IoSafe demoed its new Solo SSD external hard drive, which can withstand extreme conditions. The hour-long demo used fire, water, and a huge excavator to prove its point.
Dong Ngo
Former CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He managed CNET's San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also wrote about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
This is the ioSafe Solo SSD external hard drive to be used in the demo; it's actually a drive that's based on a 2.5-inch SATA solid state drive (SSD) from Samsung. The reason it is so big is because it has multiple layers of protection. The outside layer is one that protects the drive from water and fire. The drive is also very heavy, about 20 pounds.
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Before the demo, Rob Moore, CEO of ioSafe, took a few photo with his digital camera.
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He then copied the photos from the camera's SD card onto the ioSafe Solo SSD.
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The photos are now on the Solo SSD.
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The Solo SSD external hard drive was then put inside a burner, together with a regular, unprotected SATA hard drive.
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Everything is ready.
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The fire is turned on...
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...and quickly engulfes everything inside.
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The temperature inside is more than 1,400 degrees.
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About 10 minutes later, the unprotected hard drive is completely destroyed. The ioSafe Solo SSD also had its outer layer and ports burned beyond recognition.
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It's also extremely hot.
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Moore tries to hook a chain to the drive without burning himself.
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The Solo SSD was thrown into the backhoe of a 35,000-pound excavator, which was waiting nearby.
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This demo shows how the drive can withstand the extreme reverse change in temperature, from extremely hot to cold.
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The backhoe is raised about 12 feet.
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The device is about to drop from 12 feet in the air.
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The drive is much cooler now.
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The last step of the demo involves the excavator crushing the Solo SSD with its treads.
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The machine slowly runs over the drive...
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...which is crushed under the tremendous weight.
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As the drive is crushed, it reveals some white material, which is a special compound that kept the drive safe from fire and water earlier in the demonstration.
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Part of the Solo SSD's outer protection was ripped off and pulled away by the machine's treads.
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Moore tries to extract the remains of the now completely crushed Solo SSD.
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What he found is the inner protection, which is made of military-grade steel, that housed the SSD inside.
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What's left is now about the size of a regular 3.5-inch hard drive but still much heavier.
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The steel casing is dismantled to get to the SSD inside.
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And here it is...
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...a Samsung 128GB SSD, which seems to be intact.
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The recovered SSD is plugged into an external SATA hard-drive reader, which is plugged into Moore's computer.
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A few seconds are needed for the computer to recognize the hard drive.
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The photos that were originally put on the Solo SSD prior to the rough times the device just encountered.
