Freecom pitches tough hard drive at sporty types

Protected against 2m drops, hackers

Freecom has rolled out a 2.5in external hard drive designed to "endure even the toughest conditions", the company claimed.

We're not sure how many folk who go "cycling up mountains" want to take up to 500GB of data with them while they're at it, but that's the kind of user Freecom said it has in mind.

Freecom's ToughDrive Sport: resists knocks and bumps

Still, the bus-powered ToughDrive Sport has some cute features to separate it from more sedentary hard drives. The USB cable's clad in climbing rope-style cord and wraps around the side of the drive. There's a loop in one corner for attaching the drive to a belt, backpack or harness.

And it contains hardware-accelerated 256-bit data encryption so if you do lose the drive, whoever finds it can't peek at your files - assuming your password's not easy to guess.

Physical security is provided by the ToughDrive Sport's rubbery casing, which, with the drive's own anti-shock mechanism, means it'll easily survive drops of up to two metres.

Would you keep your hard drive on the outside of your pack?

The ToughDrive Sport is available immediately in Europe in sizes of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, priced at €109 (£101), €129 (£119) and €169 (£156), respectively. ®

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