I use bare "internal" hard drives in an external dock to do my backups, and swap the drive to an off-site location every week. I wanted a protective case to carry the bare drive in, and was surprised to find such a case difficult to find.
The ineo box looked like what I wanted, but it occurs to me that my intended use is probably not what ineo had in mind. The box is a simple plastic shell (as expected), and the only padding is two hard foam strips on either end that hold the hard drive in place. Outside of that, the drive rests against the bare plastic of the sides. ineo claims "anti-shock", but this case isn't going to provide much protection against impacts that aren't mostly to the end of the case. My guess is that it was intended to go no further than crossing the room from a machine to a storage cabinet.
Even so, it's still better than throwing a bare drive in my bag, keeping fingers and keys off of the drive itself. It does that job well enough that I bought a second one. For the price, the level of protection is not unreasonable.
UPDATE: I've been using these boxes to carry my backup hard drives off-site for five months now and they have performed the job as expected. I've not dropped a drive, but I carry it in my bag one day a week, and the cases are doing the job as expected.
UPDATE 2: (06/2011) I've now been using two of these boxes as indicated above for over 18 months. Still no complaints, and I've upgraded my rating from three to four stars. I've had no trouble with the drives that I transport in them. The hinges are not showing any signs of stress, though I've probably opened and closed them less than 100 times each.
The case was certainly nice to have when I was off work for two weeks and kept my offsite backup at my dad's... I was more comfortable handing him the drive in a sturdy case than just wrapped in an ESD bag. ineo I-NC05, 3.5-Inch SATA/ IDE Hard Drive Protection Box (Milky White)
This case fits the hard drive snugly, and it has small pads on either end to prevent the drive from rattling inside the box. Much cheaper than buying 2 USB enclosures.
I use 2 bare drives for backup, with a USB drive dock. I swap them between an offsite location monthly. This box is a great way to protect the drives during storage and transport.
I was looking for something simple, however, the plastic box for both units I ordered were warped such that the square opening was very convex, and if you slide the drive into the box there is a good chance it would pop a surface mounted cap right off the drive circuit board!
I am going to put them into the oven at around 200-250 degrees with a drive over-wrapped with paper towel(to try and bulge the box the other way hehe); if I can flow the plastic back into something closer to a rectangle, well, it would be a low cost fix.
just an FYI to watch out for...
If you want a case that protects your hard drive perfectly and you don't mind paying appr. 10 bucks for it, get this one (I did).
If you want a case that is much cheaper but also way inferior in quality (but still works), get one from [...] (I did).
Maybe a good compromise is: buy the best case for the HD's that you schlepp between docking stations and use frequently but get the cheap ones that just lie in the your filing cabinet full of backups of important stuff that you will never ever use unless a major catastrophe strikes.
N.B. You can buy these at amazon.com in larger quantities at a much cheaper per unit price. - Internal Hard Drive - Portable Hard Drive Case - Hard Drive Carrying Case'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
