So, once a month I copy the entire photo and video collection to a USB drive that I have connected to a different computer. Then it occurred to me that a fire or flood could still take out both drives, so I began also copying the data to another USB drive which I then store inside of a fireproof safe where I keep important documents like birth certificates and such.
All of that may sound extreme, but I want some assurances that decades of family memories can survive a hard drive crash, or a fire, or a flood. Imagine my excitement then to find out that one USB drive manufacturer has taken my paranoia into consideration and built a disaster proof USB drive. The ioSafe Solo drive comes in 500Gb, 1.0Tb, and 1.5Tb sizes and is encased in a fireproof and waterproof enclosure. With the ioSafe drive I can eliminate a few steps from my routine and still have some peace of mind that my data is relatively safe.
The ioSafe drive is a bit of a behemoth. I am used to carrying around my 320 Gb portable USB drive that is about the size of an iPhone, so I was a little surprised when my 500Gb ioSafe Solo arrived and the box weighed 15 pounds and looked like it could contain a microwave oven.
That is really my only ‘complaint’ about the ioSafe Solo drive. It isn’t a real complaint though because I understand that this drive has a specific purpose and that fulfilling that purpose requires some extra padding. I am sure that my iPhone-sized portable drive won’t survive a 1550º fire or being submerged in water for days like the ioSafe Solo can, and that is why I wanted it. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the photo slideshow play-by-play of the destruction demo that ioSafe conducted at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.
The ioSafe Solo is available in 500Gb, 1 Tb, and 1.5 Tb models with pricing starting at around $150. Each model comes standard with a one-year disaster recovery plan. In the event of a disaster you can ship the drive to ioSafe and they will recover your data and replace it onto a new drive. If they can’t recover your data they will provide $1000 toward paying a professional data recovery service to retrieve your bits and bytes. You can also bump that up to a 3-year or 5-year disaster recovery plan, but you have to do it during the initial setup (see screenshot below).
The ioSafe drive is bulky, heavy, and pricy compared with other external USB drives. But, as the only external USB drive that can survive a fire or a flood and protect my family photos and other irreplaceable data that is a small price to pay. Disasters don’t wait for you to back up your data. Get an ioSafe Solo for your personal data and make sure your data can survive.