G-Technology's New Hard Drives Can Take a Beating

At CES today, G-Technology added a pair of hard drives to its G-Drive ev lineup. The G-Drive ev RaW with Rugged Bumper and G-Drive ev ATC are made for the photographers and videographers who travel to distant lands, particularly those who are rough on their equipment.

The G-Drive ev RaW with Rugged Bumper is a 7,200rpm hard drive with a SATA and USB 3.0 interface designed to work with the G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt. This time, the ev cartridge is painted black, and is 35 percent lighter than the silver G-Drive ev cartridge. As its name indicates, it comes with a cushioning bumper that will protect the drive from a 1.5 meter drop. You'll need to remove the bumper to use the ev RaW with the G-Dock, but you can use the drive as is with the included USB 3.0 cable in day-to-day use. The drive is formatted HFS+ for Macs, but you can reformat it for Windows use.

The G-Drive ev RaW comes in a 500GB capacity for US$99.95 and 1TB capacity for US$129.99. Look for it in stores later this month.

G-Technology G-Drive ev ATCYou'll also find a G-Drive ev RaW cartridge in the new G-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt and G-Drive ATC with USB. Essentially, the G-Drive ev ATC adds a watertight case in place of the rugged bumper. Both ev ATC drives have a 2.0 meter drop spec, and are water tight up to 1 foot submerged for 30 seconds. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it will save your data from a quick drop and dunk in liquid. The G-Drive ev ATC will also float, helping you recover the drive if it falls overboard on a scuba trip.

As their names suggest, one version has a tethered Thunderbolt cable, while the other has a tethered USB 3.0 cable: you can't lose either as long as you have the drive. The ev RaW cartridge is removable for use in the G-Dock ev.

The G-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt goes for US$229.95 (1TB) or $129.95 (for just the case), the USB version is US$179.95 (1TB) or US$79.95 (case only). The ev ATC case works with most G-Drive ev cartridges, though the G-Drive ev 220 is too thick to be used with the case. Look for the Thunderbolt drive and case later this month, with the USB versions in February.