Gigabits On A Pink Platter
Freecom, though unknown to the Indian market is an established player in the external storage arena. In the past, we have reviewed Freecom drives and now that Freecom has officially come to India, we expect them to be priced sanely.
The Tough Drive series, as the name suggests, is aimed at enduring shock. This particular drive is clad in pink rubber, which Freecom hopes will lure the fairer sex.

Thankfully, the Tough Drives are available in other colour options. In terms of design, the drive is sleek but not portable, obviously due to the thick layer of rubber cladding it dons. The rubberised body feels good to hold, but the tyre pattern design on it doesn’t do anything to enhance its looks.

On the brighter side, the Tough drives are indeed solidly put together and sport good design from the usability aspect. Apart from the rubber cladding, internally the hard drives are put on a spring suspended frame (anti-shock frame) for better shock absorption. The USB connector is integrated in the drives, and hence there is no need to carry along any cables. The drive can be directly connected to the PC. The USB connector lights up blue, and blinks during data transfer. The Tough drive doesn’t require additional power and runs off a single USB port.

Freecom has bundled back-up software, namely NTI shadow. It can do real time continuous data backup, scheduled back-up and has version control. Thus older files can be retrieved. The user interface is simple and the settings are granular to the point that you can even select the types of files to be backed up.

Internally, the Tough Drive comes with 5,400 RPM Fujitsu hard drive and delivers good performance. 4 GB (1 DVD) of assorted data takes less than 3 min to copy whereas a 1 GB (one movie) took around 39 sec to copy. We say the drive is fast for most purposes it will be used for.

Priced at Rs 10,150, the Tough drive is a reasonable buy. Ordinary 250 GB drives are available in the Rs 8,500 region and the small premium of Rs 1,500 for shock proofing is well worth it in the longer run. However, we would prefer to never see the pick version again—black or blue please!

Specifications
5,400 RPM drive, 2 m drop shock proof, USB 2.0 and Integrated USB connector

Contact : Rashi peripherals Pvt Ltd.
Phone : +91-22-67090909
E-mail : freecom@rptechindia.com
Web site : www.freecom.com
Price : Rs 10,150