Rugged USB flash stick

[Piers Kelly]

I looked into the rugged usb market a while back and learnt the following
things:

   - My impression is that flash drives are already fairly rugged just as
   they are. I've had one that became faulty through water damage but since
   then I've just dried them out with a cloth they've worked fine. Likewise
   mobile phones: remove the batteries when it starts raining to prevent a
   short circuit and then dry them with a cloth when you can. I've done this a
   dozen times with my cheap nokia. The only thing that eventually killed it
   was total immersion.
   - The biggest risk (for me) is loss rather than damage. I purchased a usb
   that advertised itself as rugged but the chain attaching it to my keyring
   was weak and I lost it on a bumpy uphill journey.

Backing up to an external server such as Jungle Disk or dot mac is an option
if you have occasional access to the internet. That way you know that even
if all your equipment is completely pulverised, the last back-up will still
be sitting happily on a server somewhere in California. Jungle Disk is
really quite cheap especially if you think of it in terms of data insurance.

Having said that, the 'survivor' looks great if other forms of backup are
not available. It also appeals to my inner boy scout - any product that can
make data storage look edgy and dangerous is cool by me!




On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 10:24 AM, William J Poser <wjposer at ldc.upenn.edu>wrote:

> >Perhaps you could tuck one or two emergency matches into the case as
> well..
> Real field linguists can make fire with a fire drill...
>
> Bill
>
>
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