Opinions on A-DATA Sport Series SH93 waterproof/shockproof external Hard drive?

Amazon.com: A-DATA Sport Series SH93 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ASH93640GUCYL: Electronics
A-DATA Technology

Seems interesting...

 

A-DATA isn't a bad company, very large provider of OEM RAM to various manufacturers. However I don't know their track record on SATA to USB controllers so I'd go with a brand name, like WD.

Edit: If you need a rugged drive, pay more for a La Cie rugged drive. They are fantastic, though quite pricey.

 

NBR reviewed it about a year ago here.

 

They look pretty good to me. I found out about them just after getting a Transcend StorageJet so I've never tried one. ADATA are pretty well known in Asia.

Freecom's Toughdrive Pros seem to be the best if you don't need waterproofing but they're usually a lot more expensive.

 

While 'interesting' is one way of describing this I would use an adjective like 'gimmicky' instead.

Waterproofing the HD compartment is all well and good - I don't see how the connector is waterproof though (especially from salt water).

The saying 'only as strong as the weakest link...' comes to mind.

 

If I remember right, there's a cap that must be fitted over the mini USB port for the waterproofing to work.

If a drive can withstand being knocked off a table or dropped in the washing up that's got to be better than nothing.

 

If I drop a HD (never quite managed to have one end up in the wash! ) it gets to retire gracefully.

I would never trust a dropped HD for my data. Ever.

 

That's because you're focusing on yourself, and not the myriad other consumers that might not be as structured as you are. People do some stupid things sometimes, and protecting them from these mistakes is the primary purpose of such drive enclosures.

Since many of these drives can go into pockets, it's not unthinkable that they could get dumped in the wash or some other inhospitable HD environment. Besides, the most important thing is to be able to retrieve your data, not preserve the HD.

 

Its rated at 4.5, pretty good to me.

 

It depends on the kind of protection. The HDDs get knocked around during the shipping process. The handlers are not as careful as us. I believe the shipping agencies spec is that packaging must be such that contents remain unharmed from a 6 foot drop.

Thus, you are most likely trusting a dropped HDD for your data, you just dont know it

 

Well the worst part isn't the actual dropping if the drive isn't reading/writing. It's when you have dim-witted people waving around their hard drive when it is coping files or reading from the drive..

 

Well the problem is average people have absolutely no idea about these things. Computers and computer parts are just like cars. People just keep using them until they have a problem, and not preemptively taking care of their stuff. The problem is they wait until they have a major problem. Then they come to my workplace and are like what do you mean it's 1850 to retrieve data off my clicking hard drive?