Final Thoughts
When it comes down to it there are many choices when it comes to a portable, even rugged hard drive, we have actually reviewed quite a few. The thing that those portable hard drives lack is data redundancy. If you are doing any type of work and are storing it on a portable hard drive and that drive dies you are going to lose everything and you could lose your job or your next paycheck. You cannot afford to lose data, that is why the built in RAID on the ToughTech Duo is awesome. If you set the drives up in RAID 1 (mirroring) you will have the data redundancy that you need.
You really don’t see portable RAID solutions in such a small form factor like the ToughTech Duo. I think that is what really sets the ToughTech Duo apart from other RAID solutions. The small form factor is made possible by using 2.5-inch hard drives. Another thing that I really like is how easy it is to setup raid on the device. The LCD makes things so much easier and is super convenient. Not only that it just looks awesome sitting there on your desk!
Besides just giving you RAID support for data redundancy the entire enclosure is made of strong aluminum, which will help protect the drives inside. This is great for people who are on the go or will be using the enclosure in harsh conditions.
I really liked all of connectivity options you get with the ToughTech Duo (USB 2.0, Firewire, eSATA), but the USB 2.0 just seems dated. While many people still use USB 2.0 the maximum transfer speed you are going to get is going to be around 30MB/s, which really is not that fast at all. So you are better off going with eSATA or Firewire. Also one thing to note there was not an eSATA bracket included with the drive. I do hope that CRU-DataPort will come out with a version of this enclosure that has USB 3.0 connectivity.
Overall this is a great all-in-one solution for those looking for easy to use RAID storage on the go. ThinkComputers gives the CRU-DataPort ToughTech Duo a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award.
Pros:
– Easy to use RAID solution
– Small, compact design
– Made of all alluminum
– LCD screen
– Multiple connectivity options
Cons:
– USB 2.0 connection seems dated
