Sentry and Maxtor team up for SentrySafe FIRE-SAFE/Waterproof safe and drives

When most people express concern and worry about data loss, it's usually due to the more common cases: drive failure, accidental deletion, power surges from lightning storms, etc. Not so often do drive companies cater to those with paranoia of fire / flood / acts of God, etc. crowd, but for that crowd SentrySafe and Maxtor have teamed up on the FIRE-SAFE/Waterproof safe and drive. The drive is essentially a OneTouch 4 Mini decked with backup, restore, and recovery software (like Maxtor SafetyDrill) and a tank-like shell that's rated for 30 minutes of fire protection up to 1,500°F; the safe is merely, well, a safe with a driveless USB passthrough and fire protection up to two hours at 1,800°F. You'll have to plunk down a fairly crazy $320 for the 160GB and $260 for the 80GB drives though, and $420 for the safe, so be forewarned: this is only useful data protection if you're fearful of what happens when bits meet the elements. The drives are single disk enclosures -- not RAID -- and thus have no redundancy themselves should an old fashioned drive crash occur.

Gallery: Hands-on with the SentrySafe lineup

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[dragonmonster @ Nov 13th 2007 7:26PM]

Hi, I'm Kyle Hanson from Illinois, and I may be a troll, but even trolls hate to get spammed. So please don't spam my email address, which is [e-mail]

[Bobs @ Nov 13th 2007 7:39PM]

I agree, you don't turn off comments because someone disapproves of your comments. If you cant take it, quit your job.

[rlh82 @ Nov 13th 2007 7:43PM]

Agreed. How remarkably unprofessional.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 13th 2007 7:47PM]

You're entitled to your opinion and we to ours. I said a number of positive things about the Zune that were roundly ignored by people like yourself. Reasonable comments get reasonable replies, but it's not our job to provide a forum for complaints when people don't even take the time to read and digest our editorial. I get it, people disagree, but we're not obligated to let people (like you) abuse us on our own site for difference of opinion. I'm not interested in further discussion, thanks.

[Bobs @ Nov 13th 2007 8:04PM]

If we are entitled to our opinion, then why did you lock the comments? Your review must not have been good enough for lots of engadget readers to comment on how bad they thought it was, and then to get best ranked for it.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 13th 2007 8:10PM]

You're entitled to your opinion. But overzealous readers are not entitled to abuse me or any of my editorial staff with an opinion fashioned as a blunt object. If you're unhappy with the arrangement it's super easy to start a blog of your own and go to town.

[BigPana @ Nov 13th 2007 8:26PM]

Forget what?

[CoolBradG @ Nov 13th 2007 7:32PM]

Whats with all the commenting drama lately? Am I missing something?

[BigPana @ Nov 13th 2007 7:36PM]

Apple haters got pissed off because Ryan didn't think that the new zune was better thean the iPod.

[TKWarrior @ Nov 13th 2007 8:04PM]

@Bigpana - Or..... those of us interested in gadgets in general were pissed something called a review did not discuss the functionality of a device's features in the proper context to be called a review, and saw it was an obvious, obnoxious, biased rant. But to each their own.

-Proud owner of both a 3rd gen Nano and a 1st gen Zune.

[Dean @ Nov 13th 2007 7:36PM]

ryan is afraid of the truth and deletes posts (including mine). I didn't realize our comments are censored! free speech?
anyway, this device seems like it isn't going to fill a nich besides with the most paranoid of external failure. now if it was a raid1, it would seem like a pretty good high importance backup device

[Ryan Block @ Nov 13th 2007 7:50PM]

No one ever promised that comments are completely unmoderated, Dean. If I came over to your place of work and started calling you names would you just let me stand around doing that? Or would you tell me to stop or ask me to leave?

Again, reasonable comments will be left. Diatribes, namecalling, threats, etc. will be met with deletion. You're not banned, so I'd suggest you stop complaining that your invective wasn't posted.

[gjp303 @ Nov 13th 2007 7:55PM]

Ryan Block, If I were you I would stay off Engadget for a couple of days.

You know, let the users cool off from the immediate strong hatred.

But, You do what you like. This is your blog, not mine.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 13th 2007 8:06PM]

Funny that you use the term, there's some sincere hatred -- and over what? One man's opinion? This is my site, I'm the editor-in-chief, and I'm about to be run off by some overzealous fanboys who aren't prepared to be realistic about a product's shortcomings. This is the same stuff I dealt with when I wrote my review of the iPod touch, which the Apple fans in the audience had a field day with.

The people who are so convinced that I'm vehemently anti-Microsoft are no different from those on the other side convinced I hate Apple and am a shill for Microsoft. Sometimes the best way to know we're doing it right is when we're getting it from both sides. Today it obviously came from the Microsoft side.

[BigPana @ Nov 13th 2007 8:33PM]

Yeah, I'm Zodiac on Engadget HD, and same thing always happens to Ben and Steve about them being BLu-Ray/HD-DVD fanboys.

[KC @ Nov 13th 2007 9:28PM]

I'm actually becoming a fan of Ryan! =)

[John Cavanagh @ Nov 13th 2007 10:19PM]

"This is my site, I'm the editor-in-chief, and I'm about to be run off by some overzealous fanboys who aren't prepared to be realistic about a product's shortcomings."

You're absolutely correct Ryan, you are the editor-in-chief of this site. That said, holding that position you should be intelligent enough to read your own posting and see where you went wrong.

