Meet the Shock-, Splash-, & Dust-Proof Sony HD-SP1 Hard Drive

by Sohrab Osati | Nov 10, 2015 | 5 comments
Sohrab Osati

Sony_HD_SP1_3
Seemingly out of nowhere, Sony has unveiled an all new shock-, splash-, and dust-proof external hard drive. Providing what Sony calls a “generous 1TB [of] storage capacity,” this external USB 3.0 (up to 5Gbps) drive utilizes a 2.5-inch hard drive as do most small portable units. It’s unclear if the HD-SP1 is a 5400 RPM or 7500 RPM hard drive though I’m leaning on the former. Compatible with both Mac and PC, the Sony HD-SP1 comes in blue and lime green alongside some utility software.

A lot more after the jump.

With the hard drive, Sony offers 4 additional downloads that can help improve your utilization of the unit. They include

Backup Manager 2

  • Cloud and Local Hybrid Automatic Backup

Data Transfer Accelerator

  • Approx. 2 times faster data transfer to the External Hard Drive

Password Protection Manager

  • Secure your important data in / or away from home

FAT32 Formatter

  • The External Hard Drive formatter for using with PS3

The most interesting of the four installs and of use to PC users will be Backup Manager 2 which allows you to create an automatic backup. With Windows 8, Microsoft moved away from offering a backup solution in place of something called File History, which is frankly garbage. Now, you’ll have a proper backup solution. On the Mac, you obviously have Time Machine and should be set. It’s also highly unclear what this ‘cloud’ component of this drive is as Sony fails to make any claims or mentions of it, outside of the text from above. Sony also states that with their Data Transfer Accelerator, that data can transfer up to 2x faster though it’s unclear how.

Password Protection Manager is as the name suggests, a program where you can throw your passwords in a file that’s secure. While it likely won’t replace your reliance on 1Password or iCloud Keychain, this is a decent solution for those who may instead want to take files around in a more secure fashion than just a folder on their external drive. Finally, if you’re purchasing this for your PS3, you can use Sony’s FAT32 formatter to reformat the drive in order for PS3 to recognize. Word of caution, while fine for PS3, FAT32 has a limitation of 4GB per file size. For example, if the video file you’re placing is larger than 4GB, it simply won’t be allowed to land on the drive.

Again, this is an interesting choice for Sony. Are they the manufacture of the drive? Unclear and unlikely. Who is this drive built for and who are they looking to compete with? WD? Lacie? Is this just another case of a random Sony product or are they dipping their toes in the water for something else? No price point or availability has been revealed for the HD-SP1 and I wouldn’t be surprised if these never make it to North America. Finally, because this is hilarious beyond belief, I felt the need to once again point out that the Sony HD-SP1 does not provide 1TB of hard drive space and instead offers a “generous” 1TB of storage space. Because you know, in 2015, that’s still a ton of space?

Discuss:

Would you purchase the Sony HD-SP1?

[Via Sony]