Transcend StoreJet 25 mobile hard drive is battlefield tough

You can beat this Transcend StoreJet 25 mobile hard drive to hell and it’ll still work. The 5.3-inch-tall drive is said to be able to survive the U.S. military's notorious MIL-STD-810F Transit Drop test, which means it can be dropped 26 times onto 2-inch plywood from a height of 36 inches and keep on working. That’s one tough hard drive, and it looks pretty good, too. The $177 drive holds 256GB of your data, and it’s powered by a USB port, no AC adapter needed.

This sounds impressive, but we have news for you: hard drives might be tougher than you think. Most can survive a 50g shock while they're operating, according to experts we talked to. On the other hand, tell that to the 500GB Western Digital "My DVR Expander" eSATA drive hooked up to our TiVo that we merely moved a few inches last weekend and ruined forever. More like "My DVR Exploder." Make this StoreJet in a 1TB model, Transcend, and our TiVo will have a new companion.