When traveling, what is a good durable external hard drive to take?

Question

I will be backpacking in Europe, so it's going to be a little rough on the little guy. I would like something around 250 GB, and I'm trying to keep the cost down a little. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Proper packaging of the hard drive would be a safer route to follow than hoping for a device designed to withstand frequent external shock.

So long as it is tightly packed in foam or a thick layer of bubble wrap you will be safer off than relying soley on durability claims made by manufacturers.

Beware of extreme temperature changes due to colder climates ... prior to using the drive make sure that it has had time to adapt to a normal room temperature (check the drive's normal operational temperatures on its spec sheet).

regards,
Philip T

Answer 2

Hitachi TravelStar HDDs have the highest shock resistance for hard drives. They can also be expensive. You would have to buy a separate housing for the drive, which could further improve shock resistance. The housing would hold the drive, power supply, USB or eSATA interfaces, etc.

If you're pretty sure you're going to be rough on it, buy a Pelican case for the whole shebang and custom-cut the foam to fit the drive+housing perfectly..

FWIW, I just use a 4GB flash drive. They are pretty durable and much lighter than a hard drive.