That’s right I said it, the folks over at ioSafe have released an external hard drive they call Solo that is fire proof and waterproof. The claims are that the drive will withstand up to 30 minutes in a fire at 1550 degrees Fahrenheit both of which exceed the average time and temperature of  a house fire. If you often go scuba diving with your external hard drives this drive is protected for up to 3 days in 10 feet of water (both fresh and salt flavored). That being said I hope you attempt to still keep this and all your drives far away from heat and liquids both salted and unsalted.

You’ll be pleased to hear that this protection comes with a fairly low price tag ranging from $149 for a 500GB drive to $499 for a 2TB drive. You’re definitely not going to be wanting to buy the 500GB drive and attempt to upgrade to a 2TB drive yourself simply because this thing is protected! The drive itself has 3 layers of protection first is the outside aluminium case which also helps protect against theft because it can be bolted (or chained if you wish) to your desk, wall  or other creative places. Under the aluminium case is a specially molded insulator to allow for air exchange that’s been described as something similar to heat tiles inside fireplaces. Below the insulation is your drive protected from damage inside a special waterproof pouch that allows the drive to keep cool and cables to connect but completely seal the drive from moisture. The drive connects via USB 2.0 and is plug and play so you won’t need any special software to run this special drive.

Don’t think that you can start editing on the deck of a swimming pool and just pull the drive out if it falls in the drink only to continue working. After both fire or water gets to the drive the enclosure itself is no longer usable and the enclosure must be dismantled and drive recovered. Not to worry though the drive includes recovery for 3 years and up to a cost of $1000 if the drive does fail (an optional 5 year, $5000 upgrade is available.).

Lastly this beast weighs in at 15 pounds so it’s going to need a sturdy surface to sit on but the cost removes the worry that comes with any drives not protected against water or the many photographers out there that backup to DVD but who do not store their backup discs in a fire safe. Though not the perfect backup solution for every photographer I think many of you may have your wishes granted with this drive.

I did attempt to get one of these drives for an in person review but never heard back from ioSafe so because it was released this week I decided this poor YouTube video will have to suffice for those of you wanting to see the drive survive these real world tests. Enjoy!