If you fear you'll come under enemy attack and need to make sure your PowerPoint presentations survive, it might be wise to get an IronDrive.
The IronDrive, a USB flash drive, is "survivable, highly reliable, secure and cost effective," according to its Web site. It looks more like a shotgun shell than a USB drive, and at $700, it's a highly unrealistic purchase for any college student. Still, it's one of those crazy, expensive tech products that catch the consumer's eye.
Built for military use by R&D Electronics, the IronDrive is designed to be as durable as possible. You can microwave it, freeze it in a block of ice, shoot it and drop it in the epicenter of an earthquake, and it would be good as new. It is likely to outlive you, with the ability to easily withstand over five million write/erase cycles.
The device comes with a standard memory capacity of 1 GB, but varying memory sizes from 32 MB to 4 GB are available. Because of its design for military use, the IronDrive must be adapted before it can be used with a regular USB port. Availability and pricing are both currently at extremes; there is a 60- to 75-day wait for the $700 1 GB model. Visit irondriveusb.com for more details.
Reach the reporter at: si.robins@asu.edu.
