Busted up more thumb drives than you can care to remember? If you’re tired of flimsy portable storage, it might be time to make your way to the other extreme: virtually indestructible USB storage. That’s exactly what Lacie is promising with the XtremKey, an ultra-rugged flash drive with superhero-levels of durability.
Keeping data safe usually means unfathomable levels of encryption, paired with uncrackable passwords and a layer of software misdirection thrown in for good measure. If your primary concern, however, is dropping your portable storage while crossing the road and having it run over by a large elephant that somehow escaped from the local zoo, then you need a different kind of protection.
The Lacie XtremKey offers that kind, boasting zamac (an especially tough alloy made from zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper) construction that can reportedly withstand being run over by a 10-ton truck. Not only that, the screw-shut 2mm-thick metal tube, paired with wear-resistant screw threads and a rubber O-ring, also keeps the memory modules waterproof up to 330 feet, intact despite drops of up to 16 feet and unharmed during extreme temperatures (-50 to 200°C).
Less then three inches long, it literally packs durability that can make many modern gadgets blush.  Would have been better if it came with built-in encryption and security software to round out the package, but being practically Armageddon-proof isn’t all that bad on its own.
Lacie is offering the XtremKey in various storage capacities, starting from 8GB all the way to 64GB. Price starts at $49.99.
[Lacie via Gadget Lab]