CRU Dataport ToughTech Duo QR

The CRU-Dataport ToughTech QR ($853 direct) isn't built for sitting pretty beside an average consumer's Mac or PC. This dual-mechanism, RAID-equipped hard drive is made for the photographic journalist embedded within a US Marine platoon far from home, or the paleobotanist digging in a cliff face and facing a two-day trek to the nearest road. It has swappable drives, comes with all the cables you'd need, and you can replace the included drives with regular, off-the-shelf laptop-class 2.5-inch internal drives. It's made for a specific type of user, and for those very demanding users, the ToughTech Duo can mean the difference between a successful trip and risking equipment failure.

Design and Features
The ToughTech Duo is about the size of an old handheld cassette recorder, but it's surprisingly hefty. This weight could be contributed to its two internal hard drives, internal sleds and connectors for those drives, a controller board, a LCD screen, controls, and external ports, the whole shebang weighs almost two pounds (well, 1.75 pounds). It feels solid in the hand, but may a bit too solid, if that's possible. The case is mostly aluminum with silver colored endcaps, so it won't clash with your MacBook Pro, plus it feels rugged enough to handle any commute. The drive comes with two daisy-chainable FireWire 800 ports and a single combination USB/eSATA port. The drive also comes with a power adapter, USB 2.0, eSATA, and FireWire 800 cables so you're all set out of the box.

The ToughTech Duo can be purchased empty as a bare enclosure or pre-configured with two 250GB, 500GB or 750GB 2.5-inch laptop-class internal hard drives. We received the top-of-the-line twin 750GB model, so you can setup the drive as a 1.5TB RAID 0 enclosure (for most capacity) or as a 750GB RAID 1 enclosure (for data loss prevention). The drive can come formatted NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (Mac) from the factory, but you can of course reformat the drive for your usage (we tested the drive using HFS+ on a Mac). If you get the empty enclosure, you can put your own drives in, but make sure they match to prevent problems down the line. The ToughTech Duo uses two pop-out drive sleds for easy-access to defective hard drives on the fly. Let's say you have the ToughTech Duo set up as a 750GB RAID 1 array, and you're in the field (but have a spare drive handy). If one of the drives fails due to mishandling or overuse, you can simply pop the offending drive out and replace it. You won't have to stop working to recover the drive, since the RAID 1 array still has the data on the functioning drive. After you've replaced the drive, you simply need to keep it on and connected so the RAID mirror can rebuild itself. The drive sleds are completely tool-less, a boon for quick changes if you're rushing to finish your photo shoot before dusk. If you fill up drives fast, you can keep a stack of (marked) hard drives in your bag and swap them out cartridge-style as they fill up.

The drive enclosure has a two-line LCD readout on the front of the closure and a four-way controller to run through the drive's built-in menus. They are primarily used to change the drive's RAID settings and indicate if the drive is healthy or not. It was simple to change RAID states; the process only took seconds. Remember that you'll have to reformat the drive when you change RAID states (and lose the data stored on the drive during the reformat). There are indicator lights by the drive sleds, which will help you figure out which drive has failed and needs replacement. One nice touch is the drive can be powered by the included AC adapter or natively via FireWire 800. You only need to bring one cable for the drive if you have a MacBook Pro or other laptop with a FireWire 800 port. But if you plan on using USB 2.0 or eSATA to connect your drive, you will need the included AC adapter in order for the drive to power on. The ToughTech Duo has a two-year warranty, which is pretty standard for a high-end drive.

Performance
The ToughTech Duo is a speedy drive, justifying much of its exorbitant price tag. It took only 17 seconds to transfer our 1.22GB test folder over FireWire 800 while the drive was setup for RAID 1. Contrast this with the La Cie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (240GB SSD) ($899.99 list, 4 stars), which took only 11 seconds using the faster Thunderbolt interface. The Editors' Choice ioSafe Rugged Portable SSD (120GB) ($499 list, 4.5 stars) took 16 seconds using USB 3.0. The ToughTech shows a 82MBps read and 74MBps throughput on the AJA System test as well, faster than competitors like the former Editors' Choice Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition ($199.99 list, 4 stars) (46MBps read, 48MBps write via FireWire 800). Transfer speeds via the Thunderbolt interface on the LaCie outclasses all comers, however (480MBps read, 620MBps write). The ToughTech Duo is a speedy drive for the Mac (or PC) user who still hasn't bought into Thunderbolt yet.

The ToughTech Duo QR is an interesting drive. Its specs alone indicate it's overkill for the casual home user, who would be better off buying a far less expensive drive like the Iomega eGo Blackbelt or Western Digital My Passport Studio (1 TB) ($179.99 list, 4 stars). The drive is as expensive as the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, particularly when you price out that drive's SSD configuration. However, the LaCie is a lot faster, thanks to those SSD drives and the Thunderbolt interface. Also consider that the LaCie doesn't come with a Thunderbolt cable, an added $49 expense. The ToughTech Duo QR basically differentiates itself with its quick-change drive enclosure, ensuring that you'll always have access to your live data. If you're a photographer (or videographer with a pre-Thunderbolt MacBook Pro) that absolutely needs rugged redundant storage, this is the one to get. Outside of that very narrow niche, there are other sane (and one insane) choices.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Buffalo MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0 with several other hard drive side by side.

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