As photographers we expect our kit to withstand a fair amount of abuse and Sony have recognised this need with the launch of the SL-M and SL-C external hard drives.
Just think of your kit and you know it’s inevitable that it’ll be shaken around, occasionally drizzled on, and although protected by a padded bag will inevitably suffer the shocks of being thrown into the back of a car or two.
While cameras have been designed with this in mind, our computers and accessories are rarely as robust.
Now Sony aims to provide a portable storage solution for those of us who need large capacity storage in the field with two new external SSD drives; the SL-M series and SL-C series.
Both solutions offer ultra-toughness, high-speed transfer and hardware encryption through software.
The new drives feature a one-piece aluminium body with omni-directional shockproof construction that will ensure your data stays safe.
What’s more, and especially relevant, if you’re working out in the field, each drive is rated IP67. This means that the drives are dust and waterproof.
What sets this drive apart is that the high-speed USB Type-C connection is waterproof even without a sealing cap.
Sony state that the drive will protect your data even if dropped into water up to a meter in depth. Being waterproof also means that these SSD drives can withstand pressure up to 6000kfg and bending up to 2000kfg.
So even if the rest of your kit is sat on top of the drive in your bag or it gets nudged by the corner with something heavy laying on top, it should be OK.
There’s a hope that despite being crushproof you may take more care of your kit. However, there’s, and that’s dropping the drive. I’m exceptionally skilled at the art and here Sony state that it is shockproof for a drop up to 3m.
Both models feature a stylish wave-surface and aluminium body that provides a comfortable grip slip-free surface in silver and yellow. These colours make it stand out and easy to find compared with the usually hard to find hard drive black.
Each also features LEDs, rubber bands as standard, so you don’t have to find your own to hold labels and slips of paper. It’s almost as if Sony have been rummaging through my kit bag.
Technically the drives use SSD technology that enables the SL-M with Nvme SSD to have maximum read / write speeds of 1000mb/s and the SL-C to 540 reads and 520mb/s write.
Connectivity comes in the form of USB Type-C.
The drives also offer hardware encryption providing AES 256-bit encryption without any speed decline which is handy if you’re out and about and a trip does go missing.
A utility app is also available that adds another layer of security if you wish and can be download free.
Both models of the drive will be available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB storage capacities.
The SL-M series and SL-C series will be available from autumn 2019 as for pricing that is still to be confirmed.