Tough External HDDs by Freecom

Freecom Technologies GmbH launched the ToughDrive Sport’ a durable, shock-resistant, 2.5” external hard drive designed to endure even the toughest conditions. This latest addition to the ToughDrive family is perfect for heavy duty users that want to carry their data on the move, whether that’s backpacking around the world, cycling up mountains or running to catch a plane.

The ToughDrive Sport features a handy loop in one corner so that it can be easily attached either to a bag, or even to a belt – allowing people to carry their data hands-free. In addition, the drive can withstand falls of up to two metres and is fully protected against the adverse weather conditions that go hand in hand with outdoor pursuits.

The ToughDrive Sport has an outdoor sports design and to complete the look, it comes with an integrated USB cable designed to look and feel like a climbing rope. This makes the drive extremely portable as no external power adapter is required to charge the drive. It is ideal for mobile use given its size and robustness, and the internal anti-shock mechanism will insulate the hard drive against unforeseen shocks that might otherwise break the drive and result in the loss of hundreds of hours worth of videos, photos and music, or spreadsheets and documents.

“Everyone now expects to be able to carry their data with them wherever they are and the stylish ToughDrive Sport is perfectly designed for those with an active, high duty, outdoor lifestyle,” said Axel Lucassen, co-founder and executive senior VP of product line management and marketing. “Whether you’re a backpacker travelling around the world and using the drive to store photos of the places you visit, a commuter simply cycling to and from the office, or a field service engineer working in stormy weather, it’s essential that your information is easily portable and effectively able to withstand any knocks and bumps.”

The ToughDrive Sport holds up to 500GB of information and the Turbo USB 2.0 connection offers transfer speeds of up to 30 percent faster than competing solutions for downloading or uploading data. The drive also features secure password protection whereby the user’s password is encrypted and stored on a 256bit hardware chip – to access the contents of the drive, the user must enter the password for the chip. This added security feature give users peace of mind even where the most sensitive information is concerned as, if the drive is lost or stolen, no-one will be able to access the data it contains without the password. In these instances, the drive would need to be reformatted and this would automatically erase all of its contents, ensuring information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Pricing and availability
The ToughDrive Sport is available immediately in Europe in sizes of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB. The recommended retail price is 109 EUR, 129 EUR and 169 EUR respectively.