You labeled your post as a review of the Zune, both in it's title as well as the article itself, and calling it such couldn't be further from the truth. In reality it was nothing more than a long winded rant. I'm sure I'm not the only one that read the post and couldn't help but think "Why doesn't this guy shut up and get back to what the device does?"

The poor authoring aside, when you were criticized about the article you locked commenting and ran away like the kid who wasn't picked for dodgeball. If you don't want people to criticize your work, point out your shortcomings, and say things that hurt your little feelings DON'T BE A WRITER! Every author on Earth hears things about their work that they find hurtful, but it just comes with the territory. Welcome to journalism.

[prokanda @ Nov 14th 2007 12:07AM]

Well said John.

As for me: I'm personally a PC fan.. ease of upgrade, cheap to build, and customizable. I however can see when it would be in my best interest to think outside the box, so to say. I purchased an iPod, because I do not hate Apple, they just do not make a computer that I see fit to use on a daily basis (I would like a Mini as a secondary machine and to have both camps at my desk). But even I saw that Ryan's article just seemed to talk down about the new Zune because it wasn't remarkable. He talked negatively about the iPod's click-wheel and also managed to say that the Zune has something the iPod doesn't, an FM radio... so basically he said that the navigation (which is VERY important in a DAP) on the iPod was lackluster and that the Zune had a feature the iPod lacked... but that they were about the same on the rest of the specs and useability. Yet he still managed to make the article seem like the new Zune was a total let down.

Did I miss something? He basically said that the new Zune wasn't behind the new[est] iPod in features (rather ahead by a small amount), yet it wasn't up to par?

Lame, Ryan.

(sorry for the long-winded post.. when I get going....)

[HineyWipe @ Nov 13th 2007 8:04PM]

Alright Ryan! Wooooo!

Anyway, I hope that Safe has a plenum cable or else the USB cable will heat up (as the insulation melts) and destroy whatever it's attached to inside. Like holding a soldering iron to the interface board...at 1500F for 30minutes...Toast!

[Dean @ Nov 13th 2007 8:10PM]

i was actually thinking the same thing about the cable, but i suppose if the interface board is toast, big deal as long as the hard disk is safe. or perhaps it has some sort of thermal fuse that blows the connection if it gets too hot.

[Bobs @ Nov 13th 2007 8:06PM]

This is actually a good idea, you could put family pictures and stuff like that in it and when your house burns down from acts of your god of choice, there is a good chance that the fire wont damage it, or the water the firemen used to put the fire out.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 13th 2007 8:13PM]

Now... please keep these comments on topic! Off topic threads will be deleted or result in further closed comments. Thanks everybody!

[I like cats @ Nov 13th 2007 8:44PM]

I like cats.

[Billy Fiul @ Nov 13th 2007 8:19PM]

it is my understanding that there is no ac power outlet located internally, so only 2.5" disks that are powered solely by USB can be used.


good idea but poor implementation.

[John @ Nov 13th 2007 8:22PM]

And for more protection, they also sell a safe you can fit your entire house into.

[BigPana @ Nov 13th 2007 9:09PM]

Maybe Kevin Rose will actually save his cat now.

[Josh L @ Nov 13th 2007 10:20PM]

Wows, looks like it's time to lay off the Engadget comments for a few days, guys. Take a breather. Getting your blood pressure up that high isn't good for you, especially about some stupid crap you read on the internet. :P

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Nov 13th 2007 11:05PM]

This thread reminds me so much of the rediculous format war that took place on AVS forums a few weeks ago. Cool it down before someone gets hurt.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/07/format-war-gets-more-warlike/

[Josh L @ Nov 13th 2007 11:33PM]

That isn't to say that Engadget is stupid crap, by the way. I dunno what I would do at work all day without you guys. Work, I suppose. Blech!

[HyperHacker @ Nov 13th 2007 10:30PM]

Fireproof but not RAID? Pfft. Also, USB inside a safe? Doesn't seem useful. Stuff would overheat running in a small contained space like that.

Give me something with no moving parts inside a fireproof/waterproof safe, plz.

[MattyG @ Nov 14th 2007 6:55AM]

yes but is it virus proof?

[JasonG @ Nov 14th 2007 8:17AM]

Seems like a good idea if you want to buy a fire safe...you might as well be able to protect your digital files and paper documents if you are spending the money I suppose. Obviously not enough storage for a business though.

How about a fireproof and waterproof NAS with RAID like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duuRDjDAwLU

[Ryan Brush @ Nov 14th 2007 8:39AM]

As a person who works for Sentry I guarantee you that we thought of things like heat traveling through the USB cable and the hard drive overheating inside the safe; companies do actually test things before selling them. We have burnt these things in our big oven and pulled data off the drives right after, we have dunked them in water and pulled them out later to still have them work. Yes the USB cable will burn, but heat will not be transfered inside the insulation. Many of our safes actually have a small hole in them for the dial spindle or for the electronic lock cable to pass through, and this does not effect the integrity of the product. Also, the hard drive does not overheat inside the safe because our insulation acts as a heat sink, and because the drive is USB powered it doesn't convert so much energy into heat. You are entitled to your opinion, and I don't want to be too much of a shill for Sentry, but I have spent the last year and a half helping to create and test this product and it is hard to not defend your work a little bit.
Faithful Engadget reader posting under my real name this time - Ryan.

[RonnieWest @ Nov 14th 2007 2:39PM]

what is the largest size hard drive that can be put inside one of these safes?? From the Sentry website it looks like 160GB is the maximum they will support... I can't seem to find any information about being able to use anything except a 2.5" hard drives in their larger fire safe :-(

does this mean the western digital mybook that I bought at Best Buy won't be compatible?