January 14, 2009 Ya call that a hard disk? This is a real hard disk - it’ll withstand fires up to1550 degrees Fahrenheit and can be submersed in salt water for three days and it’ll still protect its precious data. The ioSafe Solo offers disaster protection to a price range that everyone can afford with capacities from 500GB for US$150 through to 1.5TB for US$300 based on the introductory pricing and it’s an enormously compelling proposition if you have data that’s irreplaceable. It isn’t portable, with a weight of 15 pounds and dimensions of 5x7.1x11 inches but it’s just the ticket for that priceless customer database, or the family photo album.

Seen at CES this week, we were mightily impressed with the peace of mind offered by the ioSafe Solo without paying a premium. ioSafe has built its business as a provider of disaster-proof hardware and disaster recovery services, so all the hallmarks of quality are also there. There’s no weakness in the specs, with a USB 2.0 interface, disk speed of 7200 RPM and a transfer rate of 480 Mbps.